Wellington Cricket Club

[img_assist|fid=9|thumb=0|alt=Rupert Green batting in his innings of 72|caption=Rupert Green batting in his innings of 72]
With the 1st XI’s match cancelled the club’s attention on Saturday turned to the 2nd XI’s home match with newly promoted Winscombe 2nd XI in Division Two of the Somerset League’s Reserves Competition and it was a resounding win for new captain James Dyke and his charges.

Opting to bat on a breezy sunny day Rupert Green and Kevin Crout proceeded to add a glorious 104 runs for the opening wicket.
Taking full toll on some wayward Winscombe bowling that saw much played to leg Green hit ten fours in his knock of 72 and was looking set for a maiden Wellington ton when he found old hand Vowles in the covers.
Crout made a fine 29 and gave Green invaluable support in their 23 overs long stand.

Mark Saunders – on comeback from an ankle injury – made a powerful 42 in 39 balls as he drove down the ground often, pushing the Winscombe fielders back, so opening up singles almost at will.
Matt Coleman hit 22 as Wellington looked to secure maximum batting points and this was done through some tenacious play late on by Richard Short and Bob Trott as Wellington settled on 208-7 in 45 overs. Winscombe’s bowling overall was poor, but credit to Hall who emerged with 5-39 in 11 overs, by far the best effort from the team that finished 3rd in 2nd XI Division (N) last season.

Winscombe never really got a cohesive reply underway as Matt Coleman and Adrian Lee despatched both openers with the score bearly into the twenties. Vowles and Tuckett added some respectability to their team’s score with a 33 run fourth wicket stand, but when they were dismissed seven wickets tumbled for 32 runs. Coleman bowled his 12 overs straight through, taking 3-33 and Lee took 2-28 in seven.

They gave way to Bob Trott and Chris Rudd and the visitors were dismissed with 15.5 overs left to leave Wellington victors by a massive 120 runs. Trott took 4-8 in 7.1 overs.

Wellington 2nd XI – who only retained their divisional status with a fine run through the last month of last season – have high hopes of achieving at least a comfortable position this time round and perhaps more – who knows?, but this was an excellent start to their campaign.

Thanks go to Wade and Perry Ltd for their generous match ball sponsorship of this game.

Wellington 1st XI’s planned trip to Whitchurch in Division One of the Somerset Cricket League was called off as early as Thursday evening when all efforts to find a suitable ground on which to play the game had been exhausted.

Whitchurch’s own pitch is clay based and absorbs water like a sponge and is notoriously unrealiable at this time of year. The Bristol based club moved the game to nearby Chewton Mendip CC, but this was deemed as unsuitable to host a top flight Somerset League game.
Wellington did consult Nynehead CC regarding the use of their ground with Whitchurch making the journey south, but acting as the home team, but this was ruled out as Nynehead was not available when required.

The league will now rule on this match.

Saturday 7th May
1st XI – Away to Whitchurch in a Somerset League Division One fixture. Depart from Courtland Road Car Park at 11.45am for a 1.45pm start.

[update]Due to Whitchurch pitch being underwater, this game has been moved to Chewton Mendip instead. Players will be, if they haven’t already, made aware of the change of start time[/update]

2nd XI – Home to Winscombe 2nd XI in a Somerset League Reserves Competition Division Two fixture sponsored by The Cleve Hotel and Country Club.
Meet at Pavilion by 1.00pm for a 2.00pm start

Sunday 8th May
Sunday XI – Home to Weymouth in a friendly fixture sponsored by The Cleve Hotel and Country Club.
Meet at Pavilion by 1.30pm for a 2.30pm start
*This game is subject to Weymouth CC’s National KO Cup committments and, if needed, a replacement fixture will be sourced subject to arrangements.

[update]Weymouth are deffinately coming this year, DD has confirmed their commitment to the fixture, made easier by the fact they have been knocked out of the cup.[/update]

Monday 9th May
1st XI – Home to Taunton Deane B in a Baker Cup First Round fixture sponsored by The Cleve Hotel and Country Club.
Meet at Pavilion by 5.45pm for a 6.15pm start.

The Under 13′s were the only team from the Wellington Youth section to play this weekend, and came away dissapointed at being defeated on a damp pitch at the Civil Service Club.

Some heart can be taken from the bowling performance, which was on the whole pretty good.
The batting however, is where the team came unstuck.

Despite physically scoring more runs than the Civil Service team had, Wellington gave away far to many wickets (-8 runs for each), mostly caught from hitting the ball in the air.

Hopefully the lads will learn from this experience and pick their game up for the next fixture to be played, away against Bishops Hull on 15th May.

There was also a nice team photo in the back of the County Gazette out on 6th May.

The win at Heathcoat the previous day was a good one, but this one was a thumping one as Wellington recorded their first Sunday win over Street since June 2002 and at the same time saw off a side that contained five of the side that had played at Wellington last season on it’s way to securing the Somerset League title.

David Derrick opted to ask the visitors to bat and this was a good choice as it turned out.
George Coate delivered a telling opening burst with the ball as he bowled at good pace and remove Dowden and Spencer, two of the five mentioned above, in his opening spell of the season as he took 2-37 in 7 overs. A good gully catch from new signing Marc Holloway signalled the first of Coate’s wickets.
Kevin Symons took the new ball from the other end and bowled with good variety and thought. Although he did not get any reward from his first spell he cleaned up Street’s tail to finish with 2-27 in 10 overs.
Adrian Lee, despite being the only Wellington bowler not to claim a wicket, should look back on his six over spell as being a good one and one that kept Street quiet at an important time.
Street’s innings was built on W.Wall’s powerful 58 and Gerrard’s 31 and they lead their team to a very respectful 172 all out in 40 overs.
Richard das Neves came in for some harsh treatment at times when Wall was in full flow, but he came back well every time and 3-49 in 10 overs are more than useful figures.
Guy Murray, looking to build on his first senior season, was steady and accurate in his late-innings burst with 2-18. He removed Wall and Bartlett, another long-standing thorn in Wellington’s side, and these were crucial breakthroughs by the Under 15s skipper.
John Paine joined the attack late on and took 1-11 as Wellington knew at tea that they needed 173 to win.
Marc Holloway with three catches, a robust keeping display from James Dyke and Andy Perry’s slide-and-dive efforts in the outfield were Wellington’s fielding highlights.

Wellington’s reply could not have gone much better as Thom Trott and Marc Holloway put together an opening stand of 74. Seeing off the accurate Higgs and taking what was on offer at the other end was the strategy employed by them and runs came steadily thereafter. Trott pounced on the short ball and drove well on the overpitched ball as well as taking singles as the Street field dropped out as their options with the ball did not produce the desired results from their point of view.
Trott was looking set for a first fifty of 2005 when he dragged a wide ball onto his off stump from Spencer and dislodged the bail – a most unfortunate manner to get out in.
Richard das Neves joined Holloway and took Wellington to an impressive victory with an unbroken stand of exactly 100 for the second wicket. Holloway milked the bowling well for a constant stream of singles and twos before breaking out as victory approached, no better exemplifed when he smashed Dowden for a six over the top of the bowler’s head. He ended on 69no – a top effort on home debut having joined Wellington from Bagborough.
das Neves established himself before hitting a strong innings of 51no as he reached the landmark just before the winning runs were hit. Two sixes were the highlights as well as strong, confident running between the wickets. Wellington had four overs to spare when a nine wicket win was posted and an excellent weekend was complete.

The serious business starts next week with the start of the 2005 Somerset League season, but the club has high hopes for the season and now needs to fulfil them at all levels.