Taunton Deane,s match at third placed Claverham was one of the few to escape the weather on Saturday as the leaders continued on their unbeaten run.
The Deane were asked to bat first on a wet wicket in a game reduced to 44 overs a side and lost Jon Hudd to the 3rd ball of the day. Tony Keitch was then dropped of the next delivery a miss which was to prove costly. Keitch and Andrew Fraser-Harris took the score to 48 before the latter fell for 16 and Rob Woodman followed for 15 at 78-3. Phil Lewis then joined Keitch and they started to dominate the home attack. The run rate accelerated rapidly as they added 130 for the 4th wicket before Lewis fell for an excellent 57 at 208-4. Keitch continued to dominate until he too fell for a seasons best of 108. The later batsmen were not finished either as Dave Jessep smashed 18 off 6 balls as the Deane reached a challenging 230-6 at tea.
The Claverham reply started well with a good opening partnership from Paul Bird (35) and C.Peyper who was finally dismissed at 53 for 15. Batting hero Lewis then took charge with the ball producing an awesome 11 over spell of bowling in which he bagged 6-21 reducing Claverham to 71-7.
Wicket keeper P.Gillott decided to chance his arm and quickly raced to 45 before he succumbed to the spin of Phil Saxby (3-42) and the innings soon closed in the 33rd over on 128 all out . Lewis ended with 6-45.