Wellington Cricket Club

Wellington 2nds tasted defeat for the first time in twelve matches in what was a meeting of the early season leaders in Division Two of the Somerset League Reserves competition.
James Dyke opted to ask the visitors to bat first on a breezy and cool day and this choice was rewarded early on as Andy Mitchell reduced Bridgwater to 4-2 by removing Wood to the second ball of the day when he cut uppishly to James Dyke at point and a catch was accepted and then he bowled a ball that barely got off the ground and Tompkins, who had made a century the week before, was on his way for a duck.
Martin Short again did the donkey work bowling up the hill into a stiff breeze and 0-22 in 8 overs was tight stuff.
Wellington’s joy subsided somewhat as a critical third wicket stand of 84 between Witts (68) and Habberfield (27) was played out and, in the final analysis, this was what brought Bridgwater victory in terms of the total that they achieved.
Bob Trott (1-47 in 9) broke this stand with a great piece of off-spin bowling as he flighted the ball just a little more than normal and it dipped under and through Habberfield’s defences.
Bridgwater then started to lose their way somewhat after this as Andison was run out after charging up the wicket when there was no run on offer and Alex Sparks and Kevin Crout combined well to effect the dismissal.
Simon Spalding proved unplayable and figures of 4-14 in 6.4 overs are testament to this as he used all his experience to tie down and frustrate the Bridgwater 3rds line-up.
When they did try and attack Spalding they only succeeded in spearing the ball skywards and Bob Trott’s safe hands accepted two chances and made a run out possible as well.
Ben Green joined the attack late on and his leg-spinners did a good job for Wellington and he was rewarded with the wicket of Barrett who danced down the wicket and was palpably stumped by Kevin Crout.
Bridgwater 3rds were all out for 167 in 42.4 overs and Wellington had deserved the ten bowling points that they had at this point of the game for their overall fielding effort was good.

When it came to Wellington’s time to chase down the 168 required to win they knew that they were shorn of four of the top five in the batting order that had played at Purnells the week before and it needed one of this new top five to go on and make a big score.
Unfortunately this was not the case as a wicket was lost in the second over, but a bright stand between Kevin Crout and Alex Sparks got the Wellington score into the thirties, but Crout was caught behind and a suicidal run out then followed and with Neale taking two wickets in his first three balls Wellington 2nds were 51-5 and sinking fast.
David Derrick joined Sparks and they resolutely tried to give some substance to the Wellington batting effort, adding 19 useful runs for their side.
Sparks played with all the style and technique that he has shown since making his league debut in 2004 and he top scored for Wellington with 32.
He was dismissed by the impressive Neale (4-14) with one that squared him up and the catch was taken in the slips.
Derrick was joined by 14 year-old Ben Green with the score at 79-7 and they sensibly used up time and overs to take the score to 98.
Derrick made the second highest Wellington score with a useful innings of 23, he hit two fours and passed 1000 club runs during this knock.
Green gave his partner great support as he calmly defended and watched the ball all the way from the bowler’s hand on to the bat and he was not out at the end of the Wellington innings.
Another 14 year-old player – Charlie Last – joined Green and saw that Wellington 2nds made it past 100 and to an extra batting point.
But the end was beckoning and when Simon Spalding was caught at square-leg Wellington 2nds had lost by 60 runs.
Bridgwater 3rds took 33 points from the game and Wellington 2nds 15 and they swap positions at the top of the division.

Wellington 2nds put up a commendable show bearing in mind the changes that had to be made to the team line-up and they can be content in the knowledge that they will be stronger in the coming weeks.

The match ball for this game was kindly sponsored by Abbey Garage (SW) Ltd of Street (01458 447147).

Wellington Sunday XI tied with their Sidmouth counterparts in Division One of the Three Counties League last weekend as a game that had ebbed and flowed all afternoon ended exactly all square with the Red and Blacks needing one to win off the last ball.
Sidmouth opted to take first use of a dry track that got slower and lower as the game wore on and the nature of the playing surface had much to do with the passages of play that the game endured.
Wardrop spooned one up to Julian Smit off of Kevin Symons and he had gone without troubling the scorers and when Sobczak was run out off of a no-ball that was expertly fielded by Marc Holloway the seasiders were struggling, a situation that was compounded by their skipper Overthrow clipping one to Ben Green at square leg and this gave Grant Davey a wicket.
Sidmouth were 30-3 at this stage and needed some consolidation.
Australian player Gunthorpe and Bess each made 25, but it was hard work to get the ball away and the wicket was mostly to do with this.
Julian Smit worked up good pace from the Football Club end and got the most out of this benign surface.
Guy Murray got one through Gunthorpe’s defence and 1-20 in 5 overs represented a good afternoon’s work for the medium pacer.
Munday with 47 and Goodwin with 25no fashioned the partnership that gave Sidmouth a total that they could defend as they added 48 sixth wicket runs.
The dry surface was conducive to spin and Bob Trott with 3-35 in 6 overs and Ben Green with 0-27 in 6 finished off the innings for Wellington as Sidmouth closed on 162-7 in 40 overs – a total that would take some getting.

Wellington’s innings started in the worst possible way as Marc Holloway got a real stinker first up and was caught at short mid-wicket by Overthrow.
Kevin Crout and Julian Smit steadied things with Smit looking set before he was caught and bowled by Wardrop who held an instinctive catch.
Chris Kitto joined Crout and he played one excellent shot over the top of the infield, but he perished after hitting a full toss high on the bat and Gunthorpe took the chance on the boundary.
All the time Kevin Crout was playing a fine hand of 41 that mixed solid and tight defence with some excellent attacking shots and while he and Wellington skipper Thom Trott were together victory was in sight.
Trott made 24 with some lovely timed shots, but he was undone by Munday’s teasing left arm spin that was as effective as it had been in the reverse fixture at Sidmouth the previous season.
He got one to dip under Trott’s bat and he was bowled nick and crop.
Crout was out two balls later and this brought James Dyke and Kevin Symons to the crease and they launched a late charge for victory. Dyke made 10 as Symons chassied down the wicket to the spinners and won the duel.
Keates returned to the Sidmouth attack and was fast and furious, but his line was lacking and he sent down a high full toss to Bob Trott that was called as a no-ball and was cut uppishly for four as well to reduce the required runs to five from the last over.
A two and two singles brought the scores level and left one needed from three balls that were to be bowled by Munday to Kevin Symons. Symons defended the first two of these deliveries, thus needing one from the last ball – he danced down the wicket, but only succeeded in splicing the ball to the cover region where Wardrop took the catch and tied the match.

This was a wrench for Wellington who had fought all the way and they took 13 points to Sidmouth’s nine – the difference coming through Wellington claiming four youth bonus points.

Wellington 2nds made it two out of two for the new season when the convincingly beat newly promoted Purnells 2nds at Paulton last Saturday afternoon and with it equalled a thirteen year old record for most matches unbeaten in succession.
The team have gone eleven matches since they last tasted defeat – a run that started at the beginning of the second half of last season. Back in 1993 the first half of that season saw the team not lose a game, but the first match of the second half back then saw defeat at twelfth time of asking.
One more success will see this record smashed.

Purnells opted to ask Wellington to bat on a green track and their cause was not helped when their captain Cox had to limp out of the attack having delivered only two balls due to a back strain.
Rupert Green and Julian Jones cashed in on this and added 58 pleasant runs for the opening Wellington wicket.
Both cut the ball well square of the wicket and as Purnells fed this shot it became a valuable source of runs.
Jones was the first out when he speared one up to mid-on and was caught for 17.
Alex Sparks joined Green and they carried the score to over 100 before Sparks chased a wide one and was caught behind for 22, thus ending his run of four consecutive league fifties for Wellington 2nds.
Julian Smit – making what will be his only reserves appearance of the season as the 1st XI were not in action – made a solid if slow start to his innings, but he certainly did not wrap things up that way.
Rupert Green held the innings together with a knock of 68 in 112 balls which was ended by a run-out.
This brought James Dyke to the crease and in his own trademark energetic way scored 19 good runs for his side, once launching the ball out of the ground.
He and Smit added 36 for the fifth wicket and this had increased Wellington’s scoring rate at just the right time.
The icing on the cake came from Smit and Kevin Crout who added an unbroken 37 runs for the sixth wicket with Smit carrying through to 70no in 60 balls and with 22 coming from the last over of the innings Wellington had easily broke through 200 runs again.
73 runs had come in the last 7 overs as the Purnells attack was despatched to all parts.
The hard work that Francis (1-39 in 11.4 overs) and P.Redwood (1-36 in 12) had done earlier came crashing down around the home side as N.Redwood went for 87 in his 11 overs.
Wellington had the impetus at the tea interval.

Purnells – promoted out of 2nd XI Division 3 (NE) last season – set about the 217 needed for victory with a sedate and composed stand of 49 between Shepherd (25) and Hammond (22).
Andy Mitchell and Martin Short bowled a good line and length for Wellington in the opening exchanges of the Purnells innings, but no breakthrough was forthcoming.
James Dyke turned to Simon Rudd and he conjured up three wickets in quick succession as Julian Smit accepted a straight-forward catch at mid-on, D.Redwood played on and Francis was yorked.
Smit joined the attack at the other end and trapped Shepherd LBW for 25 and a great catch by Kevin Crout at cover saw the back of Cox for four.
Purnells had been 49-0, now they were 61-5 and sinking fast.
Honeybun (15) and S.Nolan, with a fine 38, added some respectability to the home side’s score, but they were fighting a losing battle.
Bob Trott bowled a controlled and measured spell of off-spin and 2-17 in 8 overs are testament to this.
Chris Rudd – making his first appearance of the season – took 1-19 in 5 overs before Andy Mitchell came back to finish the tail off as he took 2-36 in 9.5 overs.
Wellington had won by 85 runs in the final analysis and this was a good all-round performance as they took 35 points to Purnells 11.

Wellington U11s travelled to Fitzhead in the Under 11s Western Division of the Lloyd & Whyte Insurance Youth League last Friday evening and beat an inexperienced side by 51 runs writes team manager Rupert Green.

Fitzhead elected to bat first and scored 201 – a total that was achieved through Wellington bowling well and holding their catches. The wicket takers were T.Green (2) and J.Bath (2).

After a break for juice and cake two good batting partnerships between J.Atyeo and J.Bath (17) and G.Hooper and S.Murdoch (15) contributed to Wellington’s success.

Fitzhead’s wicket taker was J.Clydesmith who took three wickets.

It was a good contest, well supported by parents from both sides, on a picturesque ground.

This fixture produced a mass of runs for the second year running, but this time Wellington Midweek XI were able to successfully defend the total that set having opted to bat on winning the toss.
A wicket was lost early on before Rupert Green and Julian Smit put on a 39 run partnership for the second wicket with both playing the square cut very well.
They looked set for a long stay, but Smit hit one to mid-on where three fielders converged on the ball and one was lucky enough to hold on to hit and Green was well taken off his own bowling by MacQueen (2-34).

At 48-3 Wellington were in danger of subsiding and needed a boost from somewhere. It came from Thom Trott who started circumspectly, but launched a fierce attack on the Staff XI attack as he cracked 65no in all.
With a flurry of boundaries all around the wicket he hit his second half-century in as many years in this fixture.
James Dyke, Kevin Crout and Simon Rudd all made useful runs as Wellington took advantage of a tiring Staff XI attack.

Needing 8 an over to win the Staff XI had to hit out from the off, but found themselves in all sorts of trouble at 11-4 as Dennis Fullstone drew Richards down the track only for him to get a fine edge through to Kevin Crout behind the sticks and Julian Smit trapped Pearce LBW as he bowled a pacy spell.
A smart piece of fielding from David Derrick ran out Andrews and Turner was also run out when he charged up the wicket for a single to mid-on, but his partner never left his crease and that was that.

Crowther with 62 added some respectability to the Staff XI’s score as he took on Wellington’s spinners and generally won the duel, but Ben Green and Bob Trott kept going admirably during this passage of play.

When Simon Rudd was introduced into the attack a faint leg-side edge was accepted by Kevin Crout and this was the end of Crowther.

The required rate was now beyond the Staff XI, but they played out the rest of the overs without any real alarm and ended up some 21 runs short.

This was the first in a series of 20/20 matches that Wellington Midweek XI will be playing during the course of the 2006 season and it was generally felt that the first of these type of matches had gone well.

Players wishing to play in these matches should contact the Midweek XI captain Rupert Green with their availability.

Wellington made it through the first round of the Baker Cup with this 25 runs win over West Somerset League side Brompton Ralph at home last Monday evening in a match that was played in dark, dull conditions.

Rob Moysey opted to bat first and saw two wickets go down at the other end before he and Thom Trott raised Wellington’s game with a powerful array of shots.

Trott made 45 with a large number of boundaries and Moysey carried on to 62 with a late burst of power hitting that saw the last over of the Wellington innings be worth 19.

At 126-5 in 20 overs Wellington were content with their efforts.

Any chance that Brompton Ralph has of winning was snuffed out from the time that Gary Tillett had gone for only eleven runs in his five overs and with Moysey forming a dual spin attack the game was done and dusted by the half way point of the Brompton innings.
Sam Cook made an easy stumping when Poole tried to lift the ball out of the ground and Marc Holloway took a good boundary catch to see off Gill.
Takle with 30 played a good hand for Brompton before Sam Cook ran him out and Piper and R.Hake saw that the visitors passed 100 in the last over of their innings.

Simon Rudd and Kevin Symons did a good containing job for Wellington and they now have a quarter-final date at home on Monday 22nd May, probably with Ilminster A if the form book goes to plan.

The Sunday XI’s scheduled home friendly match with Dorset Premier League champions Weymouth was called off due to the match clashing with Weymouth’s ECB National Knockout Cup match.
The teams will meet later in the season on the South Coast.

The 2nds made it ten matches unbeaten in a run that goes back to the start of the second half of the 2005 season with this crushing 165 run win over newly promoted Barrington 2nds in Division Two of the Somerset League Reserves competition.
James Dyke opted to bat first and saw Rupert Green and Julian Jones add 25 for the first wicket in seven overs before both were out within one run of each other.
Alex Sparks and Simon Rudd reacted to this situation by adding 75 runs for the third wicket as they counterattacked well. Rudd drove the overpitched ball well in his knock of 47 and he was bearing down on a first half-century of the season when he was bowled by Wellman who did an excellent job in trying circumstances for his team with 2-33 in 12 overs. Rudd hit eight fours.
Sparks continued to a fourth successive half-century for Wellington 2nds with a composed and cultured knock of 59 with nine fours.
He played well on both sides of the wicket and was aggressive against the spinners as his desire to come down the track showed.
He was run out going for a third run, but he had played a great hand.
Skipper James Dyke and Kevin Crout continued the attack and hit 30 and 26 respectively.
Dyke hit well over the top and was close to clearing the boundary on more than one occasion.
Crout ran the ball around the field well to maintain a good strike rate during his time at the wicket.
Bob Trott made a useful 13 and late on Andy Mitchell, David Derrick and Ben Green saw that Wellington bore down a score of the magnitude of 240-250 in their 45 overs.
Mapstone was Barrington’s best bowler with 4-50 in 12 overs.

The visitors had to attack from the off and although they scored at a fast rate they lost wickets at regular intervals.
Andy Mitchell was unlucky as his figures do not do him justice as the ball eluded the fielders often, but he showed enough in his bowling to suggest that he will be effective as the season wears on.
Martin Short could do no wrong as he bowled up the hill and took the first five wickets to fall as Wellington’s catching was exemplary.
Rupert Green, Simon Rudd and Bob Trott formed the slip cordon and each pouched a chance.
David Derrick accepted his first league catch at mid-on when Hodgkinson looped one up and this gave Short his fourth victim.
To secure the match ball he got in on the act himself by accepting a return chance from Barrington keeper Cornelius and by this stage he had 5-21 in 7 overs.
Simon Rudd got rid of Barrington’s top scorer Towill who had made a fast and furious 39 when Kevin Crout steadied himself and took a catch at mid-on.
Ben Green rounded things off for Wellington when he bowled Pitman and with it Wellington 2nds had won by 165 runs and with it collected 35 points to Barrington’s 12.
This was a good all-round performance from James Dyke’s team and is a fine way to start the new season.

The 1st XI’s opening match of the 2006 Somerset League Division One campaign was one to forget as newly promoted Wedmore served up a nine wicket thrashing last Saturday and sent the Red and Blacks home with only eight points.
An important toss was lost, but this did not deter Rob Moysey and Mark Salter who put on a half-century opening partnership for Wellington. Salter hit seven fours in his knock of 30 and skipper Moysey hit three boundaries in his nineteen.
The bulk of these runs came from the erratic Boley who took 2-58 in 8.1 overs.
His opening partner Burgess was an example of accuracy as he sent down 12 overs for only 12 runs, nine of these overs were maidens.
Julian Smit was settling down when he was caught and bowled for seven and at 73-3 Wellington were losing some of their early momentum, but Thom Trott and Marc Holloway played a couple of excellent innings that righted the Wellington ship, having made 18 and 27 respectively, they were both handed LBW decisions.
The tail wagged with Richard Short striking 17 and late on Adrian Lee with 12no got Wellington to within sight of 150, but, overall, 145 all out in 43.1 overs was poor considering the start that Moysey and Salter had given.

Wedmore made short shrift of the 146 needed to win as they cruised home in 30.1 overs with Churches making 71 and Blackburn 42no.
Gary Tillett was Wellington’s only successful bowler and the absoluteness of this result will not be lost on the team as they prepare for future matches.

Wedmore took the full 35 points to Wellington’s eight.

It was a fine start to the new league season for Wellington Under 11s as they beat Bishops Lydeard by 18 runs in an 8 a side ‘Barrington Rules’ match last Friday evening writes team manager Rupert Green.
Bishops Lydeard put Wellington in, but they responded by not losing a wicket in their 16 overs which is quite an achievement.
Top scorer was the captain G.Hooper (15).
After a break for juice and cake Wellington took to the field and bowled with purpose.
The wicket takers were J.Bath and O.Burt with one each.
Top scorer for Bishops Lydeard was E.Bates (11) who incidentally played for Wellington last year.