A FINE knock by Liam Gwynne helped Herefordshire beat Bedfordshire and reach the semi-finals of the Unicorn Minor Counties Knock-out Trophy.

Gwynne hit 76 off just 61 runs to help his side prevail by 18 runs in a rain-affected match.

Reduced to 25 overs a side, Bedfordshire put Herefordshire into bat after winning the toss.

And it seemed like it was a wise choice when Herefordshire teetered at 38-2 after losing the wickets of Matt Pardoe and Neil Pinner.

David Ball then went for 11 before Herefordshire upped the tempo thanks to an excellent partnership between Gwynne and Chris Whittock.

The pair put on 79 runs, with Whittock making nearly a run a ball before he was clean bowled by ex-England international Monty Panesar.

Gwynne then soon departed to leave Herefordshire on 133-5.

And another wicket soon went after Panesar removed Peter Burgoyne.

Some useful runs by Charlie Lowen at the end saw Herefordshire post 160-7 off their 25 overs.

In reply, Bedfordshire started slowly and Dan Conway removed both Ben Howgego and Callum Berrill to leave the hosts on 15-2.

Jamie McIlroy then took opener Charlie Thurston's wicket before George Thurstance and Andy Reynoldson steadied the flow.

Thurstance went when Gwynne caught his delivery off Ball's bowling before Luke Thomas soon went.

That left Bedfordshire on 46-5, but Reynoldson and Michael Pickard put on some useful runs before Pickard departed.

Ball then removed Nick Barden's wicket before danger man Reynoldson went after making a half century.

McIlroy and Conway then snapped up the last two wickets to ensure the win and seal a semi-final match against Devon on July 10.

Devon are also Herefordshire's opponents this week in a three-day championship match at Eastnor, starting on Sunday at 11am.