Rain had the major say over the weekend as the race for the Somerset League title for 2010 ticked over another set of fixtures; all of the top three sides – Westlands, Taunton Outcasts and Wellington – saw rain wash their games away with no positive result been recorded by any of the contenders.

Westlands game at North Petherton saw the Yeovil side get seventeen points and Outcasts obtained twenty points at Staplegrove and with Wellington getting the most from the draws on offer with a haul of 27 points from this match the difference that the Red and Blacks need to overcome is 37 points and with Westlands and Outcasts meeting in Taunton next weekend there is still scope for a twist and a turn before the season wraps up on 28th August.

On a day when storm clouds, thunder and lightening were never far away Watchet – fighting relegation – put Wellington into bat, but this was a decision that did not faze the home side as Paul Short and Michael Gill added 76 runs first up in 19 overs; a decent run rate was needed from Wellington’s point of view as the weather was always closing in and it was provided once again by a pair of batsmen who have enjoyed a fine season together.

The introduction into the attack of R.Strong and Pyne saw that Watchet did better in the second half of the Wellington innings as Pyne’s off spin went for just 48 in 12 good overs and Strong’s decent medium pace cost only 14 runs in seven overs, but Mark Salter with 28 and Michael Gill cashed in on the later spells from opening bowlers Bowden and Dellow who were expensive – 1-74 in 12 and 2-56 in 10 did not offer the level of control that Watchet either needed or desired; Gill made a fine 86 and was closing in on a ton when he was bowled and further good positive play from Neil Hendy who hit 41no with two sixes and Thom Trott saw Wellington close on 221-5 in 45 overs and had benefited from a poor Watchet fielding performance that saw the Seasiders shell several chances.

By now the weather was closing in and after only one ball of the Watchet reply the players were off and having used up the twenty minutes grace period any more time lost would see the overs left start to reduce.

Play was started again at 5.05pm and Wellington were soon busy in the field – Neil Hendy removed A.Martin when he played on and a great turn and throw from Michael Gill at short fine leg saw E.Martin depart run out.

Watchet skipper P.Milton dropped anchor and ground more time out of the game, but spin pairing Rob Moysey and Max Capaldi reduced Watchet to 48-5 in 18.3 overs, but that was the last action of the game as the rain came back and with thunder and lightening doing the rounds too the umpires formally abandoned the game as a draw at 6.30pm.

Wellington travel to Ashbrittle next weekend and simply have to win and see what comes out from the game between the top two in Taunton.