Wellington Cricket Club

Another perfect batting strip at Ham saw this local derby turn into a run-fest with 533 runs scored for the loss of only ten wickets, but Wellington held their nerve to win by ten runs and keep up the team’s record of only one loss so far in the 2007 season.
David Derrick won the toss and had no hesitation in opting to bat first and David Marshall and James Dyke cashed in with a 95 run opening stand for Wellington.
Marshall made a second successive Sunday XI half-century as he hit a composed 53 with eight fours as he timed the ball well and found the gaps well with good running between the wickets helping the Wellington cause.
Neil Hendy with 1-39 in 8 overs removed Marshall with a good yorker.
Dyke was within eight runs of a second century in this fixture, having made 100no back in July 1999, having made a fine 92 with 15 fours as he was particularly hard on anything slightly overpitched, he was caught by Dave Raybould going an audacious six off of Charlie Last’s medium pacers.
There was no further joy for Nynehead as Rob Moysey with 90no and Chris Nicholls – making his first appearance of the season – adding an unbeaten 95 runs for Wellington’s third wicket.
Moysey continued his great Sunday XI run with 90no and Nicholls made a good 27no – his club best – as Wellington claimed 64 from the last five overs of their innings.
Wellington had posted 272-2 at tea as Keith Haslem’s ability to produce perfect wickets again was proven.

Phil Nicholls got the ball to do much as he opened the attack for Wellington and had Nynehead skipper Stuart Thraves bowled by an absolute peach of a ball on his way to 1-33 in 8 good overs of seam.
When Dave Jewell was well run out by Thom Trott who scored with a direct hit at the striker’s end after Jewell had looked for a quick single Nynehead were 49-2 and further breakthroughs from Josh Hancock (1-24) and Andy Perry (1-37) saw the home side 98-4 in 17 overs, but an innings of superb quality and awesome hitting from Neil Hendy brought Nynehead right back into the game as he hit 142 that took him only 28 overs to make with 23 fours and four sixes.
While he and Graham Sparks were at the crease Nynehead had every chance of claiming a victory of Headingley 1981 proportions, but Sparks was caught behind by Chris Nicholls from David Marshall’s good slower ball, undaunted though Malcolm Turner joined Hendy and they added 66 for the sixth wicket to keep Nynehead’s victory charge on the go.
Hendy was finally out to a great catch from Rob Moysey, who had earlier bowled an excellent spell of leg-spin, at deep mid-wicket as Thom Trott made three vital breakthroughs for his team in taking 3-32 late on.
Tom Baycock with an unbeaten 26 was still playing an innings that may have taken Nynehead over the line, but Trott, Adrian Lee and David Marshall held their nerve to see that Wellington won by eleven runs in what had been an exhilarating run chase by Nynehead.

A depleted Wellington 2nd XI were handed a nine wicket SCL Reserves Competition Division One defeat by Street 2nd XI at Courtland Road on Saturday when a lack of developing a good start with the bat and a lack of depth to the bowling attack combined to send the Red and Blacks second string to another heavy defeat to follow on from the previous week’s tribulations at Taunton St Andrews.
James Dyke opted to bat first on winning the toss and a great start was made by Kevin Crout and Dave Luxton who put on 68 for the opening wicket as they repelled the keen Street attack for the first eighteen overs of the Wellington innings.
Crout, in making 20, glided the ball well around the field, playing particularly well off of his legs and he kept the scoreboard ticking over nicely.
He was first to go when a ball from leg-spinner T.Wall just did enough to evade his defence and clip his off bail.
Luxton made a capital 52 as he cover drove with power and fluid timing as he hit eight fours in a tidy knock and Wellington needed him to bat through the innings to cement a score of 200 plus.
But 97-1 became 97-4 as Luxton was one of three batsmen out on this score as he was tempted to play forward to T.Wall and he was deceived in the flight and the chance to stump him was effected.
Wellington’s innings then slowed down despite Richard Henwood making 30no.
Pope with 3-27 in 11 good overs not only took wickets, but restricted the run rate at a time when Wellington were looking to push on.
Richard Short, Martin Short and David Derrick all assisted Henwood to try and get to 160 and another crucial batting point, but Derrick and Henwood were unable to scramble a run off of the last ball of the Wellington innings and 159-6 was the final score.

With limited bowling options Wellington had to take every chance that they were presented with, but Pope was spilt when he was in single figures and he made Wellington pay as he cracked a classy 70 and in tandem with Street skipper W.Wall they took advantage of the defensive fields that Wellington were forced into setting.
The breakthrough came with the score on 122 when Pope looped one up to Steve Symons at point from James Dyke, but that was the only joy for Wellington in wicket taking terms as Hill joined his skipper and they made the 38 runs they needed to win in a settled way to win by nine wickets and with 17.3 overs to spare.

Wellington 2nd XI took eight points from this match and Street 2nd XI took 31 – Wellington 2nd XI drop two places to eighth on the back of this result and face a big game on Saturday when they travel to play Winscombe 2nd XI, who are one place and eight points better off than Wellington.

Wellington opted to take first knock on a dry and quick paced Chew track and this proved to be the right choice as Rob Moysey and Mark Salter put on 97 runs for the first wicket in 20 overs as second placed Chew’s opening attack struggled to reign Wellington in.
Moysey was first to go for 46 when he offered a return chance to Anderton (4-50).
Alex Sparks kept up the tempo with a good knock of 15, but when he departed at 127-2, the score dipped with three wickets been lost for only nine runs, one of those to depart was Salter who had made a fine 56 with eight fours and two sixes.
David Marshall (36) and Thom Trott (25) picked up the gauntlet and took Wellington to maximum bowling points with a 66 run fifth wicket stand.
This landmark was reached in the 43rd over and sensible play from Phil Nicholls and Kevin Symons got Wellington to 219-7 with Nicholls been out to the last ball of the Wellington innings.
This was a good score, but knowing Chew Court as well as Wellington do it was a score that was gettable if someone got their eye in.

David Marshall and Adrian Lee had sent both Chew openers back to the pavilion by the time that the score had reached 15, but Beedell with an attacking 59 was getting going well for the home side and despite Mondair – prolific for Chew against Wellington down the years – been out at 46-3 in the tenth over there was no further luck for Wellington until the 26th over as Beedell and D.Filer added 104 for Chew’s fourth wicket.
One of two catches for Gary Tillett saw the back of Beedell for 72.
Runs were still flowing, but so too were wickets as David Marshall rejoined the attack and saw two wickets fall in his first over back.
Gary Tillett bowled excellently to take 2-37 in 10 overs as he removed Frawley and Anderton, but although Chew only had one man to come to the crease they managed to win by two wickets with 21 balls to spare.
Chew’s ability to get their run rate up and above that of Wellington’s in the crucial mid-innings period was what enabled them to survive the late clatter of wickets that saw them go from 189-4 to 206-8 and thus they collected 32 points to Wellington’s 18.
Wellington stay fifth in the SCL Division One table and host unbeaten leaders Wembdon on Saturday.

Wellington Midweek XI took to the field for the first time this season and took on West Somerset League Division One leaders Ashbrittle in a 20/20 match, the visitors to Courtland Road claimed the spoils, but Wellington know that they could have performed better with both bat and ball.

Andy Perry lost the toss and Ashbrittle opted to bat first – standard practice in this sort of match – and rushed away with the aid of several wides from the Wellington attack, some of these were fair calls, but others were borderline.

The breakthrough came when Grant Davey produced a great yorker to remove B.Pitkin for 13.
Davey bowled better than figures of 1-33 suggest.

George Coate plugged away and was not far away from getting the edge on several occasions, but success eluded the fast bowler.

Rob Moysey and Thom Trott – bowling his occasional off-spinners – slowed things down from Wellington’s perspective and Trott was on a hat-trick as Andy Perry and David
Marshall took good outfield catches to see the back of T.Pitkin for 26 good runs and C.Hill.

Kevin Symons and David Marshall bowled at the death for Wellington and the left-armer from South Africa produced two great yorkers as he took a good 2-9 late on.

Wellington’s innings started well with Rob Moysey and Kevin Crout putting on 25 for the first wicket in only three overs and the Red and Blacks were well on course, but the rot set in as the score tumbled to 49-7 as John McIlwain did much damage for Ashbrittle in taking 3-22 and Wellington were well in deep trouble.

Although the match was over in terms of Wellington winning, a fine unbeaten stand of 51 for the eighth wicket between David Marshall (40no) and skipper Andy Perry (15no) saw that no further wickets were lost, the score was more than doubled and the overs were seen out.

Wellington had lost by 22 runs, but know that they had had chances to chase a lesser total than what they were set.

The teams meet again on Thursday (14th June) at Appley for the return fixture.

Please contact Andy Perry for match details.

Wellington Sunday XI recorded a fourth straight win over SCL Division Two club Langport in friendly matches with this 141 run home success last weekend that was memorable for a third wicket partnership for Wellington that broke the highest such partnership for the club – beating a 23 year old record.
Langport opted to put Wellington into bat on a humid and overcast day and Wellington started well enough with Rob Moysey and David Derrick adding 20 for the first wicket before Derrick was well caught at mid-on having lofted one so high that it took an age to come down.
Another wicket was lost at 28 and Wellington needed consolidation on a pitch that was doing a bit for all bowlers – fast and slow alike.
The way that Moysey and David Marshall consolidated was to add an unbroken 223 runs for the third Wellington wicket and thus beat the previous record that had stood since 1984 by 28 runs.
Moysey made his second unbeaten century against Langport in two years as he carried his bat for a supreme 146no that included twelve fours and three sixes.
He was strong on the pull and laid into anything short with power and elegance.
Marshall played a supporting role, but still registered 86no as he contributed to matters in a full on way as well.
Langport never tired from this onslaught, but did not take a wicket from the ninth over onwards.
Despite the runs coming at a fair rate young left-arm spinner Crumb bowled a nice line and length and very nearly had Marshall in trouble.
Edwards and Grimstead were the only successful bowlers for Langport.

Strang and Turnbull-Kirk had 33 on the board in seven over as Langport have chase on the 252 needed to win, but Phil Nicholls removed both openers in quick succession and that was the end of the faint chance that the visitors had to make an impact on Wellington’s big total.
Nicholls claimed a five wicket haul in his eight over stint, taking 5-24 in a good spell.
Josh Hancock bowled a spell that improved as it went on and he got a wicket through a good catch by Grant Davey at point to end with 1-20 in 4 overs.
Edwards tried to inject some impetus into Langport’s innings, but Thom Trott with a change of style took 3-7 to hasten the end of the game and there was a debut wicket for Steve Symons as he took the match-winning wicket for Wellington through catching Crumb off of his own bowling.

Wellington had performed well with all players taking an active part in proceedings.

Despite a magnificent hat-trick by Richard Henwood there was little of joy for Wellington 2nd XI to take away from this Somerset League Reserves Competition Division One match at Bishop Foxes School last weekend as at times ragged fielding, profligate catching and a poor combined batting effort all conspired to send the team to a crushing 145 run defeat, one of the club’s heaviest league defeats in terms of runs.

It had all started so well as Richard Henwood removed Davies for a duck as he walked too far over and exposed his leg-stump and it was knocked back. Kennedy then followed as Chris Rudd, who had replaced Henwood in the attack, saw Richard Short accept a bullet of a chance at mid-wicket and at 9-2 TSA were in a spot of bother having been put into bat.
Then came the two drops that turned the match as Grundy, who was playing for the home side’s 1st XI as recently as two years ago, was dropped on zero and then Wadham was dropped first ball.
As it seems to be these lives given ensured that this pair made Wellington pay the price for these misses as they lashed 85 runs for the third TSA wicket as Grundy cracked a brutal 80 with three sixes that easily cleared the boundary, he hit the ball cleanly and showed undoubted class.
Wadham played around him, but his 41 runs were of much value to his team as they allowed strokemakers to flourish at the other end.
Pimm with 31 and Berryman with 40no raised TSA to 184-5 with Adrian Lee, who bowled better than 1-55 in 10 overs suggests, and George Coate making the breakthroughs at this point.
Berryman and TSA stalwart Alan Parsons got their side through the 200 run barrier before Richard Henwood, in his third spell, produced Wellington 2nd XI’s first hat-trick for eight years as he got Parsons caught behind easily by Kevin Crout and then bowled Hockey and Sergeant with the next two balls to spark wild scenes of celebration – the last player to achieve this feat was club president Roy Hutchings against Castle Cary 2nd XI in June 1999.
Wellington could not claim the last TSA wicket, but at 223-9 at tea they had reigned the home side in well despite not been at their very best in the field.

The Wellington innings was a poor one and was all over in 26.3 overs as Grundy and Burge bowled a testing and incisive opening burst.
However at 41-2 in 12 overs Wellington could at least have been looking at gaining some batting points, but the roof fell in when Chris Rudd was caught and bowled by Grundy for 21 as a good slower ball did for the top scorer in the Wellington innings.
Wickets fell too often for comfort there after as Parsons and Wadham slowed down the attack, but not the flow of Wellington batsmen returning to the pavilion as Parsons took 4-14 and Wadham 2-12.
Only Adrian Lee with 18no joined Chris Rudd in making double figures for Wellington as the Red and Blacks second string were humbled.

Taunton St Andrews 3rd XI took a full 35 points from this fixture and Wellington 2nd XI received only 12 as the home side stay second and keep up the pressure on leaders Chard 2nd XI and Wellington stay in sixth place despite the nature of this defeat.

Wellington made it two home Somerset League Division One wins in a row to hold on to fifth place with this 34 run win over relegated Purnells – a result that sends them into one of the relegation spots in this division.
Rob Moysey opted to bat first on winning the toss and it was he and Mark Salter who opened proceedings for Wellington with a competent and composed stand of 47 in 14 overs.
Salter was the first to go as he was trapped LBW to Jones – the bowler who holds the best innings bowling figures against Wellington 1st XI, having taken 9-24 at Wellington back in April 1991.
Alex Sparks continued the good start for the Red and Blacks with a good knock of 25 that was ended when he became the second LBW victim of the day as left-arm spinner Chard took 5-28 in 12 good overs.
He was responsible for reducing Wellington from 92-1 to 109-5 when Moysey was dismissed for 44 and Wellington were running out of overs as well as wickets as this was the score in the 32nd over.
Marc Holloway and Kevin Symons engineered vital late runs and this, in the end, was the difference as they hit 24 and 15 respectively.
Phil Nicholls and Gary Tillett denied Purnells the full ten bowling points as Wellington closed on 167-9 in 45 overs – a total that was disappointing by some 40 runs at least.
Francis with 3-34 in 12 overs had also bowled well for the visitors.

That Wellington should have posted a total in excess of 200 seemed not to matter as David Marshall took a wicket with the second ball of the Purnells innings as he and Kevin Symons wreaked havoc by reducing Purnells to the depths of 43-5 in 18 overs when Marshall departed the attack – he had 3-14 in 9 overs at this point.
Rob Moysey replaced Marshall and took a wicket first ball to further condemn Purnells to defeat.
Moysey spun his way to 4-44 in 9 overs and despite Casling and Jones each making 34 the game was up for the visitors and when Gary Tillett had last man N.Redwood caught by Mark Saunders they were all out for 133 in just 36 overs to give Wellington 33 points to Purnells 15.

The next two games for Wellington are tough and sees them visit second placed Chew Magna and then host unbeaten league leaders Wembdon in successive weeks, so the outcomes of these matches will be a good barometer of how the Red and Blacks will perform this season.
As for Purnells their relegation from the pyramid system last season seems to not have been shrugged off as they now fall to ninth in the division on the back of this result.

Match ball sponsorship for this match was kindly donated by Wade & Perry Ltd (01823 480268), the team and club are most grateful to them for this input.

George Hooper
Jordan Green
Charlie Lee
Aaron Chugg
Alex Troeke
James Carson
Scott Davey
Nick Salter

Meet at Cricket club car park at 9.15am.