Wellington made it back to back wins in the WEPL Somerset division with a 7 run win over Temple Cloud in a high scoring encounter. With 12 needed from the last over Luke Desave held his nerve and ensured Wellington got over the line in another close game.

Wellington were asked to bat first on a wicket that was still a bit damp as a result of a heavy amount of rain during the week. With the wicket being two paced and facing a disciplined Temple Cloud attack, batting was not the easiest at the start of the game. Despite this, it was Kayden Hine and Arron Campbell who laid the foundation with a first wicket partnership of 60 scoring 22 and 40 respectively.

A double breakthrough for Temple Cloud left Wellington at 69-2 and not wanting to waste the foundation that had been laid. As the wicket dried out skipper Alex Sparks and Ben Evett set about putting the pressure on the Temple Cloud bowlers and fielders with some positive strokeplay and aggressive running.  A run a ball partnership of 109 put Wellington in a strong position heading into the last 10 overs. Evett fell just short of a well deserved 50 when he was caught for 46 but Sparks made it to 50 before he was adjusted lbw for 56.

In search of quick runs, wickets started to fall and Wellington were in danger of falling 20 runs short of where they wanted to be, but Aks Latifi with a sensational 44 from 16 balls ensured Wellington batted their 50 overs and finished on 264-9.

With a good score on the board, Wellington went out into the field hoping to make early inroads but were met with resistance from the Temple Cloud openers who put on 46 runs before Ian Hewson made the breakthrough.

The Wellington attack continued to put pressure on the Temple Cloud batsmen backed up with some superb ground fielding but the Temple batsmen used the short boundaries to good effect with some aggressive strokeplay. Neil Hendy dismissed key man Curtis but Forrest on the back of a hundred last week was steering Temple to a good position with a well made 50.

Hendy dismissed Forrest for 60 and Desave removed the dangerous Mortimer for 40 to leave the game in the balance. The 5th wicket partnership rode their luck with both batsmen being dropped but then started to take the game away from Wellington. Hewson however had other ideas as he dismissed both batsmen in consecutive balls to bring the game back into the balance. With a run a ball required and 4 wickets left from the last 5 overs it was a 50/50 game.

Hewson continued to bowl his cutters to good effect and with Dom Drew giving nothing to hit, Wellington started to squeeze the Temple lower order and increase the run rate required. Hewson finished with an excellent 4-46 and left Temple needing 16 from 2 overs. Dom Drew then stepped up and delivered a match winning penultimate over which went for just 4 runs. With 12 needed, Luke Desave came back on with a superb last over that restricted Temple Cloud to just 5 runs and ensured Wellington won another close encounter for the 2nd week running.

Wellington entertain Chard at home next week and hope to makes it 3 wins on the spin.