Taunton now sit 56 points adrift of safety in Premier 1 with three games to play after picking up a losing draw against Bath at Gipsy Lane.

Taunton won the toss and elected to bowl on Saturday and got an early reward as Matt Bulbeck opened the bowling at full throttle.

He had the first wicket down for 17 and the second for 46 before claiming the scalp of Robin Lett for 36. Bulbeck also claimed the fourth wicket with Bath’s score on 110 before Alasdair Easton, 2-31, got in on the action.

Ben Orr, 2-19, then claimed the next two wickets but that was when Bath started a fightback. Adam Kelly, batting at nine, hit 38 before eventually falling and the last two men in stayed unbeaten on 48 and 17 respectively, allowing Bath to post 253-9.

Taunton found themselves 54-2 in reply, but a partnership worth 76 between Jack Cooper, 84, and Chris Gange, 41, saw the home side get the scoreboard ticking over.

Once that pair were removed Taunton struggled to find runs but were resilient, most of the lower order spending significant amounts of time at the wicket for their scores.

By the end of the allocated overs Taunton were still hanging on, nine down and well behind, but good enough for a losing draw.

n TAUNTON Deane beat Weston-super-Mare by 36 runs in their clash at Weston.

Devon Conway hit 37 at the top of the order for Deane as they opened the batting but he had little support until Dave Reading came in at five.

Reading eventually reached 80 and by the time he left the crease there were 159 runs on the board.

24 down the order from Paul Robbins and 27 extras helped Deane to a competitive 194 by the time they were all out in the 52nd over.

When they got their chance with the ball Deane’s bowlers were disciplined and sent down 18 maidens between them.

Jack Leach claimed 2-15 from 12 overs, Jason Squire 2-28 from 12 and Pat Thomas 4-22 from 12. Depite the tight bowling display Weston still threatened to win it and they were helped by 38 extras, but ended up all out for 158 in the 55th over.

n TAUNTON St Andrews are just a point behind second placed Frocester in Premier 1 after victory by six wickets over Glastonbury.

Joe Wadham claimed 3-14 and Kevin Sedgbeer, Todd Barrett and Rob Contreras each grabbed two wickets as Glastonbury were bowled out for 133 in 47 overs.

In reply Luke Hawker, 36, and Brian Hoyle, 27, put on 90 for the first wicket before getting dismissed in quick succession.

Kevin Parsons batted at three and hit a steady 21 not out alongside twin brother Keith, 6no, to guide Saints to 136-4 in under 30 overs.

n BISHOPS Lydeard won emphatically on the road at Frome.

Lydeard were inserted by the hosts and got off to a flyer as Andrew Raymond hit 24, Andy Sapey, 41 and Gareth Bellamy 31. After those three were out though things got tougher for Lydeard and just 40 runs were added for the last six wickets.

Despite the lack of runs down the order Lydeard still posted 160 all out, with 24 runs in the extras column helping matters.

With the exception of Mark Dredge, 27, and Reece Croker, 29, Frome struggled in reply. The reason for their struggles was simple - Justin Hayward was in the form of his life with the ball.

Hayward claimed the first seven wickets to fall in the innings, allowed Brian Stone, 2-30, to have a moment in the sun and then returned to finish the job, ending with figures of 8-33.

Hayward saw Frome all out for 94, giving Lydeard victory by 66 runs.

n Minehead lost heavily at home to Bedminster on Saturday as they failed to stop the opposition batsmen profiting from a batsman friendly pitch.

Dan Bowditch was the pick of the Minehead bowlers, but even he was expensive, his 4-56 coming at a cost of six runs an over.

Despite Minehead taking nine wickets in the innings through Tom Wright, 2-64, Matt Sully, 1-59, Andrew Woodward, 1-20, and Bowditch they leaked a score of 312.

Given the pitch Minehead might have hoped to make a decent fist of the run chase and Wright started in promising form, hitting six boundaries on his way to 30.

Wright went at 30 though and no other top order batsman excelled themselves, with Gary Bennett and Steve Hayes the top performers with just 16 each.

It wasn’t until Sully came in at number eight that Minehead began to look capable of chasing 300 but by then it was too late.

Sully arrived at the crease with the score at 80-7 and didn’t leave until the end when he was the last man to fall, having hit 59, leaving Minehead all out for 178.

n TAUNTON 2nd XI lost by eight wickets to Cheltenham on Saturday.

Taunton batted first and reached 144 all out thanks to 34 from Joey Rose and 30 from George Cook.

Cook then took a wicket as Cheltenham replied, as did Jesse Hunt, but they were the only two wickets to fall as Cheltenham eased to 145-2.

Taunton St Andrews 2nd XI had their match at Knowle cancelled due to a flooded square.

Taunton Deane 2nd XI batted first against Weston-super-Mare and hit 242-6 from their 45 overs.

In reply Weston stayed with the rate and eventually reached 245-7 in the last over.

Minehead 2nd XI beat Bedminster by 30 runs at the Clanage after Craig Sully hit 127 and Jason Abbott 55 in Minehead’s 262-6.

Sherring featured with the ball as well, claiming 2-49 and Gavin Paviour took 3-38 as Minehead kept Bedminster to 232-9.