Wellington lost the toss in this, their fourth match of the Cougar Cricket Indoor League campaign and was asked to bat writes team skipper Marc Holloway.

Marc Holloway and Richard Henwood opened the batting and got things moving quickly, going at ten an over, Holloway was the first to go after batting in some discomfort; he was caught off the wall trying to hit out.

Thom Trott arrived at the crease and cracked a breezy 18 runs in next to no time, looking good for his 25 he was cleaned up trying to go for another maximum, all the time Henwood was nudging the score along.

At 50-2 Aks Latifi was at the crease and he was looking well set having worked the ball well around the arena so as to bring the field in, but he was then caught off the wall going for a big one.

This brought Adrian Lee to the crease, but Henwood followed Latifi back the very next ball as he too was caught off the roof for a well made 15.

‘Pirate’ Paul Short arrived at the crease and he and Lee batted brilliantly to ensure that they took the score from 65-4 to 136-5 with Lee hitting a couple of sixes and Short rotating the strike and picking the gaps at will, this was a top effort with one eye!

These two really did set up the game for Wellington and ensured that they reached a great total to bowl at.

Curry Rivel’s reply started slowly with Trott picking up a wicket in his first over; Lee bowled a useful spell as his swing bowling gained rewards again through the seamed ball that is used in these games doing good work for him.

Trott is really coming into his own this winter as he again found some excellent channels with his bowling and was really sending down some unplayable deliveries.

Curry was on 50-2 after 5 overs and was still in the game, but the continued pressure from the tight line and length that Henwood offered and superb variation from Paul Short enabled Wellington to squeeze Curry out of the game.

Excellent fielding from all with superb backing up ensured that Wellington won this contest by 13 runs as Curry were all out on the final ball with Latifi keeping superbly behind the stumps and this could be invaluable as he could well be doing the job outdoors this season.

Sincere thanks go to Dave Derrick for umpiring again.