On a cloudy day captain Giles kept up his impressive record with another loss at the toss of the coin - much to the surprise of many Giles is not a top tosser! The visitors on the back of an impressive start and sitting third in the league decided to bat first and duly put Bedminster in the field.

On a blustery day at Cathedral playing fields, the C XI were a cross between 'Dad's Army' and 'Babe in the Wood's. Joe Mogg, Paul Fortt and Charles Saunders were making their C XI debuts, Stewart Mason returned to the starting line-up, Richard Harris retained his place and Dave 'he is never under 40' Peacock, completed the line-up of 40-year-old plus VAT players. This was complemented at the other end of the spectrum with the evergreen Giles, the balding Tom Johnson and Olly Southwell on debut, alongside David Peel and Regan Burton.

Giles opening the bowling with Peel, with the wind behind his large ears and Ben Stokes like hair he trundled in from the tennis court end to deliver a devastating opening spell which included a wicket with the last ball of the first over, with Adams edging to keep Johnson with the score still 0.

Peels two spell were economical to stay the least finishing with figures 8-3-13-3. This included a catch from Dave Peacock, which can only be described as rarer than the proverbial rocking horse stuff. The bowling from Bedminster was tight throughout, Richard Harris bowled 8 overs for 40 runs, with only 15 of this being wides. He picked up 1 wicket in the process.

Joe Mogg making his return after 64 years in the cricket wilderness took on the gale force winds and the up slope to bowl 6 overs straight through. With a little bit of a swing here and there (enough about his weekend activities), the odd short ball and wide delivery, he bowled his spell for 39 runs and picked up a wicket; clean balling the Old Park batsman.

Other bowlers to contribute in keeping Old Park to 187 included Regan Burton who bowled 3 overs for 21 runs, finding the conditions difficult, but kept his wits about him to bowl a useful spell, Olly Southwell who bowled 7 overs for 39 runs picking up a wicket along the way and captain Giles who bowled 8 overs into the wind for 31 runs, finishing with 2 wickets, one of which came in a maiden over.

To complement the good bowling was top fielding, with Paul Fortt the pick, finishing with 3 catches. One of which he dived scooped up and managed to avoid a collision with a Terry Barnes lookalike; otherwise known as Joe Mogg. Catches were also taken by David Peel and David Peacock; who eventually held on to one to remove Shane Sheppard for 79, having earlier dropped a dolly off the same batsman whilst he was on 20! A run out by Giles, taking on the Usain Bolt tale ender and running the ball to the stumps to remove his completed the wickets.

Tea was taken, the 'lost' match ball was not found and Bedminster faced up to Old Park who were looking to remove the batsman in the same style as D & H has the week before.

Bedminster opened with Peacock and Boycott aka Mason. Both players started positively until the 8.2 overs when Mason was removed for 20, trying to block a ball that stopped on the pitch and dropped back in to the ballers waiting hands. The pitch was proving the biggest obstacle, testing batsman time and time again, staying low, then bouncing high, all the batters were tested to the limit of their ability (quite low looking at Tom Johnson)!

Regan Burton came to the crease to replace Mason and was duly sent back without troubling to the scorer, getting a good ball first up. This was quickly followed by Dave Peacock who seems to believe that dot balls are a thing of the past and once again failed to apply the brakes and batten down the hatches when needed, being dispatched back to the ‘hut’ for 23 runs off 38 balls.

This left Giles and Johnson at the crease to steady the ship. Unfortunately, Johnson struggling with the language barrier; didn't understand the instructions from the captain and continued to bat in positive mood, but a quick 14 off 18 balls ended when he was also caught and bowled trying to block.

The next 11 runs would see 4 wickets fall with Peel (0), Southwell (1), Morgan (1) and Harris (0) all coming and going without getting settled, leaving Giles at the crease with number 10 batsman; Fortt.

Fortt looked nervous early on as the away team piled on the pressure, giving a single to Giles and closing the field for him. Fortt refusing to use a helmet, faced short ball after short ball, but not worrying about his modelling career; he took this on with the character and strength one would expect from an experienced batsman. What Old Park didn't know, was that Fortt used to open the batting back in the day. He often played the supporting role to W G Grace in his younger days, however today he wanted to be the star of the show. As Giles and Fortt set about their work and made progress into the deficit the Old Park bowling line up struggled to maintain their discipline. The running between the wickets was slick, the batting positive and the scoreboard was ticking over.

The run rate was becoming less of a problem, the key was maintaining wickets. However, captain Giles on 42 and with a 71-run partnership with Fortt decided to guide the ball into the hands of 'Roger' at mid-wicket; when it should have been dispatched into Ashton Court. Bedminster were now under pressure, needing 39 runs with 1 wicket left and nothing more than a crippled number 11(Mogg) to join Fortt at the crease.

Mogg faced up and stood firm, growing in stature with every ball in faced. Fortt at the other end continued his good work to bring Bedminster to within 20 runs. Mogg decided enough was enough and swung his piece of timber in the direction of the ball and dispatched it for a 'massive' 6. The shouts of Matt Lee reigned out from the terraces as his style and shot selection could have been from the Matt Lee coaching manual. Captain Giles reminding his players that time was on their side; did little to calm the temper of Fortt.

At one point, he did offer one of the Old Park fielders 'out', but apparently, the bold headed fielder was washing his hair that night. However, with just over 4 overs left, Mogg smashed the ball back past the bowler to hit a boundary for the winning runs.

Great result and great team performance!