Wellington found Chard in a more effective T20 mode last Tuesday evening when they met at Wellington in the First Round of the Somerset Cricket Board’s Major Knockout Cup than had been the case in the Baker Cup Quarter Finals the previous Monday at Chard; then Wellington had won at a canter, but this time round the South Somerset side retained wickets early on and then put their foot to the floor late on as the third meeting of the sides in eight days was undertaken.

Chard opted to bat first and found Luke Desave and Adam Rimell in good form with the new ball for Wellington as the first seven overs went for just 22 runs; Jack Beal was into the attack by now and joined in this miserly show of bowling from the home side.

Although Hayes had been caught by Alex Sparks off of Rimell with the score on nine, Waller and Wright kept their wickets in tact and scored heavily in three particular overs so that when they had reached 108-2 (Dom Drew bowled Wright for 47 to claim a second wicket for Wellington) in 16 overs three of these had accounted for half of the Chard total.

Waller made it to 52no and Dening with 41no saw Wellington would need 151 to win.

The Red and Blacks reply did not start well as the score dipped to 17-3, but a 69 run fourth wicket stand between Zandre Swartz (42) and Paul Short (33) gave their side hope as they hit four sixes between them and were up with the required rate at the half way mark, but the boundary dismissal of Swartz off of Dalwood’s left arm spin changed the dynamic of the game as Short tried as hard as he could to carry on the good work he had done with Wellington’s overseas player.

Risks had to be taken and the Wellington innings saw more wickets lost as the audacious was tried; in the end Mark Salter and Macaulay Campbell were at the crease when the last ball was bowled and Chard had a 25 run win to their credit and a second round home tie with North Perrott as the trend of WEPL Somerset Division sides meeting in this competition continued.

Good tight bowling from C.Scott (2-16 in four overs) and Dening (2-13 in three overs) had done the trick for Chard.