POTTERNE took another step towards WEPL Premier One title glory following their four-wicket victory over Clevedon at the weekend.

Neil Clark’s men travelled to north Somerset to take on last year’s champions in their own back yard, and emerged as comfortable winners in the end thanks to a first innings squeeze on the home batsmen.

Opener Harry Ellison struck 75 before being bowled by Thomas Cullen, and with no other Clevedon player going on past 41, Potterne were able to restrict their hosts to one run shy of 200.

Admitting he was relieved to have the decision of choosing what to do first taken out of his hands, Clark said: “It was quite a difficult pitch and I wasn’t sure what to do first if I’d won the toss, so luckily I lost the toss.

“Normally, if you bat first and score 200 there, you win the game. But we’ve been chasing all year and winning, so I didn’t mind losing the toss.

“To keep them to 199, we were really happy with that.

“After that, we just had to bat sensibly, not lose wickets early and give ourselves half a chance, which we did.”

Following a shaky opening to their innings – Potterne found themselves at 19-2 early on – captain Clark and Cullen started to rebuild, and while Cullen was dismissed for 22, the Potterne skipper made his way to 67 before being trapped LBW by Wiltshire team-mate Jacob Lintott.

Graham Wiseman’s 44 helped the visitors continue their ascent towards their target, and the chase was complete with 10 overs to spare.

Clark was delighted with his team’s intensity and ability to execute their favourable game plan when searching for runs on a difficult surface.

He said: “We got a few little rain interruptions, which didn’t help, but we seem to be chasing really well this year.

“There’s a lot of confidence throughout the team, people are batting sensibly and batting positively.

“When that happens, it means the scoreboard is always moving and that makes run chasing a lot easier.

“It was a really difficult pitch to score on, especially against spin, but we were really positive, we had a clear plan throughout, and there were always boundary options available to us.

“We fully committed to those shots, and when you do that, it puts the bowlers under pressure.

“That means you get a few more bad balls which you’re able to score off.

“We’re making it look quite easy at the moment, which is nice.”