Title Secured!

Frome secured the West of England Premier League Somerset Division title after a good recovery with the bat and a fantastic bowling performance against Bishops Lydeard.

Lydeard won the toss and sent the home side into bat, which looked to be the correct decision when they reduced Frome to 15-4.

Off the back of four consecutive hundreds, David Dredge was first to depart when he was trapped lbw by Dimond without scoring.

It was soon 7-2 as Paul Sanger was caught at square leg before Smith (3) became the second of Dimond’s lbw victims, with Parkman then picking up his second wicket as Dan Dredge (3) drove the ball straight to cover.

The dependable Stonell joined Bleakley at the crease with a mammoth rebuilding job on but the latter kept the scoreboard moving past 50 despite the introduction of former Zimbabwe test bowler Henry Olonga.

Medium-pacer Walters managed to peg the home side back again and Bleakley was caught for 30 with the score on 70 before Unwin followed lbw to Walters for five.

Mark Sanger was then caught behind without scoring to leave Frome in big trouble again at 90-7.

Stonell and Neal played sensibly on the difficult surface to see off Walters and then performed steadily to take any runs presented to them, with Neal in particular smashing anything off line from the left-arm spin of Stone to the boundary.

They dragged Frome to 133 before both fell in the same over as Stonell (29) presented a catch off Thomas and Neal was lbw to the same bowler for a vital 27.

With seven overs still remaining, Frome’s tail provided more runs, as it has done all summer, as Wheeler (8no) and Hamblin (20no) added 29 for the last wicket to help Frome reach a seemingly competitive 163-9 from their 50 overs.

In reply, Frome made the ideal start as Butterworth was caught and bowled by Neal off the first ball. The bowlers started excellently with three maidens and made their second breakthrough with the score on five when Dimond was caught in the covers by Bleakley off Neal.

Lydeard were soon three down as Taylor was caught by Unwin off Wheeler and the home side continued to dominate as Lydeard reached only 29 from the opening 15 overs.

Frome took their fourth wicket of the innings when Tom Stone presented a catch to Bleakley to give Neal a third scalp and the next two arrived when Bleakley trapped Olonga (4) lbw and Mark Sanger dismissed Brian Stone the same way for three, leaving the visitors on 45-6 after 25 overs.

Sanger picked up the wicket of Thomas for three before a smart run-out from Neal left Frome on the brink.

With the score on 74, Sanger eventually induced Clark (36) to sky a catch to Unwin to give Frome a remarkably comprehensive victory and clinch the title.

Match sponsor: Mr T Wolfe.

On Saturday, Frome travel to Butleigh for their penultimate game of the season.