Wellington Cricket Club

This was a remarkable Somerset League Division One fixture at the Civil Service ground last Saturday as Wellington reduced the home side to the depths of 30-8, but rain forced a draw in the end with Wellington just six runs away from victory, but with Outcasts only two wickets short themselves.

Outcasts were put into bat and were no match for the combined force of David Marshall and Kevin Symons as they looked to reprise their performance against Wedmore at the start of the month when they despatched them for 55.
Both reeled off unbroken spells of twelve overs and took a combined total of 8-19 between them – Marshall returned his third five wicket haul of the season as he let just five balls he sent down go for runs in what was a sensational display of bowling from the left-arm paceman that realised figures of 5-9.
Symons was just as miserly with 3-10 in his 12 over burst.
Outcasts simply did not have an answer to this double-pronged attack and were in danger of folding completely.
Their saving grace was that Warren swung hard for 34no and the last two wickets added 48 runs – most valuable in the end as it proved to be.
James Webber and Thom Trott wrapped matters up for Wellington to see Taunton Outcasts all out for 78 in 33 overs.

Rob Moysey and Mark Salter got Wellington going with a 22 run offering first up, but Outcasts continued the style of the day and bowled excellently too and they took Wellington wickets at crucial intervals with the Red and Blacks going from 34-1 to 41-6 and with rain now falling it was becoming a bowler’s game – De Save with 1-8 in 10 overs, Knight with 2-5 in 7 and Hosken with 3-16 in 9 were in great form for the home side.
David Marshall, Thom Trott and Kevin Symons made a dash to get Wellington over the finishing line with some improvised shots, but Trott and Symons perished and left Marshall and Gary Tillett at the crease with six runs needed in 24 balls, but the rain was tipping down by now and the umpires abandoned the match as a draw.

Wellington collected 25 points and Taunton Outcasts 23.

This was the only match to finish in Division One of the Somerset League’s Reserves competition as all other matches were abandoned as draws, but the latter stages were played in heavy rain that did neither side any favours.
Glastonbury – bottom of the table going into the match – won a crucial toss and had no hesitation in asking Wellington to bat first and it was hard work for the entire 45 overs as Wellington never reached three runs an over.
Kevin Crout and Chris Nicholls added 33 for the opening wicket in 14 overs, but when Crout was bowled by Cox for 21, Glastonbury turned the screw big time with only Chris Rudd (22) finding much joy against the medium pace of Wade (2-23 in 11 overs) and the leg-spin of Galpin (1-22 in 10 overs).
Richard Henwood found some late impetus with 34no, but 116-6 in 45 overs was all that Wellington could muster.

Glastonbury skipper Odam ran himself out early on and the visitors were not exactly running away with things, but steady accumulation from Holland and S.Williams raised their stock, although Wellington were sure that Holland had edged one off his bat on to his pad, but Kevin Crout’s appeals were rejected.
Chris Nicholls pouched him soon after off of Bob Trott who again bowled a fine spell of off-spin bowling – taking 3-28 in 12 overs as he maintained an excellent line and length throughout.
Wellington introduced Phil Nicholls into the attack and catches from Trott and Richard Henwood did make Glastonbury 94-6 and Wellington felt that they might just pull off an unlikely victory, but Smith and Cox dug in, and despite Cox throwing his bat through the air three times as the grip became increasingly wet and slippery, the Thorns edged home for 31 points to Wellington’s eleven.

Wellington drop to eighth in the table with Winscombe and Taunton St Andrews below them – these are the two teams that are left to come to Courtland Road and these are now must win games for Wellington if they are to retain their top-flight status for 2008.

The match ball for this fixture was sponsored by Noel Dillon Paintless Dent Removal and the club and team are most grateful to them for their input in this respect.

L Corben O’Grady
G. Hooper
A.Chugg
J.Bath
S. Baycock
T.Jenkins
W.Roberts.
J.Atyeo

Leave Wellington CricketClub Car Park at 9.15 am, Weather permitting.

Wellington 2nd XI moved up to fifth in Division One of the Somerset League Reserves competition after safely seeing off bottom side Winscombe at home last Saturday by a massive 159 runs, thus completing the double over the Mendip side and with a game in hand on the rest of the division their thoughts are definitely on moving further up the table as they have six matches to play compared to most other teams having five.

Winscombe, who are having a torrid season, were delayed by traffic on the M5 and the match did not get going until 2.15pm and even then the visitors were forced to field with nine men to start with, so it came as no surprise that Richard Henwood opted to bat first on winning the toss and his batsmen made hay.

Trevor Brooks and Julian Jones had 22 on the ball in four overs with Brooks hitting three good boundaries before he hit a full toss to the leg side and was caught off of Mayne.

This brought Matt Colman to the wicket and he and Jones proceeded to grind Winscombe down as they added 187 for the second wicket with Jones hitting his second ton of the season against Winscombe as he crafted 139 to go with the 113no he hit away back in May.

He hit 21 fours and was in a fine groove.
Colman was the anchor for Jones’ exuberance and he played well for 64 with six fours.
The partnership was finally broken by Hoyle who bowled better than figures of 1-65 in 12 overs may suggest.
After Wellington got past 200 the bat was thrown and some wickets were lost, but the total was well in excess of what Winscombe were going to be able to make and 251-7 in 45 overs was what the Red and Blacks second string had posted by tea.

Rutherford with 5-34 profited with the ball late on for the visitors who were just glad to get into the changing room after their afternoon of toil and bother.

After such an arduous time in the field Winscombe’s early set backs with the bat was no surprise as they dipped to 9-4 with two wickets each for Richard Henwood and Adrian Lee – indeed Henwood was on a hat-trick.

Both returned figures of 2-8 and the damage was done.
James Webber collected the wicket of Mayne as he tried to hit the cover off the ball and was bowled, before some solidity was shown by Searle and Rutherford who made 23 and 25 respectively – they added 57 for Winscombe’s sixth wicket and had got their side to a fourth batting point when they fell away again, losing their last five wickets for just 12 runs as Chris Rudd and Bob Trott wrapped things up sharing the five wickets in question as Winscombe were all out for 92 in 33 overs.

Lee Nicol was quite outstanding in the field and deserves credit for this.

Wellington 2nd XI took a full 35 points and Winscombe 2nd XI 11 points and a visit to ninth placed Staplegrove next Saturday looms for Wellington now and they will be looking for another win to keep their climb up the table going.

The scheduled Three Counties League match at Barrington was called off on the morning of the match as a result of the monsoon that fell overnight.
Barrington 1st XI did not manage any play in their WECCC (Somerset Division) match at North Perrott and the reverse 2nd XI match was called off on the Saturday too.
Barrington Court is low lying and, as such, retains water and all the recent rains rendered the playing surface unplayable.
Both sides receive ten points to give Wellington a tally of 47 so far this season from one win, one cancellation and two draws with two to play.

Wellington had third placed Ilton in all sorts of trouble in this Somerset League Division One encounter with David Marshall and Kevin Symons doing all sorts in bowler friendly conditions after Rob Moysey had won the toss and opted to insert the opposition.
Ilton crumbled to the depths of 19-4 as Marshall and Symons reprised the sort of opening display that had accounted for Wedmore in the Red and Blacks last outing.
Marshall with 1-8 in 8 accurate overs removed N.Price through an Adrian Lee catch and good catching also benefited Symons as two from Thom Trott and one from Marc Holloway gave him 3-21 in 11.3 overs and had the unbeaten visitors in disarray.
Symons had three balls left in his spell when a rain storm drove the players from the ground for the sanctity of the pavilion and, although an early tea was taken, the umpires had no option but to call the game off and abandon proceedings as a draw.
Wellington collect 16 points from the match and Ilton 14 to retain fourth and third places respectively.
The bad weather saw only one other match actually get started in Wellington 1st XI’s division with Taunton Outcasts beating Purnells – all other matches were called off.

The match balls for this match were sponsored by Abbey Garage (SW) Ltd (01458 447147) and the team and club are most grateful to them for their support in this respect.

The 2nd XI could have done with some of the weather that rendered the 1st XI’s match as a draw as they slipped to an 80 run defeat at Frome and collected only eight points in the process.
With rain never far away James Dyke hoped to exploit the new ball and he asked the home side to bat first on winning the toss, although much of Frome’s innings was conducted in persistent drizzle there was never a break in play and Simpson and John Dredge weathered the opening spell from Richard Henwood and Phil Nicholls.
Nicholls was never far away in some LBW shouts, but these were all rejected.
Frome’s openers put on 81 runs before Bob Trott held on to a steepling chance from Jake Nicol’s bowling as his first overs in senior cricket were commendable as he let only 14 runs go in his five overs spell.
Trott bowled a great spell of off-spin as he let just 34 runs go in 12 overs and he saw the back of Dredge when Phil Nicholls accepted a chance at mid-on.
From then on it was hard work in the field for Wellington as only one more wicket was forthcoming as Harvey was run out.
Frome skipper Stonell and the experienced Hamblin played a fine game in the last dozen or so overs of their innings as they forced the pace of things in adding 69 runs for the fourth wicket to take from to 189-3 in 45 overs.
Wellington had shipped 46 extras which was a major part of the home side’s total.

After just one over of Wellington’s reply rain drove the players off and a total of twelve minutes were lost, on the resumption Phil Nicholls and brother Chris laid a steady platform for Wellington to go on from as they added 33 opening partnership runs in good style, this was ended when Nicholls snr drilled one to cover where Stonell was waiting.
Julian Jones joined Chris Nicholls and they got Wellington into the sixties with Jones looking like the player who was so pivotal in getting Wellington to this level and he was looking set having cover driven twice for four, but Wheeler got one through and this was the start of a Wellington batting decline.
Nicholls made a fine 46 that was the bulk of his side’s runs and he was homing in on a maiden Wellington half-century when Hamblin floated one up, it drew him forward and Penny effected the stumping.
From then on (77-4) Wellington were hoping for the heavens to open and wash the game away, but it did not happen and the Red and Blacks last six wickets were lost for a combined total of 32 runs with only Bob Trott making it to double figures as Wellington were all out for 109 in 35 overs.
The match would surely have been washed away had Wellington lasted longer, for not ten minutes after the match had concluded then the heavens opened and the ground was awash.
Frome are a vastly improved team compared to the one that lost it’s first four matches played and they are in with a shout of challenging Chard and Street for the Somerset League Reserves competition title.
As for Wellington 2nd XI they remain sixth in the table, but with Glastonbury 3rd XI having won on Saturday the match between the sides this coming Saturday at Courtland Road will be critical as there are only fifteen points between the Thorns in last place and the Red and Blacks in sixth.
Wellington need to be strong at home in order to carry through retaining their divisional status.
Rain was a major player in this division too as only two matches finished – this one and Glastonbury 3rd XI v Taunton St Andrews 3rd XI.
Bridgwater v Street was called off without a ball being bowled and the matches between Staplegrove 2nd XI and Chard 2nd XI and Taunton Deane 3rd XI and Winscombe 2nd XI were abandoned as draws.

Weliington U13’s to play Bagborough Away 22/070/07

George Hooper
George webber
Louis Corben O’Grady
Toby Jenkins
Josh Pearson
Charlie Lee
James Carson
Scott Davy

Leave Cricket Club Car Park at 9.00am

Wellington U13’s to play Bishops Hull Away on 24/7/07 at 6.00pm

William Roberts
James Bath
Sam Baycock
Nick Salter
Aaron Chugg
Alex Troake
Sam Murdoch
jon Ateyeo

Leave Cricket club Car park at 5.15pm

Wellington Sunday XI braved the elements and persevered to play a full game against Street and this proved to be a good decision as the Red and Blacks ran out as winners by 54 runs to complete a friendly double over the team from the Somerset Levels.
David Derrick opted to bat first on winning the toss and it was Rob Moysey and David Marshall who got things going well with a 64 run stand.
With the inclement weather conditions run scoring was not easy at all and accumulation was the name of the game and this pair did this well as regular ones and twos were garnered throughout.
Marshall had made it to 25 before experienced campaigner Farrow got him caught at slip – he took both wickets to fall and 1-31 in 10 overs was a good reward.
Alex Sparks found some form with a knock of 23 as he played with freedom once he had assessed the wicket.
He was caught and bowled by Farrow after he had hit one straight back to the bowler.
All the time Moysey was edging towards another Sunday XI ton and he made it in the last throes of the Wellington innings – this time he made a superb 117no and his phenomenal time with the bat on Sundays this season carries on.
James Dyke played with energy and verve to maximise run scoring opportunities as the overs ran out – he made 20no as Wellington totalled 204-2 at tea.

Richard Henwood and David Marshall bowled a full ten over spell on the bounce as Wellington needed to use their bowling options carefully – they rose to the challenge and took two wickets apiece to leave Street at 65-4 when their spells ended.
Marshall trapped Hill LBW and a smart catch by Alex Sparks in the covers saw the back of P.Linter.
Henwood kept on the same lines as he had for the 2nd XI the previous day and his accuracy saw the back of Western and D.Malone.
James Dyke and Josh Hancock joined the attack and bowled a tidy couple of spells as Street saw that the required run rate was rising all the time and with only singles been available to the deep set field they did a good job for their team.
Andy Perry claimed a wicket first ball to give him a hat-trick of sorts and he claimed the crucial wicket of W.Wall for 57.
After that Wellington were in the ascendancy as two run outs and a good controlled spell of leg-spin from Rob Moysey wrapped things up – David Marshall and Adrian Lee both held good boundary catches during Moysey’s spell that saw him claim three wickets.

Wellington had played well despite the testing weather conditions and have still only lost one Sunday XI match this season in all competitions.

Wellington were looking to make it three Somerset League Division One wins in a row when they travelled to South Petherton last Saturday to take on a side that had won only one match this season and that was against bottom side Evercreech – a side with no wins whatsoever, but the Red and Blacks came away with an eleven run defeat after their fielding let them down at times and let the hosts – last season’s Division Two champions – score more than they should have done.
Rob Moysey asked the home side to bat first on winning the toss and he was given early good cause to celebrate as David Marshall removed Walmsley with only a single on the board, but Masters, with his unique batting style that had been seen when the sides met at Wellington back in May, and Doss added 60 for South Petherton’s second wicket as the home side recovered from their shaky start.
Effective innings from Guest (26) and Bolton (18) aided Doss to exert pressure on the Wellington attack who did not enjoy the rewards that had come their way seven days previously when they swept Wedmore aside for only 55.
Some chances were spilled and this saw South Petherton reach 132-3 at the 30 over stage.
Wellington were indebted to Gary Tillett who wheeled away for 12 overs and claimed the excellent figures of 5-44 as he pulled things back for Wellington.
By this time Wellington had got their catching hands back on and all of Tillett’s victims came through catches.
David Marshall and Phil Nicholls were the other successful Wellington bowlers, but the home side had been able to get to exactly 200 and this was more than they should have made.

Wellington were given an excellent start by Rob Moysey and Mark Salter as they added 60 for the opening wicket, this stand was ended when Moysey, on 28, was caught off Doss and this saw a slight wobble take place as three wickets were lost for 19 runs, but Salter and Mark Saunders got things going again and added 59 fourth wicket runs which was only ended when Salter was run out for 54 – had he stayed at the crease Wellington would surely have won – but with 138-3 becoming 140-5 the wobble had set in once more, but an inventive innings from Phil Nicholls who made 22 and gave Saunders great support and carried Wellington to within 25 or so runs of winning, but a hat-trick from Masters swept away any real hope of an away win and despite Thom Trott and Gary Tillett adding a double figure partnership for the last Wellington wicket Tillett was run out on the last ball of the penultimate over to give South Petherton a second win of the season.

Despite the defeat Wellington remain fourth in the table, but have lost ground on third placed Ilton – the visitors to Courtland Road this weekend.