Wellington Cricket Club

The local derby survived the weather and saw a four run win for Sampford Arundel and with it their first win at Wellington since 1987.
The visitors opted to bat first on a green, slow surface and run scoring was difficult.
Nigel Dobson and Alan Bentley each made ten, but it was tough to get the ball through the infield.
Wellington’s opening attack of Grant Davey and Guy Murray used the bowler friendly conditions to their advantage and at the end of their initial spells they each had a wicket and Sampford Arundel were 34-2 in 12 overs.
Adrian Lee joined the attack and a smart slip catch from Julian Smit gave the medium pacer a wicket in his first over.
Lee continued to claim another couple of wickets and 3-20 in 7 overs was not a bad return from him.
Charlie Last – another of Wellington’s youth section players playing on the day – bowled his medium paced seamers up the hill and 1-18 in 6 overs represents a good effort.
A good catch by Guy Murray gave him his wicket.
Sampford Arundel captain Seb Coe restrained his usual attacking style of play, underlining just how slow the pitch was.
His forty run stand with Darren Winter for the seventh wicket was crucial and had a major say in the result, as it turned out.
Andy Perry removed Coe through a fine boundary catch from Guy Murray and George Coate wrapped up the Sampford Arundel innings for 140 in the last over.

Wellington lost a wicket at 34 when Darren Winter yorked Thom Trott, but Julian Smit and Chris Kitto added 47 runs in good style and a Wellington win looked set, but an extraordinary collapse saw seven wickets lost for only 47 runs.
Smit got aught at slip by Gavin Horne with one that came off the back of his bat as Jason Birch ran through Wellington’s middle order to take 4-18 in 6 overs.
Chris Kitto held the innings together with a great knock of 47 and whilst he was at the crease Wellington had a chance although wickets were going down at the other end, but he was out with the score at 128 and this brought Grant Davey and Charlie Last together at the crease and they had to find twelve runs if Wellington were to win, they batted with great application and resolve and had got the score to 136 when Last was trapped in front and was out LBW, thus giving the visitors a narrow four run win.

One of the best local derby matches for a while and sets things up nicely for the return fixture at Easterlands in August when Sampford Arundel chase the double over Wellington.