POTTERNE put themselves in pole position in the race for the title as they leapt to the top of the table with an eight-wicket win away at Shapwick & Polden.

Neil Clark’s men had started the day 10 points adrift of Taunton but after they were surprisingly beaten by Thornbury, Potterne now hold a one-point advantage at the head of the standings.

Some excellent bowling from Dylan Higgins (3-26) helped bowl Shapwick & Polden out for 170 and then a fine 85 from Thomas Cullen and Luke De Souza’s 59 saw Potterne reach their target with more than four overs to spare.

Team manager Fred Kerley was delighted with his team’s lofty position and hopes they can maintain it throughout the summer.

“Now we are at the top of course it’s a massive incentive for us to try to stay there,” said Kerley.

“Our aim was just to keep up with Taunton and hopefully come the end of the season we will be in a position to achieve promotion by being in the top two.

“We are only one point in front but going top at this stage will give us a lot of confidence going forward into the last eight matches of the season.

“It’s not quite as straightforward as us winning all our remaining fixtures and ending up as champions because of things like bonus points but we are certainly in a good position.

“We’ve got eight hard games left to go and we’ll just look to do as best we can in each of them.

“We had a little bit of a blip midway through the early part of the season but we’re back on track now and looking forward to the rest of the summer.”

Meanwhile, opener Jack Haines made 84 as Goatacre romped to a 54-run success over Chard.

Haines received solid support from Sam Parish (35), Ed Wilkins (34), Jonathan Wilkins (30) and Ross Dixie (28) as they racked up a more than defendable total of 275.

Joe Draper was the pick of the Chard attack with a haul of 3-54.

Giorgio Rigali impressed with the ball when Goatacre took to the field and his figures of 4-43 helped skittle Chard out for 221 in the 43rd over.