Wellington 134 – Wembdon 135-2
Unbeaten Somerset League Division One leaders Wembdon made it seven wins out of seven with this thumping eight wicket win over Wellington at Courtland Road last Saturday when the rain could not save the Red and Blacks from a heavy defeat.
Overnight rain had made the toss extremely important in terms of the outcome of the match and the visitors had no hesitation in asking Wellington to bat first, but Rob Moysey and Mark Salter came to terms with the testing conditions as they added 31 opening wicket runs in ten overs before they were split up by Brockwell.
Alex Sparks joined his skipper and he was well set on 16 before a fantastic caught and bowled effort by Pope put the skids under Wellington.
Pope – a left arm medium paced bowler – proceeded to take five wickets for only fifteen runs in 6.2 overs as his tidy and neat approach did for the Wellington line up as 54-1 became 72-5.
Marc Holloway with a fine 28 held things together for Wellington as he got his team past three figures, but another flurry of wickets saw the team reach 111-8, but a bright and breezy 11 from Adrian Lee gave Wellington some hope of making it to 150, but Wembdon wrapped things up with ease and 22 balls to spare.
Wellington knew that rain was never too far away and this may well influence the result, but Wembdon were patently aware of this as well as the rate that they raced away at showed.
Palmer with 74 lashed the Wellington attack to all parts as he and Stewart added 91 for Wembdon’s first wicket in under 15 overs.
He was eventually seen off by Alec Short effecting a stumping from Adrian Lee.
Stewart was yorked by Thom Trott, but Puddy and Lee wasted no time in polishing off the 24 needed and the match was won with a six that Puddy hoisted far out of the ground.
Wembdon were unrecognisable from the team that fought relegation last season and must be odds-on to secure the SCL title this season as they collected another 35 points.
Wellington took only eight points from the match, but know that they were up against a fine team and, realistically, need to concentrate on beating other sides more akin to their level in the division.
