Wellington Cricket Club

[img_assist|fid=8|thumb=1|alt=Bob and Thom after their mighty partnership]

It was particularly apt on Father’s Day that Bob and Thom Trott grabbed the headlines in this stunning win for Wellington’s Sunday XI as they added an unbroken 184 runs for the second wicket in making personal club bests with the bat in terms of returning 84no and 101no respectively. No praise is too high for the way that they batted as they punched into the gaps well and hit the wayward ball for four. Trott jnr hit 13 fours in his maiden century and Trott snr was not that far behind with nine boundaries to his credit.

Bagborough – from Division Three of the Somerset League – had no answer to this monumental effort whose foundations had been laid after David Derrick had opted to put the visitors into bat.
Adrian Lee removed Hooper with the score on 13, but then Clarke with 50 and Minchin with 23 added 76 for the second wicket as Wellington rather went into auto-pilot mode in the field.

It took a good catch from Adrian Lee at short fine-leg off of Bob Trott to break the stand. Trott took 2-35 in 11 tidy overs of off-spin with son Thom obliging to remove dangerman Clarke.
Kevin Symons – making a welcome return to Sunday cricket – pounded away for 11 overs, taking 1-43 as Bob Trott accepted a rising chance at second slip.

Adrian Lee returned late on to end up with 4-45 in 11 overs and Chris Kitto found a breakthrough as Sam Cook stumped Bagborough skipper Martin. Cook kept well on his return to the side as Bagborough totalled 189-8 at tea.

Wellington lost Kevin Crout with the score at seven, but the Trott act then came on and added a massive stand that was a testament to Bob and Thom’s powers of resolve and application as well as sheer ability – congratulations to them both.

Despite their large stand this is not a club record as the unbroken 202 runs added by Mark Salter and James Clist against Cutcombe in 1993 still constitutes the club’s highest friendly second wicket stand, but this is a small detail!!

Wellington’s Sunday XI match at West Somerset League Division Two side Knapp was illuminated by the 139no that Alec Short scored in partnership with teenager Chris Kitto who scored his maiden Wellington half-century.The pair added 154 runs together and in the process smashed the club’s best friendly fourth wicket stand by 18 runs as they eclipsed the 136 runs added by Chris Rudd and Keith Colman against Epping in 1996.

Knapp opted to bat and they wasted no time in utilising the short boundaries and fast outfield as runs flowed from the bats of Sam Wadham and Lee Denslow after Adrian Lee and Andy Mitchell had struck early on. Lee returned the impeccable figures of 3-38 in 8 overs at a time when the ball was flying everywhere.

Paul Short’s teasing off-spin mix was always dangerous and he used the quicker ball very well indeed. Alex Trott – improving all the time on his return to the game – took a steepling caught and bowled chance and bowled better than his 1-38 in 7 overs might seem on the face of it.

Wellington used Chris Kitto and Chris Cherry late on and neither of these members of the Under 15s team disappointed as Kitto removed Indian player Gurban and Cherry whipped up some good pace. Adrian Hearn took over as keeper late on and kept quite tidily indeed with a couple of dismissals to his credit.

Wellington lost a wicket at 8 before the Short brothers – Paul and Alec – got going well and looked set before the stand was ended abruptly when Short jnr was run out from a direct hit. Kevin Crout arrived at the crease and made an easy looking 11 until he too was run out and at 67-3 Wellington had a mountain to climb. Then Short snr and Kitto played imperiously as they worked the ball into the numerous gaps well for ones and twos as well as launching the ball over the boundaries often.

Wellington had a chance of overhauling the 253 needed if they had batted through, but Gurban came into the attack and ended the merry spree with a four wicket burst, but Short made it to the end of the innings unbeaten on 139no and with it had his second century in this fixture in successive seasons. He made 114 last season, and this games century was the fifth highest individual score in a friendly fixture for the Wellington club and only four behind his personal best of 143 that was made at Holford in 2002.

Wellington 2nd XI were no match for Staplegrove 2nd XI as they were bundled out for just 68 in 27 overs. Skipper Bob Trott, who elected to bat, was the only batsman to reach double figures against an accurate home attack. Chris Close was the first wicket to fall when he was brilliantly caught by Wayne Lawrence with a diving catch in the covers in the seventh over. Amazingly this was the only wicket to fall in the match that was not clean bowled. This emphasised the accuracy of the Staplegrove attack in particular and the failure of the batsmen to play straight. Wickets tumbled at regular intervals with extras being the highest score at 12. Hardiman returned 2 for 11,Cunningham 2 for 22, and Parsons 2 for 10. The most successful bowler was Lawrence with 8-3-18-4

Staplegrove had 15 overs to bat before tea and played cautiously losing Wayne Wiltshire for 21. After the break the scoring rate increase as Keith Templeman (20) and Trump (24) reached their target in the 25th over. Roy Hutchings conceded 10 runs from 11 overs and finished with 12-6-21-1

Staplegrove take 35 points and Wellington 4

This was just about as poor an all-round performance as the Red and Blacks had put together for some time as they were soundly beaten by a Staplegrove side that seemed to have more hunger on the day as the home side went down by 101 runs in Division One of the Somerset League last Saturday.

Opting to put Staplegrove into bat Wellington would have wanted to use the new ball to it’s fullest effect, instead P.Parsons and Hodge helped themselves to 83 in 12 overs as Wellington’s bowling was ragged and wayward.
Gary Tillett pulled things back with two wickets in his second over, one of which was a great one handed reflex catch by Tom Trott at slip.

Matt Coleman removed Prescott and at 95-3 Wellington had fought their way back into the game, but this joy was short-lived as G.Parsons (48) and the combative Ward with 59 added 75 for the fourth wicket as Staplegrove picked up the pace again to finish on 218-7 at tea. Gary Tillett with 2-50 and Kevin Symons with 2-35 were Wellington’s best bowlers on the day, but the effort with the ball won’t linger in the memory.

Wellington’s effort with the bat disappointing as well as only Alec Short with 21, Simon Rudd with 42 and Chris Rudd with 11 made double figures. Short faced 79 balls in his gritty stay as he held the innings together early doors.
With Simon Rudd he added 43 for the third wicket – the best such offering of the Wellington innings – as Rudd hit eight pleasant fours.

Rudd was joined by his younger brother and they added 28 before the roof caved in on Wellington’s innings, both departed through top class caught and bowled chances been accepted and the score slid from 105-4 to 117 all out with leg-spinner Pantling taking 4-17 and left-arm spinner Ward 2-8 to compliment the earlier efforts of Penny, Dunn and Bird.

Wellington were all out with fully 8.3 overs left to bat, this was indeed a very disappointing effort by the home side. Staplegrove took 35 points and Wellington only 12. Wellington are starting to slide down the table after been comfortable in mid-table only a fortnight ago and they must not repeat a performance of this quality again or it could be a hard second half of the season for the Red and Blacks and with a testing trip to Ilton next week they must dig deep right away.

Wellington’s run of successive victories chasing targets of around 200 was ended last Saturday when they ended up an agonising 20 runs short at Peasedown St John, near Bath as the villagers leapt over the Red and Blacks in the process in Division One of the Somerset League.

Mark Salter opted to put the home side into bat and Good and Denning started smartly enough with an opening stand of 32 before Adrian Lee dipped one through Good’s defence and had a wicket for his troubles.
Simon Rudd and Gary Tillett joined the attack and stemmed the run flow as Rudd’s tidy medium pace and Tillett’s quickish off-spinners combined well together.

At 91-4 in 29 overs PSJ had some work to do, but their considerable Indian influence (they had three such players playing on the day) dug them out of a hole.
Alhari – who was playing when the sides first met as long ago as 1997 – made 89no and kept the innings together. His partner Roy lashed 41no in 24 balls and made all the difference in the end.

Gary Tillett took 2-42 in 12 overs and Tom Trott 2-70 in his 12 as PSJ made it past 200 by tea, having taken the Wellington attack for 76 runs in the last ten overs.

Wellington’s reply could not have got off to a more disastrous start as Mark Salter padded up to a straight one from Gullock and was caught plumb in front.
Rob Moysey and Stuart Currall steadied things down as they added 16 in 11 overs, but the miserly nature of the PSJ attack meant that the run rate required late on was always rising.

Currall was out caught at point and Wellington were in all sorts of trouble, but Tom Trott joined Mosyey and they added 91 for the third wicket in style. Moysey made 47 and Trott 45 as they quelled the PSJ attack to such a degree that five bowlers had been used in 30 overs.
Both played pleasing shots all around the wicket and had they carried their partnership past 100 Wellington could well have been on course despite their poor start, but the score dipped to 136-5 and the game was slipping away.

But Tom Collard with a punchy 14 and Adrian Hearn with another livewire knock of 16 added some impetus to the latter part of Wellington’s innings. Together with Simon Rudd (14no) and Alec Short (19) Wellington gained a ninth batting point and closed on 187-8 in 45 overs.

This was a game that was eminently winnable for Wellington, but they just pulled up short and must go into their local derby with a struggling Staplegrove side next week in the knowledge that they are chasing down scores quite nicely, but that a little more work needed to be done to add this one to their tally.

PSJ took 33 points to Wellington’s 14.

Wellington 2nd XI recorded their first win of the season taking a maximum 35 points in an exciting high scoring encounter at home to Belvedere 2nd XI.There were some fine individual performances with Matt Colman’s 62 not out, Alex Sparks 40, Chadwick’s 65 and Simon Spalding’s 3 for 23. However the man of the match was Chris Rudd who scored an undefeated 53,captured 4 for 22, took 2 catches and assisted in a run out.

Bob Trott won the toss and elected to bat but after striking 2 fours was caught for 10. Barry Salter (14) and James Dyke (17) took the score to 54 for 4 in the 17th over. Matt Colman playing his first game of the season was soon showing his undoubted class as he was joined at the crease by 14 year old Alex Sparks.The pair added 77 in 19 overs as Belvedere tried numerous bowling changes to unsettle the pair. Matt Huxtable, a fast opening bowler, was brought back into the attack to try and reduce the run flow and Sparks, although hit on the body a couple of times, hit 2 boundaries before the bowler was withdrawn from the attack. Sparks drove the ball beautifully before being bowled for 40, which brings his seasons total to 191 with an average of nearly 50. He is a fine batsman and will greatly improve his power as he gets older.

Chris Rudd joined Colman and after a slowish start really went after the Belevedere bowling. In 9 overs the score rose by 87 as Rudd slammed 2 sixes and 7 fours to remain undefeated on 53. Colman was prepared to play the anchor role and finished on 62 not out with a six and 6 fours. Extras contributed 16 as Wellington’s innings closed on 219 for 5 with a maximum 10 batting points

Belvedere showed their intentions from the beginning although a mix up between the openers led to a run out in the sixth over with the score on 31.Chadwick was in imperious form, striking the ball cleanly with assistance from an excellent wicket and fast outfield. Simon Spalding removed Gadsden for 27 (5 fours) to stem the flow with the score on 75 in just 16 overs with a sharp chance being accepted by keeper Julian Jones.

Dave Huxtable joined Chadwick and the pair began to bring the game around to the visitors as they raced along at 7 an over. The pair added 62 before Huxtable was LBW to Chris Rudd. His 29 included 26 in boundaries.

Simon Spalding, who switched ends after 9 overs then took the key wicket of Chadwick. The batsman was surprised by a delivery that bounced unexpectedly and presented a straightforward catch to Chris Rudd in the covers. His innings of 65 contained 11 fours and a six. Whilst at the wicket a visitors victory looked likely and his dismissal changed the course of the game.

Julian Jones took another sharp catch and a brilliant stumping as wickets tumbled. James Dyke ran 30 yards to hold on to a steepling chance from Allen and the lower order were unable to keep up the momentum as the last wicket fell with 7 overs remaining and the visitors short by 45 runs. Simon Spalding returned 12-3-21-3, Bob Trott 6.1-0-52-2 and Chris 7-3-22-4.

Wellingtons fielding was excellent with all chances held and good performances from Guy Murray and Chris Kitto (both 14). A far cry from last week when 6 catching opportunities were lost. Wellington can take heart from this victory with an impressive performance from all departments.

This was a disappointing defeat for Wellington’s Sunday XI as their bowling failed to defend a 200 run target at Courtland Road last weekend with Somerset League Division Three side Langport making hay in the hot and sunny conditions.

David Derrick opted to bat first and despite a wicket going down with the score on one Rob Moysey and Alec Short added 98 runs for the second wicket in good style. Moysey cracked 58 and Short 36 as little troubled the pair with Langport’s best bowler Shillabeer taken out of the attack with a muscle injury.

Short was bowled by Fulford and Moysey was stumped off of Strang’s bowling to leave Wellington not looking quite so comfy and at 145-6 their impetus was in danger of being lost, but James Dyke and Adrian Lee answered the call and made 39 and 39no respectively. Both players played with gusto and added 53 runs to Wellington’s cause as the Red and Blacks closed on 199-7 at tea.

Wellington were hopeful of having enough on the board to make Langport think long and hard, but more poor catching and some wayward bowling made the job all too easy for the visitors. Shillabeer was let off some four times and made Wellington pay to the tune of 79 well hit runs.

His partner Watts was more circumspect, but he totalled 40 as they added 121 for the opening Langport wicket and the game was slipping away from Wellington despite Chris Kittow getting Shillabeer out from the first ball of his spell.

Paul joined the fray and made a well constructed 39no and despite Rob Moysey getting rid of Watts caught and bowled Paul and Woolston saw Langport home with 2.4 overs left. Wellington were not at their best and need to see that such a performance in the field is not repeated again.

In a nail biting encounter Wellington were defeated by Chew Magna in a frantic finale in North Somerset.

Wellington captain Bob Trott won the toss and elected to bat on a glorious day. However the red and blacks got off to the worst possible start after confusion led to opening batsman Chris Close being run out with two on the board.

This brought Chris Kittow to the crease and he and opener Rupert Green steadied the ship with a solid partnership. Green – who was striking the ball with some finesse departed for a sparkling 44 which included an amazing 10 boundaries.

There were contributions through the middle order with Barry Salter hitting a composed 32, James Dyke hitting an aggressive 28 which included a big six and youngster Alex Sparks who once again flourished – hitting a fluent 36 not-out. Adrian Hearn backed up Sparks hitting a quick fire 21 which included two giant sixes. This was Wellington’s best batting performance of the season – reaching 200 for the first time with all batsman contributing to the total. The pick of the Chew Magna bowlers were Lyons (3-33) and Chard (3-46).

Wellington got off to a shaky bowling start with the Chew Magna batsman finding the boundary on a number of occasions.

Opening bowler Alex Trott was unfortunate not to gain a wicket with a variety of medium pace. However – Wellington recovered with Simon Spalding bowling a brilliant 12 over spell, which only went for 15 runs and was unlucky not to get more than one wicket.

Bob Trott’s off-spin challenged the Chew Magna batsman taking 2-42, which included a superb, caught and bowled. Chris Kittow was unlucky not to have gained a wicket with his first ball when the batsman attempted to lash out but didn’t cleanly connect and he was dropped. However Kittow clean bowled the batsman two balls later.

After 25 overs Wellington were well in command with Chew Magna struggling on 76-4 – but then the home team hit back. Poor fielding and expensive bowling ensured a close finish. The batsman were lashing out on a pitch with a lightning outfield that led to boundary after boundary.

Youngster Guy Murray was unlucky not to have picked up more than one wicket with his medium pace as he was the only bowler to give any real resistance in the latter half of the innings. As the match reached the final over – the home sided required 5 to win.

The Chew Magna wicket-keeper went to a gung-ho level of aggression confidently launched the first ball of that over for six ensuring victory for the home team as they leapfrogged over Wellington in the league table. Winless Wellington get the chance to stop the rot this weekend when they face Belverdere at home on Saturday.

Wellington chased down nearly 200 for the second week running in Division One of the Somerset League, but nearly made a hash of things as the benefit of the 99 run start that Mark Salter and Rob Moysey put on was almost lost by a mid-innings collapse.

Chew opted to bat on a hot day and on a white wicket, but they were left to regret that decision as Gatton and Beedell were back in the hutch with only six on the board as Adrian Lee produced a classic yorker to send Beedell packing and Gatton looped a simple catch to Stuart Currall at mid-on from Tom Trott, unfortunately for Trott this was his last meaningful action of the game as he was forced to retire ill and Neil Goodman took his place.

Excell and Witcombe consolidated for Chew Magna with a 75 run stand for the third wicket as the Bristol-based side turned round their earlier problems. The stand was broken when Witcombe had an ugly smear at Rob Moysey and was bowled.

Excell continued to 111no in 135 balls, his second unbeaten century in three weeks and Chew made it to 189-6 at tea.

Matt Coleman – in his first league appearance of the season – bowled well at the death to take 2-60 in 11 overs and Kevin Symons too did a good job for the Red and Blacks as he let only 28 runs go from his seven over burst and a wicket came his way as Stuart Currall took the ball at long-off in mid-air, another fine effort from the new man in the Wellington line-up.

Wellington needed to bat as they had at Taunton Outcasts the week before and they were handed a perfect opening stand of 99 from skipper Mark Salter and Rob Moysey.
Moysey played the anchor role this time round and made a solid composed 31 before he was adjudged LBW to Mondair, a decision that looked harsh.

Salter continued to a fine 60 and he was looking set to emulate Excell’s hundred when he played round one from R.Thomas and, like Moysey, was dismissed LBW. Then the jitters set in to Wellington as three wickets were lost for two runs, but Alec Short and Paul Saunders, who played the major hand in getting Wellington back into the game, added a more than useful 32 for the fifth wicket.

Short was out trying to hit over the infield, as he only found mid-on. This was the moment for Saunders to seize the initiative as he took Richards for 18 in over, planting the ball out of the ground once and nearly doing it again later on.He made 46 in just 41 balls and played in such a way that Chew Magna was thrown off their stride.

He was out going for another maximum, but Kevin Symons and Matt Coleman were up to the task and they manoeuvred Wellington to a position where eight were needed off the last over and after four balls the scores were tied, so Coleman decided to finish things in style and when Witcombe delivered a juicy leg-side full toss he smashed it over backward square leg for six to give Wellington a two wicket win with just one ball to spare and 31 welcome points.

Chew Magna took 17 back to Bristol with them and Wellington had beaten a team who had gone into the game on the same number of points as them.