BISHOPS Castle survived a ‘brain freeze’ to eventually complete what had looked set to be a routine Shropshire League Division Four win over Cae Glas with just a single ball to spare.

Having restricted the visitors to 90-8 off a rain-reduced 30 overs, Castle were cruising at 73-1 in reply but lost six wickets for just 14 runs as they threatened to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

George Rayment (2no) and skipper Simon Palmer (3no) eventually guided them over the line off the penultimate ball on a short but exciting afternoon at the Manor Ground.

A relieved Palmer admitted: “We kept them down to a reasonable total and were cruising at 73-1 but then somehow we were 87-7 in the last over!

“In fairness, they bowled quite well but we just had a bit of a brain freeze, started by a silly run out.

“But we managed to get over the line and it’s a crucial 20 points because that win puts up into mid-table.”

Castle could have slipped into the bottom two with defeat but are now 29 points clear of second-bottom Cae Glas after a weekend in which most of the games in the division fell to the weather.

Palmer added: “I think we should be okay. We ‘bottomed out’ a bit last season and got the bad results out of the way.

“Now we have realised we can win games in this division, and while we’re not going to go up, I don’t think we are going to go down either.

“We will be aiming for fifth or sixth place and having five of our next six games at home will help.”

Castle were also rewarded for their extensive efforts to get the game on, with Palmer adding: “Last Monday, we put the covers on and they didn’t come off until Friday teatime.

“We did some work on Friday and if we hadn’t done that, we wouldn’t have played. It rained again on Saturday morning but we asked Cae Glas if they wanted to come, and they did.”

Caitlin Perry (2-14), Paul Moulder (2-15) and Palmer (2-32) all struck to restrict the visitors to 90-8, with Andrew Lewis’s 38 helping secure victory despite that late wobble.

Elsewhere, home games for Church Stretton and Corvedale in Divisions Four and Six were rained off, as was Ludlow’s Premier Division trip to Quatt.

The weather was better in Ludlow as the Burway side’s Second XI hammered Quatt.

William Wood (50) hit three sixes in an opening partnership of 82 with Matthew Hawes (47) to help Ludlow post 155-8 from a rain-reduced 30 overs.

In reply, stunning bowling from Mackenzie Swift (5-19) and Danny Bradley (4-22) skittled Quatt for 70 inside 16 overs to wrap up a quickfire 85-run win.