A fine unbeaten century from club skipper Paul Short was the basis of this fine run chase by Wellington Sunday XI as they chased local rivals Ashbrittle’s decent enough 194-8 down with three wickets and nine balls to spare as the Somerset League Division One rivals met at Courtland Road last weekend.

Ashbrittle opted to bat first and saw a sharp catch in the gully from Rob Moysey give George Hooper the wicket of Ben Franks early on, but Lee Williams and Alfie Venner-Woodcock got over this and played excellently in tandem – Williams made 46 and Venner-Woodcock crafted 81 as Ashbrittle edged towards 200.

They had a mid innings wobble as Michael Gill took 2-29 in eight good overs for Wellington and Rob Moysey took his seventy-first wicket of the 2010 season in taking 1-26 in 8 more good overs of leg spin.

That Ashbrittle were kept under 200 was a lot down to Jake Nichol who took a brace of wickets in his seven overs of good medium pace – he took 4-29 all told and applied a good level of control to Wellington’s attack to see that the Red and Blacks would need 195 to win after tea.

Although Rob Embleton and Alfie Venner-Woodcock got an early wicket each for Ashbrittle James Bath joined Paul Short and they added 84 for Wellington’s third wicket as the left handed pair played well – Bath made a fine 41 with five fours until he was caught off of Mark Summerfield (3-23), James Dyke lashed 16 and Rob Moysey 13 as Short guided his team home with a knock that contained thirteen fours and a six; fittingly Short brought up his hundred and the Wellington victory in the same shot and he was exactly 100no at the end of a game that was played in excellent spirit and good manner throughout.

The Clubs meet one more time this season when Appley Cross hosts the respective 1st XIs in an SCL match the weekend after this.