A change of opposition for Wellington Sunday XI saw Devon side Stoke Fleming replace Winscombe as the opposition last weekend – with Winscombe declaring possible availability issues the side from near Dartmouth obliged and a fine game was had that went to the wire.
Wellington were asked to bat first in damp and rain bearing conditions and the Red and Blacks were in trouble early on as the score dipped to 13-2 as early as the fourth over, but Max Capaldi and David Derrick got their heads down and added a vital 52 runs for the third Wellington wicket with Capaldi getting to within an ace of a fifty with a capital knock of 48 with six fours and a six.
Derrick made a patient and watchful knock of eight, but this was worth many more as the innings was stabilised.
A flurry of wickets took Wellington to 98-8, but some good hitting from Sam Murdock and George Hooper got Wellington to 120 with Murdock making 16 and Hooper 8 and in the end these runs made all the difference to Wellington.
Stoke Fleming bowled well with D.Hardy (2-21 in 6) getting some disconcerting bounce at times and the visitors shared the wickets around.
The Wellington innings had taken until 5.15 to complete with two rain breaks having to be taken and tea as well.
After a fine tea (many thanks to Dennis Fullstone and Rachel Moysey for this) Wellington set about defending the 120 runs they had mustered.
Jake Nicol got one through the defences of S.Edmonds in the first over and his figures of 1-11 in five overs were excellent.
J.Hardy with 24 and J.Buckle with 22 played aggressively and posted a fifty run second wicket stand and Wellington were in real need of a breakthrough and it came from Paul Short who bowled a most effective spell of seam bowling to take 3-14 in ten overs as he swung the ball well and both ways too and he was a handful on a drying pitch.
Max Capaldi bowled better in his eight over spell than his figures suggest, but he got a crucial wicket when J.Buckle looped one to him and a caught and bowled dismissal resulted.
He returned to the attack later and made the run out that sealed the match for Wellington, taking 2-43 in 10 overs.
Rob Moysey had a great game in the field as he took a one handed catch from Paul Short and a great running effort on the boundary from Alex Troake as well as getting through his longest bowling stint of the season with 1-24 in 10 overs of leg-spin as he continued his return from shoulder problems.
Concerted Wellington pressure resulted in a steady stream of wickets falling and Alex Troake with 2-14 in 5 overs late on saw that Wellington did the job and thus recorded their first Sunday win since the end of April.
A run out from the last ball of the innings gave Wellington an eight run win in a match that a pleasure to play in and had something in it for everyone.
