Wellington Cricket Club

The latest local derby was an evenly matched affair that ended in a draw at Courtland Road last weekend with honours fairly evenly matched. This was Sampford Arundel’s first visit to Wellington since 2000 when they were despatched for just 32.

David Derrick opted to bat on winning the toss and Paul Short and Chris Kittow added 33 for the first wicket helped somewhat by the loose bowling that Sampford Arundel served up, indeed they bowled 20 wides on the day.
Kittow again showed his promise with the bat until he was bowled by a ball that never got above stump base height. Don Davey was the bowler and he bowled manfully for Sampford, taking 2-56 in 14 overs.

Alec Short joined his younger brother and they added 46 in good time as both timed the ball nicely. Short jnr with 31 was unlucky to be dismissed as he was bowled by one that caught a fair portion of his boot on the way. Oliver Defew took the wicket as he claimed 1-57 in 10 overs.

Short snr made 22 before Don Davey yorked him. This saw Wellington at 100-3 and they were in need of some impetus and it came through Kevin Crout and Gary Tillett who smote a 73 run fourth wicket partnership between them. These runs were made in good time and the momentum they built up affected Sampford Arundel in the field as the visitors lost their momentum and made unforced errors.

Tillett made a supportive 17 as Crout made his maiden Wellington fifty with a fine 66no being recorded by the left-hander. His best shot was the perfectly straight six that crashed into the sightscreen on the full – a great shot.
Rupert Green joined Crout late on and they got through to 191-4 at tea.

Wellington had early reward as Andy Mitchell removed Barry Manley stumped by Alec Short in what was a good piece of glovework by Wellington’s keeper. Mike Jarman and Rob Chave got together to settle down Wellington’s early breakthrough, but when Gary Tillett came on and bowled Jarman as he tried to play across the line Wellington had doubled their advantage.

Had the home side taken the chances offered to them the outcome of the game could have been so different, but Wellington proceeded to make a right hash of several chances and this allowed Chave and Vince Milton to put on 85 for the third wicket and with it use up valuable time so as to ensure that their team would save the game.

Milton made a solid 34 that saw him being watchful at times, but when he did open his shoulders he planted the ball into the Court three times. Eventually Alex Trott’s second spell removed him for what had been a good knock.
Chave made 63, his second half-century in local derby matches in three seasons – he hit the ball hard and he too hit one over and into the Court.

He was out when Chris Kittow held onto a great chance in the deep that saw him have to come in some way and he took the ball low down to the ground. This was Paul Short’s first of four wickets as he returned 4-34 in 9 overs. He caused Sampford Arundel some shaky moments as their score dipped from 121-2 to 134-6, but Steve Windsor and Nigel Dobson held firm to draw the game for their team and so honours were shared in this latest instalment of the Wellington v Sampford Arundel fixture.

Wellington 2nd XI endured another disappointing day in Division Two of the Somerset League Reserves competition with the bat as the teenage partnership of Alex Sparks and Guy Murray was all that saved the team from been out for a sub-100 total.

The score dipped to 68-7 with Burge taking 5-25 and only Barry Salter, back with Wellington after several years of playing for Taunton St Andrews, with 18 and James Dyke with 22 got any sort of start for Wellington in the top order.
The game was slipping away when Sparks and Murray came together and added 39 for the eighth wicket. Murray made a personal best of 22 and Sparks again batted calmly and collectively and was last man out for 40.

Wellington would need to perform with the ball as they did at Minehead the previous week and Alex Trott, on debut, gave Wellington a great start with a wicket in his first over, but TSA skipper Bushen (43) and Jennings (54) added 81 to dampen Wellington’s enthusiasm.

There was a sting in the tail though as TSA went from 83-1 to 120-5 as Denis Fullstone claimed 2-9, but Wellington were unable to apply enough pressure from this point due to lack of runs, another 30 or 40 runs would have been useful in the circumstances, but Wellington went down by four wickets and it is now four straight losses for the Red and Blacks second string.

They took 12 points from the game and Taunton St Andrews, promoted out of Division Three (SW) last season, took 35 back to the county town with them.

Wellington travelled to the Civil Service club on Saturday knowing that they could not afford to lose to the team that was place one place below them in Division One of the Somerset League.

Outcasts opted to bat first on a hard dry track and they acquitted themselves well as Wellington’s only wicket in the first 25 overs came when Glinn top edged Tom Trott and Stuart Currall accepted an easy chance.Wellington then had to toil somewhat as Jackson with 67 and Pengelly with 32 added 70 for the second wicket. Adrian Lee bowled with good line and length and passed the bat often, but was not rewarded with a wicket.

Gary Tillett brought Wellington rewards with his 3-50 in 12 overs. He trapped both Jackson and Pengelly in front of the stumps and he stemmed the flow of runs at the right time for Wellington. Tom Trott came back on and claimed a wicket with the first ball of his spell and he ended up with 3-29 in 8 overs.
Wellington has reigned things in, but were still needing the thick end of 200 to win and this would not be easy.

However, it was made to be easier than was thought at tea, Mark Salter and Rob Moysey put on a well played 87 run opening partnership. Moysey matched his score against Minehead the previous week in making 44 in 66 balls with 8 fours and skipper Salter made a fine 58 in 92 balls with 9 fours.

The Outcasts attack was considerably weakened when left-arm paceman Nurcombe was forced to retire with a leg injury and they were forced to re-think their strategy. Salter was given out caught when there appeared to be some doubt as to the legitimacy of the appeal, but it was upheld. This did not distract Wellington as Mark Saunders and Stuart Currall kept up the pressure with some fine shots and inspired running between the wickets.

Saunders – having found form in the Baker Cup demolition of Bishops Lydeard earlier in the week – made 23 in only 33 balls as he worked the ball around well. Currall stayed until the end and made a fine hand of 36no. His forceful style of batting garners runs when they are perhaps not available to others.

The turning point came when Tom Trott launched a quite unbelievable assault on Outcasts Australian off-spinner Pedler as he took 23 runs from his eighth over in his innings of 26 in 12 balls. Pedler had conceded 37 runs from seven overs, now he had let 60 runs go in 8 overs. Although Trott was out with 5 needed, Currall and Simon Rudd finished the job with style and a handsome six wicket win was Wellington’s and 31 points came with it. Four overs were spare when the winning total was passed.

This was an absolutely crucial win for Wellington and they must carry this forward to the home match with Chew Magna this weekend.

Wellington’s Sunday XI drew this friendly match at West Somerset League Division Two side Holford last weekend when they ended up some 30 runs short of victory.

Wellington opted to put the home side into bat and Holford romped away with Dray and Searle putting on 94 for the first wicket. George Coate and Andy Mitchell bowled well for no reward as Coate again suffered the agony of seeing a slip chance going down after he had done all the hard work.

Mitchell whipped up good pace and again deserved more than was on offer. Adrian Lee settled down after his first couple of overs had been costly, but the breakthrough came through Rob Moysey’s leg-spinners that realised 3-36 in 9 overs. Moysey obtained some sharp spin from the benign surface and got some real ‘rip’ at times.

Wellington were happy to restrict the home side to just over 200 after they had seemed all set to make around 250. Adrian Hearn kept things tight and Chris Kittow’s useful off-spin saw wickets fall late on as the teenager took 4-25. Holford settled on 218-7 after 42 overs.

Rob Moysey and Chris Kittow added 39 for Wellington’s first wicket before Moysey was bowled by Smith with a real creeper, Moysey made 21. Kittow carried on his promising start to his Wellington career with a composed 23 before spinner Stone found a way through his defence.

Alec Short, on the ground where he made 143 two years ago, made a more modest 29 this time round, but still found time to loft one out of the ground and into the corn field. At 120-5 Wellington were listing rather, but Adrian Hearn and Andy Perry got the bandwagon rolling again with a blockbuster stand of 65. Hearn made a career best 76 with four large sixes and Perry made a confident 18. Both hit the ball cleanly and solidly and had they kept going then who knows, but Hearn was caught and one ball later Perry was run out and from then on Wellington preserved their remaining wickets.

Minehead outplayed Wellington in a closely fought encounter in the Somerset League Reserves Division Two.

Wellington lost the toss and were put into bad on a green wicket. The Red and Blacks got off to a good start with opening batsmen Chris Close and Rupert Green finding the gaps effectively in a partnership worth 33.

Green was first to depart – bowled by Azharudin for 21. Into the crease came captain Bob Trott. Trott batted well finding the boundary ropes on a number of occasions. Wellington’s situation was looking promising until Close was caught behind for a patient 18.

From that moment Wellington’s batting collapsed with only youngster Alex Sparks (17) and Julian Jones (13) putting up any resistance. Wellington went from 67-1 to 120 all out with Trott top scoring with 26.
The pick of the Minehead attack was Clark who bowled a consistently good line and length taking 6-27 with his medium pacers.

After the poor batting performance Wellington had to put pressure on the Minehead Batsmen. They turned to the experience duo of Roy Hutchings and Simon Spalding in the hope of success. Spalding was the first to strike – bowling the Minehead opener with his accurate leg-spin.

Spalding (2-26) and Hutchings (2-21) continued to bowl a brilliantly economical spell putting pressure on the Minehead batsmen who struggled to 50-4 after 24 overs.

There was some good fielding, in particular from Chris Rudd who took a difficult catch backed up the away teams bowling. With the match poised for a close finish the Minehead wicket keeper Howard came to the crease and hit a quick fire 30 giving the home team the upper hand. With Wellington looking more and more like losing, Bob Trott decided to bring himself into the attack.

After a shaky opening start, Trott bowled an effective seven overs of his off-spin picking up 3-34, all of whom were clean bowled. This wasn’t enough for Wellington though as Minehead won with seven overs spare.

Wellington cantered into the Baker Cup Quarter-Finals and set up a home clash with WECCC (Somerset Division) side Bishops Lydeard on Monday 24th May by thrashing Brompton Ralph by nine wickets last Monday evening as all worked out well for the Red and Blacks.

Brompton Ralph – from the West Somerset League – opted to bat first and they got away well as Poole and Gill added 34 for the first wicket before Adrian Lee and Tom Trott pegged them back.
Lee induced Gill to try one big shot too many and he skied to Paul Saunders who held onto a good chance. Trott got rid of Poole as Stuart Currall pouched another excellent chance close in.

This pair gave way to Simon Rudd and Gary Tillett who kept up the pressure and as Brompton Ralph had to up the rate wickets tumbled. Rudd found himself on a hat-trick and collected 3-31 in his 5 overs. Tillett bowled with immaculate control as his figures of 2-14 in 5 overs show.
Brompton Ralph had limped to 91-8 in 20 overs.

Wellington batted with authority and no little skill as Rob Moysey and Mark Salter added 49 for the first wicket with Salter (22) crashing the ball behind square when fast bowler T.Gilbert pitched short, and Moysey carrying his bat for 37no as he gained in confidence while his innings developed.

Stuart Currall made 27no in 30 balls in trademark style as Wellington romped home with wickets and overs to spare to set up a quarter-final meeting with Bishops Lydeard on Monday 24th May. Team will be advised and this game starts at 6.15pm prompt.

Wellington Sunday XI recorded their first win of the season last weekend and at the same time got away to a great start in their Three Counties League Division Two campaign.

With Alec Short taking up the captaincy mantle for this style of game the Exeter based side opted to bat first and enjoyed some early gains as Silk and Sri Lankan player Sanjay put on 39 for the opening wicket.
Wellington’s opening pair of Andy Mitchell and Tom Trott bowled delightfully at times as both gained decent movement and the ball seamed about all over the shop. This pair went wicketless, but they bowled well in tandem.

The two Adrians – Lee and Hearn – broke the back of Whimple’s innings as they claimed 4-15 and 2-24 respectively. Lee bowled at brisk medium pace and deserved his rewards as control reigned supreme in his spell.
Hearn – fresh from his 1st team debut at Street the previous day – bowled another tight and demanding spell as he took 2-24 in 8 excellent overs.

Rob Moysey added some variety to the Wellington attack as his leg-spinners realised 1-36 in seven overs. Wellington had restricted Whimple to 139-7 in 40 overs although Williams with 38 and old pro Fletcher with 21 had given the visitors a glimpse of something larger than they ended up with.

Wellington’s reply started horribly as they found themselves 1-2 in the second over, but teenager Chris Kittow had the stability to make a most positive 42 as he anchored the Wellington innings brilliantly. He took the attack to Sanjay before been bowled, but he had done a fine job for Wellington.

James Dyke was looking set before a running catch from Silk accounted for him, but Kevin Crout and Alec Short added 43 for the fifth wicket and saw Wellington virtually home and dry. Crout made a personal best of 32 that saw him play himself in before using his feet well to the spinners to loft over the top, though this was how he eventually got out as he tried to loft Sanjay and was caught and bowled, but he had done a fine job for the Red and Blacks.

Tom Trott joined Alec Short and they saw Wellington home by five wickets with the skipper making 29no and Trott 12no as fifteen points came the home side’s way with Whimple taking nine.

Next week sees David Derrick back in charge of the team as friendly competition is resumed at Holford and the team next enter Three Counties League action at the end of June when Taunton Deane visit Courtland Road.

Wellington 2nd XI put up a most spirited attempt to beat early season Somerset League Reserves Competition Division Two leaders Bridgwater 3rd XI last weekend, but fell an agonising 27 runs short of the visitors total in the end.

Bridgwater 3rd XI opted to bat first on a good looking pitch and had 50 up in 12 overs and Wellington 2nd XI were looking like having another afternoon of ball chasing as had been the case at Brent Knoll the previous week, but Chris Rudd, who has started 2004 excellently with both bat and ball, induced Wood to play on and Wellington had their breakthrough.
Rudd wheeled away for 11 overs taking 3-43 as his mixture of off-spinner and legcutters worked well for the Red and Blacks.

Roy Hutchings, in his first league appearance of the season, delivered 12 successive overs for a cost of only 25 runs. He went wicketless, but as those who were present know he deserved so much more.
Skipper Bob Trott took up the attack when Hutchings gave way and he had a successful afternoon with 3-47 in 10 overs as Wellington’s fielding backed up the bowlers efforts on what was the warmest afternoon of the season so far.

Julian Jones, who had a great game all round, effected a fine stumping off of Bob Trott and capped this with a great leg side take from Guy Murray, who bowled a great spell at the death as he claimed 3-18 in 5 overs.
Wellington would have been happy to see Bridgwater only just creep past 180 in 45 overs having been 50 odd off only 12 overs.

Wellington needed a good start as they tackled the 184 needed, but found themselves 4-2 at the end of the second over as Devitt, who took 6-25 in total, was on top form.
The repair job was done by Bob Trott and Rupert Green who added 52 for the third wicket. Having seen off the openers Trott opened his shoulders against off spinner A.Skidmore, and launched him out of the ground for a huge six, Wellington’s skipper made a defiant 25.

Green played the supporting role as he contributed 19 to Wellington’s cause, looking set when he holed out to the deep mid-wicket fielder.
This induced another mini collapse as Wellington went from 56-2 to 63-5, but Alex Sparks and Julian Jones added 65 for the sixth wicket in fine style with Jones smashing 44 with three almighty sixes as he took the attack firmly to Bridgwater. Sparks made a composed 34 that was an excellent effort by the teenager and bodes so well for the future.
As he had done the week before he worked the ball around the field, finding the gaps well and hitting boundaries when the chance presented itself.

David Derrick lashed seven in nine balls and George Coate found a boundary in his six, but the rate was always rising and was beyond Wellington as they were dismissed for 156 with 7 balls left. This was an entertaining game of cricket all round and one that was played in the right spirit. Wellington 2nd XI have performed well with the bat despite having lost the opening two games they have played in 2004, but much can be drawn from the performances that is of an encouraging nature.

Wellington were comprehensively beaten by a strong Street side in the Somerset League Division One.

Wellington batted first on a glorious day, getting off to a fairly strong start with openers Mark Salter (23) and Rob Moysey (15) putting on a first wicket partnership of 34 before Moysey was bowled.

From here on Wellington struggled with only Simon Rudd putting up any real resistance, top scoring with 25. Strong batting from Gary Tillett at the death helped Wellington to a respectable total scoring 19 not out ably supported by Alec Short who made 16.

The highlight of the Wellington innings was Stuart Currall’s towering six, which flew over the sidescreen.

Wellington got off to a great bowling start with Tom Trott clean bowling the Street opener in his first over. Trott and Adrian Lee bowled economically and were unlucky on many occasions not to have got more wickets.

Trott should have had a break through, taking the wicket of Pope who clearly edged behind for Alec Short to take a good catch.
Unfortunately the umpire did not hear the sound and the batsman refused to walk. Pope went on to make a match-winning 107 not out.

Tillett and Moysey bowled tightly on a pitch that was favourable to the batsman with Alec Short keeping wicket to a high standard. Poor fielding enabled Street to race to victory going from 21-1 after 9 overs to 149-1 after 30.
The pick of the Wellington bowling attack was Tom Trott who took 1-28 who constantly beat the batsmen.

A new look Wellington 2nd XI travelled to Brent Knoll last Saturday and despite losing by 75 runs put up a great show and gave a good account of themselves in Division Two of the Somerset League Reserves Competition when taking on last season’s Division Three (NE) winners.

Brent Knoll opted to bat first on a cold windy day and Lewis and Cook lashed a 162 run opening stand 35 overs. Lewis made the highest ever individual score against Wellington 2nd XI as he made 138 and his partner made 44.
Favouring the short leg-side boundary Lewis planted the ball over it five times.

However Wellington did have a chance to break this stand before it ever really got going through George Coate who bowled a manful 12 over spell straight through for only 38 runs – a fine return in the circumstances. He got the edge of Lewis’ bat only to see it fly through the slips and on other occasions he induced doubt in their minds. The breakthrough finally came when Chris Rudd yorked Cook. In all he took 3-44 in 11 overs as he reigned in the home side’s free scoring.

Lewis was one of Rudd’s victims as George Coate held onto a high towering chance on the long-on boundary.
Skipper Bob Trott claimed the other wicket to fall he returned figures of 1-62 in 12 overs, he certainly bowled better than this.

Wellington’s strategy was one of point accrual rather than looking at the near 250 runs needed. Chris Close and Chris Rudd got the innings off to a solid start as 27 was posted for the first wicket before Close was trapped LBW by Brent skipper K.Morgan who bowled wicket-to-wicket taking 2-27 in 12 overs.

Rudd made it to an excellent 50 that combined hard hitting with manoeuvring the ball into the many gaps that were left in the field. In the end he was caught at deep mid-wicket and left the field knowing that he had the capacity to have made a century for sure, but it had been a fine hand played by Rudd.

Bob Trott played a classic sheet anchor role as he grafted for 16 and gave Rudd great support as they added 60 for the second Wellington wicket.Two wickets were then lost for 14 runs, but two gritty and spirited stands showed that Wellington had the heart for the fight. These partnerships added 76 runs to Wellington’s total and gave them the lion’s share of the 12 points they got from this game.

James Dyke and David Derrick put on 37 for the fifth wicket. Dyke whipped the ball to leg as is his liking and he made a fine 31. He had taken Cook for two fours in one over when he tried to whip over mid-wicket again and with the ball not getting up lost his middle peg, but Wellington’s vice-captain had done a good job for his team. Derrick with 8, supported Dyke well and his best offering to the stand was a perfectly straight six that crashed into the sightscreen on the full, Derrick was out on the same score as Dyke when he tried to hit over the mid-off region only to get an inside edge and lose his off-bail.

Enter Rupert Green and Alex Sparks who added an unbeaten 39 for the seventh wicket with some fine strokes and positive running. Sparks made 23no and Green 12no as they just missed out on the ninth batting point.

Wellington closed on 172-6 and will look back on this game as being one of great collective effort in difficult circumstances.