Wellington Cricket Club

A desire to play in poor weather conditions has forced the door open slightly for Wellington as they chase Butleigh in the quest to become Somerset League champions for 2008 – although this match was played out in wind, rain and poor light and eventually the match was abandoned as a draw, the 23 points that Wellington gained mean that they are 31 behind Butleigh with three matches to play each and they meet at Courtland Road this Saturday.

Butleigh are still best placed to win the title, but they have been pushed hard by Wellington, particularly in the second half of the season.

Their match with Staplegrove was washed out on Saturday without a ball being bowled.

Wellington travelled to bottom side South Petherton in the rain and were surprised to have even left Courtland Road knowing that their own 2nd XI’s match had bitten the dust earlier in the morning, but got to the South Petherton ground to find the covers on and the car park awash, but following consultation with the home side and the umpires a start was made at 2.15pm – Wellington were looking to win the toss and insert a side who looked doomed to playing Division Two cricket next season just two seasons after winning that very same division, but Paul Short called incorrectly and South Petherton inserted Wellington.

This decision brought rewards for the home side as they reduced Wellington to

31-3 in 11 overs as Mark Salter, Matt Daniel and Rob Moysey were all dismissed in this passage of play.

Rain drove the players off and 8 overs were lost, making the match an 82 overs affair, but with Wellington still able to bat for a full 45 overs.

Marc Holloway and Alex Sparks were at the crease when the players were taken off for 35 minutes.

There was no hope of a return to play – indeed both batsmen had changed out of their batting kit, but the umpires ruled that play should re-commence and it duly did at 3.40pm.

Holloway and Sparks then proceeded to add 130 glorious runs for the fourth Wellington wicket as Wellington went from being under pressure at the break to totally dominant.

Holloway hit a second league hundred for Wellington as he cracked 104 with 13 fours and Sparks was in good form too with 59 with four fours as Wellington became the dominant force in the game.

The Red and Blacks got over 200 and had secured full batting bonus points when Paul Short decided to declare with just over two overs left to bat.

Tea was taken and the South Petherton innings began at 6.15pm with a potential 39 overs left for them to make the 207 needed to win – the innings was never going to go all the way as the weather was still poor and the light was fading fast.

Walmsley with 32no and Masters with 15 got away to a bright start for the home side until Thom Trott caught Masters at long leg off of Kevin Symons with the score on 46, but there little more action as the umpires brought the players off at 7.00pm for bad light, but still the game was live technically.

A fifteen minutes break was endured before torrential rain finally washed the game away and it was officially abandoned as a draw with Wellington taking 23 points and South Petherton 21.

All is set for a battle royale at Courtland Road next Saturday – a match to savour.