Wellington Cricket Club

The Sunday XI pulled off a great ten run win at Street when they held their nerves to restrict the home side at the death when the last wicket could not be prized out.
Wellington opted to bat first and were given a great start by Kevin Crout and Marc Holloway as they added 41 in 9 overs with Crout working the ball around the field well and Holloway striking some lovely timed shots to the boundary in a top quality knock of 43.
James Dyke with 14 made a good impression once again.
But Street, who play their league cricket one division above both of Wellington’s league teams, fought their way back into the match with a tight burst of medium pace from P.Linter (3-22 in 8 overs) and Gerrard (1-27 in 8 overs) and run scoring became difficult and losing wickets at regular intervals saw that Wellington were losing some of the advantage gained earlier.
But Julian Smit made a rapid 31 and the lower order played energetically to ensure that Wellington got through to a decent total.
Andy Perry, Sam Cook, George Coate and Adrian Lee all played a part in making sure that runs were garnered from the last few overs.
The last over cost Street thirteen runs and this cost the home side dear in the final analysis.

Evely and Cox started with purpose and looked set to chase down the total on their own, but Grant Davey (1-25 in 6 overs) kept going in and saw Evely chop one on to his stumps and the breakthrough had been made.
George Coate joined the attack and bowled with good rhythm and speed and induced J.Linter to glance one down the leg-side where Sam Cook, who kept well all game, took a smart catch.
Coate took 2-46 in 8 good overs.
Julian Smit took his first wickets for Wellington in a speedy burst that realised 3-29 in 8 overs.
He removed the ever dangerous Peck LBW, bowled W.Wall and having beaten Hill’s edge often struck his castle in the end.
This was a good spell from the South African and completed a good weekend for him.
With the light worsening all the time Cox, who had been the glue that bound the Street innings together, was finally undone for 62 by Thom Trott who, with his height and bounce, was at times unplayable and 1-12 in 7 overs are a testament to this.
Marc Holloway joined the attack late on and did a fine job with 2-20 in 6 overs as his lower trajectory and good variety of delivery made it hard for Street to score runs. Between them Trott and Holloway kept the ball full to the bat and with Street having to find the boundary to keep in with a chance of victory, they subdued and finally snuffed out the home side who ended on 166-9 in 40 overs – ten short of the Wellington total from earlier.
Wellington all fielded and bowled very well with their youngest player Grant Davey doing great work in the deep and close in and his catch to remove Gerrard was a top effort.

Good practice has been obtained over the past couple of weekends and now it is time to put it to the test in the opening round of Somerset League matches.

An overall successful campaign in the indoor season finishing 2nd behind winners Bridgwater.

Wellington were asked to bat first on the usual Nynehead track – flat and hard – and runs were available to all who took strike during the Red and Blacks innings.
Rob Moysey and Mark Salter put on 43 for the first wicket in good time with Salter cutting hard square of the wicket – a trademark shot of his.
He was removed by Graham Sparks who bowled well for figures of 1-27 in 8 overs. Opening partner from the other end – Chris Cherry – did a good job too with 34 going from his 8 overs.
When these bowlers gave way Wellington were 62-1 in 16 overs, but the remaining 24 overs of the innings went for 174 as Wellington applied pressure.
Moysey carried on to 52 before retiring and Marc Holloway did likewise for 51, both these players looked in good touch and this bodes well for the coming start of the Somerset League season.
2nd XI skipper James Dyke is another player who has found form at the start of the 2006 season and his excellent 43 topped off a good display with the bat from Wellington’s middle order.
Julian Smit and Thom Trott got the score to 236-3 in 40 overs at tea.

Despite requiring the best part of six runs an over and losing a wicket in the fifth over Stuart Thraves (31) and Neil Hendy (53) got the score up to 96 in 20 overs for the villagers and they had a platform to go on from, but Gary Tillett came to the fore and bowled an excellent eight over spell of off-spin to take 4-26 that broke the back of the Nynehead innings. This was his first outdoor match since missing the last part of the 2005 season with a back problem and his accuracy brought him rewards.
Nynehead dipped from 133-2 to 155-7 and could have folded totally, but Julian Wills smashed 67no in 65 to raise his team’s score to 209-7 in 40 overs and Wellington had a winning margin of 27 runs.

A mixed Wellington side took to the field for the first match of the new season when they travelled to Somerset League Division Two side Burnham-on-Sea last Sunday afternoon and despite losing by 17 runs in a 40 overs per side contest useful practice was achieved by all who participated.

Rob Moysey opted to ask Burnham-on-Sea to bat on a dry pitch in cloudy conditions and the fact that bat would rule ball was shown up early on as Puddy (83) and Bloodworth (22) added 87 in 14 overs. Puddy smote ten fours and four sixes and was looking set for a bigger score when he decided to retire out.
Kevin Symons (1-43) took the first wicket of the new season for Wellington when he removed Bloodworth who edged to Kevin Crout who did a good job as wicketkeeper.
Burnham-on-Sea’s Indian player Karmakar made Wellington toil further with a knock of 62 in 55 balls.

Ben Green bowled a very useful spell of 6 overs of leg-spin, taking 2-32 and doing plenty with the ball. He bowled Burnham keeper Walker for 22 and in the same over got rid of Martin stumped and if he can go on from this opening performance there could be many overs for him to bowl this summer.
Harris and Steer got Burnham-on-Sea to within 250 in their 40 overs. Rob Moysey took 2-22 late on.

Wellington needed over six an over to win and were hindered in their pursuit of the 245 needed by the tightness of Burnham-on-Sea’s opening bowlers – as exemplified by Birkett going for only nine runs in five overs. But the first innings for Wellington of it’s overseas player for 2006, Julian Smit, and another cultured knock from Thom Trott brought about 96 runs for the third wicket and this brought Wellington right back into the match.
Smit made 52 in 53 balls and hit five fours and two sixes. He was out trying to force the pace, but had shown enough to suggest that he will make runs this summer.

Trott accumulated runs at a good tempo as he made 42 with two fours and two sixes. He lightly edged one behind to Walker from left-arm spinner Ludlow. Stuart Currall and James Dyke added 45 for the fifth wicket with Dyke hitting over the boundary three times in a quickfire knock of 26.
Currall cracked 37 as all of Wellington’s batsmen got in the act. There were runs for Richard Short and Kevin Crout before Kevin Symons with 19no and Ben Green (5no) saw out time for Wellington with a 22 run stand for the ninth wicket. For Burnham-on-Sea Karmakar took 4-55 in 11 overs.

The practice continues this weekend with the 1st XI playing at Nynehead on Saturday 29th April (2.00pm start, depart from Courtland Road Car Park at 1.15pm ) and the Sunday XI play at Street on Sunday 30th April (2.00pm start, depart from Courtland Road Car Park at 12.15pm).