Wellington were involved in another close encounter but this time came up short in a high scoring game. Chasing 250, Wellington were dismissed in the penultimate over to come up short by 17 runs.

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, Chard elected to bat first on a scorching summer afternoon. Stand in skipper Luke Desave, brushed of the disappointment of losing the toss with a wicket in the first over. When Hewson dismissed Wells-Burr soon after to a sharp catch from Will Derrick, Wellington had had the best of the first 10 overs.

Chard started to rebuild the innings and had reached 80-2 before Moxom was dismissed for 19 by Hendy, thanks to a sharp stumping from Hine.

The Chard overseas player Micale was going nicely at one end and he was joined by Scott for what turned out to be the match winning partnership of 133. With some positive running mixed with some classy strokeplay these two batsmen started to go through the gears and put Chard into a good position. Micale reached a chanceless 100 and when Scott reached his 50 the platform was set for the last 10.

Hewson managed to dismissed Micale for 109 and Scott for 77 which kept some control on the scoring rate but by tea Chard had reached 250-6.

After a well-earned tea, Wellington set about their reply with positive intent through Hine and Campbell. Campbell was dismissed for 15, but Robin Davies came in and unleashed some crisp drives all around the wicket to put Wellington in a good position.

A double strike from Dalwood checked Wellington’s momentum, with Davies caught on 49 and Hine adjusted stumped for 30. It was then Thom Trott back in the first team and Mark Bray who built another partnership and ensured that going into the last 15 overs the game was finely balanced.

A burst of wickets saw Trott lbw for 43, Bray caught for 25 and then Latifi and Hendy dismissed cheaply to leave Wellington 200-7 and running out of overs. With Desave at the crease Wellington still had a chance and he struck a couple of boundaries but when he was dismissed for 22 the game was almost up.

Spirited resistance from Drew and Hewson saw Wellington reach maximum bating points but with the rate rapidly increasing both were dismissed to leave Wellington 17 runs short.