BIDDESTONE coach Kevin Mitchell lauded overseas ace George Linde after his side inflicted a rare defeat on previous table-toppers Cheltenham.

The Gloucestershire side had lost just one of their opening nine league matches but have been forced to surrender top spot courtesy of Biddestone’s seven-wicket success.

After bowling their visitors out for 182, Biddestone made light work of their run chase, despite openers Chris Baker and Tim Knight scoring just three runs between them.

Number three Linde swiftly led the charge and raced to his second century in successive games, eventually falling for 112 with the score on 159 before Dwaine Perry and captain Andy Flynn saw Biddestone over the line in the 33rd over.

“We were delighted to get that result,” said Mitchell.

“The game was rained off at their place earlier in the season but they had put quite a lot of runs on us before the weather came in, so we knew that they were a very good side.

“George is in fantastic form at the minute. He got 147 the weekend before too, so we know that when he finds his form, he can make serious runs.

“He batted brilliantly and made what could have been quite a tricky run chase look quite straightforward.”

Joshua Bolton had earlier led the charge with the ball for Biddestone, taking 3-48, with Peter Woodland (55), Noah Cooper-Llanes and Kieran Smith the only Cheltenham batsman to pass 20.

Mitchell added: “I think it was a decent enough track for batting but all our bowlers did really well.

“We said at tea that we thought 220 was about a par score, so to get them out for around 180 was a very good effort.”

Elsewhere, Kevin Iles (62) and Jake Tillyer (51) both made half-centuries as Goatacre secured a thrilling five-run win at Gloucester City Winget.

That allowed the Goats to post a total of 198-7 before Ed Wilkins (3-38) helped end the Gloucester reply just short as they were bowled out for 193 in the penultimate over.

Chippenham scored more than 300 runs at Lechlade but that was not enough to prevent them falling to a five-wicket defeat to the new league leaders.

Darryl Losper smashed 121 and skipper Brad Dawson added 61 as Chippenham posted 302-6.

The visitors struggled to make the same impact with the ball, though, and Lechlade scraped over the line with three balls to spare, finishing on 303-5.

Captain David Cope’s knock of 73 was in vain for Burbage & Easton Royal as they were beaten by seven wickets at Thornbury.

Cope had led his side to a total of 203 all out but Thornbury needed just 37 overs to chase that down for the loss of three wickets.