It was a mixed weekend for Wellington CC’s senior teams as league action was sampled on both days; the 1st XI finally got underway, but lost at home to Chew Magna, the 2nd XI kept up their 100% record with a crushing win at Burnham-on-Sea and the Sunday XI started life in Division One of the Three Counties League with a 79 run defeat at Sidmouth.
A tense last over finish for Wellington U13’s saw them lose, away from home, by just 12 runs to Minehead U13’s, in what turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable match.
Wellington Sunday XI tasted defeat in the Three Counties League for the first time when they were well beaten at Sidmouth last weekend in what was their first game in Division One of this competition.
Sidmouth opted to bat first on winning the toss and Adrian Lee and George Coate opened up well for Wellington with a probing spell from both ends. Lee was tight on line and had a couple of good LBW shouts turned down, but there was not much in either of them.
The Reserves had an afternoon that will go down in the club record books for so many reasons as they kept up their 100% record and top spot in Division Two of the Somerset League Reserves Competition with this crushing 159 run win at Burnham-on-Sea as the team that came up from 2nd XI Division Three South were simply brushed aside on their own patch.
To give you some idea of the magnitude of the performances with the bat that Rupert Green (140no) and Marc Holloway (123no) gave you have to look at the stats of their time in the middle together.
They added 263 runs in an unbroken second wicket stand – this is the highest ever Wellington CC partnership for any wicket in either league or friendly matches, the score was statistically the highest ever score that Wellington 2nd XI had posted since entering the Somerset League Reserves competition back in 1975 equalling the 284 made against Evercreech 2nd XI in 1994 when four wickets were lost, Green missed out by one run on equalling the 2nd XI individual innings record and Holloway has the fourth highest individual innings for the team.
The 1st XI finally took to the field for a league game in 2005 and were soon in business against old rivals Chew Magna as Stuart Turner reduced the Bristol -based side to 25-2 as he removed both Witcombe and Roberts cheaply.
Gatton made a steady 45 in good time as Wellington pushed hard in the field, but found wickets hard to come by.
Only Gary Tillett was successful with the ball after Turner’s initial burst.
Four dropped catches hindered Wellington’s chances of picking up any more than a commensurate number of bonus points from their time in the field.
Mondair, who added to his reputation of being a thorn in Wellington’s side, made a round 50no and King made 38no as the pair shared a fifth wicket stand of 77 that took Chew Magna to exactly 200-4 in 45 overs. Tillett and Turner had taken 2-28 each for Wellington by tea.
The bat was certainly mightier than the ball last Thursday evening when Wellington Midweek XI lost heavily by eight wickets to a Wellington School Staff XI at the School’s ground despite posting a hefty total of their own.
David Derrick opted to take first knock on a hard, dry pitch and Thom Trott and Kevin Crout got the Red and Blacks going in the right way with a stand of 23 in under 3 overs, Crout timed the ball well in his brisk innings before being bowled for 12.
Kevin Symons then joined Trott and this heralded the best part of the Wellington innings as they added 62 in six overs with a string of excellent shots – Trott pulled and drove as he laid into some wayward Staff XI bowling, one straight drive split long-off and long-on despite the fielders been no more than a few feet apart and one perfectly hit straight six hit the sightscreen on the full. Trott made 51 before been bowled as he tried to push Wellington’s scoring rate even higher.
It was a good weekend for Wellington CC’s senior sides as all matches that were played were won and won well, having got over the disappointment of the cancellation of the 1st XI’s match at Whitchurch towards the end of the previous week, a matter that is still not fully resolved at the time of writing.
Next Week’s Fixtures
Thursday 12th May
Midweek XI – Away to a Wellington School Staff XI in a friendly fixture. Meet at Wellington School for a 6.15pm start.
Please contact David Derrick for details on this fixture.
Saturday 14th May
1st XI – Home to Chew Magna in a Somerset League Division One fixture sponsored by The Cleve Hotel and Country Club.
The 1st XI finally tasted competitive action for the first time in 2005 when they progressed to the quarter-finals of the Baker Cup by despatching Taunton Deane 2nd XI by 30 runs at the Playing Fields on Monday evening.
Deane 2nd XI – who play their league cricket in the WECCC Premier League Two Reserves competition – strangely opted to ask Wellington to bat first when they won the toss, thus knowing that they would be batting in the fading light, not normally the modus operandi of evening based cup cricket matches.
Wellington got away to a positive start with Rob Moysey and Mark Salter putting on a 33 run opening stand, this was ended when Moysey was adjudged LBW for 17.
The Under 15’s were comprehensively beaten at Churchinford on Sunday by some 80 runs.
The Wellington lads only managed to take one wicket in the match while Churchinford seemed to have several players all firing well on the day.
The team will certainly be looking for a change in fortunes when they play Dulverton U15’s at home next weekend.
Wellington recorded their first ever home win over Dorset Premier League club Weymouth when the Sunday XI recorded a massive 103 run win to make it three successive wins over the Seasiders following nine blanks before May 2003.
Weymouth asked Wellington to bat first on a dry, hard track and Rob Moysey and Thom Trott laid into some – at times – wayward offerings from the visitors. At Weymouth last season they shared a 149 run opening run stand in 20 overs, this time round the same could have happened as they plundered 58 runs at ease, after a testing spell from Puckett who sent down his 10 overs for only 23 runs, a great effort in the circumstances.