AN AMAZING spell of bowling from Paul Jones saw him take six wickets for no runs in the space of 13 balls, writes Mervyn Collins.

Bretforton's captain brought himself into the attack midway through Shipston's pursuit of 245 for victory at Station Road last Saturday and, in the space of four overs, the Cotswold Hills League Premier Division leaders had raced to another victory.

"The ball just swung straight from my first ball," Jones recalled. "It was incredible although I was rather disappointed that I didn't get a hat-trick!"

Shipston were left shellshocked as their innings was left in tatters at 73 all out in a game of rapidly fluctuating fortunes.

Incredible

Jones took a wicket with his first ball and three more followed in an incredible opening over. And, what made it all the more staggering was that all the batsmen were clean bowled!

The visiting side had by now slumped from a healthy 68-4 to 68-8 and were glad to see the back of Jones as Alex Evans took his turn from the opposite end.

The end of the over saw the ball again in Jones's hand and he grabbed his fourth wicket in the space of five balls before ending the match by clean bowling his sixth victim as Shipston were dismissed for 73 and record their heaviest ever league defeat.

It was the second time in the afternoon that the London Roaders had been torn apart by the burly all-rounder.

The two sides were similarly placed midway through their respective innings with Bretforton 69-4 after 20 overs.

However, with Jones at the wicket, anything could happen and he turned things around in typically ebullient fashion with an awesome knock of 85 that included seven 6s and three 4s.

And, it wasn't only Jones who inflicted misery on Shipston as Craig Griffiths blasted 48 off just 26 balls - an innings that included four 6s and three 4s as Bretforton raced past 200.

Shipston needed a solid start if they were going to threaten the home side's score but, when Darren Key removed both Julian Morris and Howard Bentham for ducks, the leaders were on top.

Matt Corby and Simon Wickson steadied the rocky ship until Key dismissed the former.

Alex Evans then removed Wickson paving the way for what must have been one of the most potent stints of bowling in the history of the Cotswold Hills League - if not the game itself!

Jones failed to work his magic with the ball 24 hours later when Bret-forton crashed out of the npower Village Cup at the hands of Astwood Bank.

Saturday's star, though, did shine with the bat and scored almost half his side's runs when hitting 70 in a disappointing all-out score of 143.

The visitors eased to an eight-wicket win to book a place in the Worcester-shire, Herefordshire and Powys group final.