Bristol-based Grendel Cricket Club produced an outstanding performance, chasing a total of 301 to beat Bath Hospitals in Division 2 of the Saturday Competition, with victory coming off the last ball of the game.

James Neville (83) and Mark Kenny (32) gave the Chessmen an ideal platform in the run chase, with a first-wicket stand of 75.

The loss of three quick wickets saw the tempo of the innings drop, before a 60-run fourth-wicket partnership.

For the second occasion there followed another mini-collapse as Grendel slipped to 229 for 7, with overs running out.

Then wicketkeeper Chris Thomas (31) and Peter Edwards (34) shared an unbroken eighth-wicket stand of 72.

Bath Hospitals had made their highest total in the Conference, thanks to Zimbabwean debutant Craig Heath (140) and Tom Grimshaw (61 not out) sharing a 169-run third-wicket partnership

In Division 2 of the Sunday Conferences, newcomers Paz CC successfully chased a total of 296 to beat Chew Stoke by six wickets.

The Paz opening batsman Rehmann Butt (147) and Adnan Malik (73) gave the visitors the impetus and, despite a late mini-collapse, the Bristol-based side got home with five overs to spare.

In the Sunday Premier League, Keynsham beat Brislington to win their third game in succession and take an outright lead in the table following Midsomer Norton's defeat at home to Bath.

Keynsham won by 126 runs in the A4 derby. Dave Burston top scored with 52 for the Ks, sharing a second-wicket stand of 57 with Sam Wheller (22).

Brislington's final total of 206 for 9 was given a final boost with late contributions from Nick Lowe 27 and Alex Taylor 22.

Midsomer Norton failed to rise to the Bath challenge, having been set 177 to win, with only Nick Potter, against his old club, offering major resistance with an innings of 41 to follow up his four wickets with the ball.

Knowle enjoyed victory in their first match of the Sunday Season with a comfortable seven-wicket success at home to winless Hinton Charterhouse.

Mark Tadgell took four wickets as the Somerset-based side were limited to 146, and the Broadwalkers reached their target with few scares, Chris Green top scoring with 41.

In Sunday Conference Division 1, Les Hubbard put in a virtuoso performance with 79 from the bat and bowling figures of 3-8 in Keynsham 2nds' five-wicket victory at home to Purnells.

Saltford Fairway also made a winning start, with a narrow two-wicket win away at Dunkerton thanks to Jamie Pattimore hitting 75.

Aiden Taynton excelled with the ball with 3-14 in eight accurate overs of medium pace.

Whitchurch completed a triumvirate of wins for South Bristol sides, thrashing Frome by 176 runs.

Rob Bailey, making his debut on a Sunday for Whitchurch, top scored with 73.

Brendan Sheppard, with 107, and Richard Nicholls, with 49 plus 4 for 32, were the major influences in Headley Park's 69-run victory away at Clevedon.

In Division 2, it was a winning start for Bitton, back in the division after a 12-month absence, Ian Dixon top scoring with 112 against Kilmersdon. Promoted Old England Bristol Sikhs also won in week one at Winford.

In Division 3, Failand and Portbury, so often slow starters to a season, made amends with a win over Grendel by four wickets.

Lyndon Prendergast was the lynchpin in their successful run chase, scoring a half-century, after Courtney Meecham and Rob Andrews had each taken four wickets.

Perennial fast starters to the season Churchways got off to winning ways with a six-wicket win at Harptree Villages. Rich Wiltshire top scored with 75 not out as the East Bristol side reached their target of 137 with eight balls to spare.

Blagdon teenager Cameron Hastie hit a superb 125, a maiden century in the Sunday Conference, to ensure the Blades beat Barrow Gurney by five wickets.

Elsewhere in the Saturday Conference, Backwell Flax Bourton, newly promoted to the top flight, threw away a prime opportunity after reducing Stratton on Fosse to 29 for 5. They ended up dismissing the visitors for 167. Henry Acreman (5-26) and Steve Curnow (4-15) were the pick of the home side's bowlers. But Bourton's batting was unable to support their bowlers' endeavours, falling well short of their target at 121 for 7.

Dyrham & Hinton did not have to slip out of second gear in beating Old Bristolians Westbury 3rds by seven wickets. The latter never properly recovered from losing two early wickets.

Opener Simon Eakins top scored with 31 and, despite 27 from both Ian Gorham and Tim Parnell, a total of 145 was not adequate as Dyrham's Kevin Sibley, who earlier had taken 3-14, top scored with 51 not out.

Wrington brushed aside the challenge of newly-promoted Saltford Fairway with a comfortable seven-wicket win at the Recreation Ground.

In Division 2, Brislington 3rds raced to a victory target of 154, inside 19 overs, for the loss of just two wickets away at Bath Exiles.

Stanton Drew beat their new ground-sharing tenants, Knowle West by four wickets. Gary Smart was the difference between the two sides, hitting 68 as the Droopers chased down 121 to win.

Weston-super-Mare won their second successive match of the season in emphatic fashion, beating Bristol by 65 runs at Devonshire Road.

The visitors, chasing 158 to win, recovered from the loss of an early wicket, but the dismissal of the influential Simon Moorcroft for 28, one of four wickets for the impressive Seagulls opening bowler Ricky Bissex, turned the game.

Whitchurch also claimed their second win of the season to affirm their early-season credentials as one of the fancied teams in the division with a six-wicket win over newly-promoted Shoscombe at Norton Lane with 18 balls to spare.

In Division 3, East Bristol side Churchways sneaked home by two wickets with 11 balls to spare in a low-scoring match against Stratton on Fosse 2nds.

Newly-promoted Midsomer Norton 3rds came unstuck in their first game of the season as they were dismissed for just 99 in a seven-wicket defeat at the hands of Dyrham and Hinton 2nds.

Harptree Villages began their season in some style, beating Old England Bristol Sikhs by four wickets.

The visitors were undone by a fine spell of bowling from the Harps' 18-year-old James Hogarth (8 overs, 4 maidens, 4 wickets and 7 runs).

In Division 4, it was a bad day for newly-promoted Midsomer Norton 4ths, who like their 3rd team, were dismissed for just 99 at the hands of Old Bristolians Westbury 4ths.

Midsomer Norton Methodists, on the other hand, triumphed by 17 runs at home to Nailsea, their second win this season. Skipper Stuart Green took four wickets in one over, including a hat-trick.

Whitchurch A endured a day to forget, being dismissed for just 32 in a 10-wicket defeat to Shepton Mallet.

In Division 5, Easton Cowboys, who failed to win a match in 2008, won by 12 runs against Avonside in their first match of 2009.

Victory was down to the visitors' bowlers, Rob Tinkler taking 5 for 41 as Avonside chasing 133 to win, were dismissed inside 25 overs. Ross Simkins had taken five wickets for the Riverbankmen

Brislington 4ths' last-wicket pair (Clive Peters and 14-year-old Harrison White) scampered two runs off the last ball to beat Exiles 2nds.

A Keynsham side, which, excluding its captain, had an average age of 14, triumphed over an equally young Bitton side by 190 runs in the Avon Valley derby.

A captain's innings of 41 from Nailsea 4ths' Keith Parsons, in his first game in charge of 'the Grovemen', saw the home side to a narrow two-wicket victory in the North West Somerset derby against Wrington 2nds.