THE first ball of the game was a beauty delivered by Tom MacNamara, swinging in late it trapped Bredon's opener back on his stumps, surely the perfect start for Colwall.

BREDON v COLWALL

Only the umpire disagreed, the batsman was ready to walk but the umpire's finger stayed down. The same batsman, Hall, 12 overs later saw his stumps uprooted by Chris Wheeler only for the no-ball call to save him.

Hall was joined by Ridsdale on the dismissal of his opening partner, caught behind as the first of keeper Ferguson's four victims.

Hall went on to make 93, anchoring the Bredon innings. Mike King bowled a good spell to pick up three wickets in the middle of the innings but the rest of the bowling attack struggled to contain an increasingly confident Bredon, who closed on 241-7.

In reply, Tom Chappell and Tom Wolfendale made an impressive start, Wolfendale in particular looking in splendid form as he raced to 30. The experienced Steve Bridge, bowling left arm over, finally found a patch that afforded some extra lift and Wolfendale edged to the keeper.

Matt Fortnum briefly maintained momentum before losing his stumps to the pace of Ridsdale. Jordan Kontarines was promoted up the order but as the Bredon bowlers, notably Ridsdale and Wilson, tightened the screw, Chappell and Kontarines fell behind the run rate.

Both fell in consecutive overs leaving Fergusson and Tim Riley to try to press for victory.

Having played into a position from which to launch the final assault, Ferguson perished early, miscuing to mid-on, and the game was up with the Stowe Laners opting to gain batting points rather than press for the unlikely victory.

Wickets continued to fall, but a final flourish from the last wicket brought some respectability as the innings closed on 190-9.