Wellington Cricket Club

The Somerset Cricket League’s fixture arrangements for season 2012 are close to being completed; for next season we will compete in Divisions One (1st XI) and Four (2nd XI).

The 2012 SCL season will commence on Saturday 5th May and will end on Saturday 1st September.

Wellington ended their Somerset League Division One season with this emphatic eight wicket win over long time title favourites North Petherton at home last weekend and so finish fourth in the table with 444 points; this was a season when Wellington were within ten points of the summit in mid June, but an indifferent second half saw them trail eventual champions Staplegrove by 111 points.

North Petherton – winners of both the Somerset Minor Cup and the Baker Cup in 2011 – opted to bat first and cashed in on some ordinary Wellington cricket first up as K.Williams with 29 and T.Williams with 59 good runs added 98 for the first Petherton wicket; it was Petherton old boy Ali Bunce who broke the stand when he pocketed a catch at cover off of Neil Hendy.

From this point the visitors lost all their wickets for just 67 runs as Paul Short (3-47) and Rob Moysey (5-18) performed the Wellington spin trick and bundled out the middle and lower orders with good catching coming to the fore for Wellington.

Ali Bunce got rid of Petherton’s Baker Cup hero Knight as their innings was ended with 3.2 overs to go.

Wellington were soon into their stride against a Petherton side who varied their bowling attack; although a wicket was lost at 18 Charlie Davies and Alex Sparks dominated with a 130 run second wicket stand as they both drove and pulled with power and elegance and the nine man Petherton attack had no response.

Sparks was out for 77 when Hucker took a tumbling catch on the deep mid wicket boundary and Davies made 70no and he has had a good first season for Wellington.

James Bath saw Wellington over the line and to 35 points; the Red and Blacks did expect more from this season, but they know what is needed to succeed and 2012 will be their year hopefully.

Paul Short (Capt), Thom Trott, Alex Sparks, Neil Hendy, Max Capaldi, Aks Latifi, Ali Bunce, Rob Moysey, Charlie Davies, James Bath and George Hooper.

Meet at Pavilion at 12.15pm for a 1.15pm start.

Details from Paul Short.

Staplegrove need just five points from their last Somerset League Division One match to claim the title and promotion to the Somerset Division of the WEPL after this six wicket derby win completed the double over Wellington and with second placed North Petherton losing to Purnells it is almost all over for the season.

Wellington arrived at Manor Road and found the pitch affected by the previous day’s deluge and at 6-3 were in big trouble as Read knocked over three of the top four, but Charlie Davies played a mature knock of 35 as he and Rob Moysey added 56 precious fourth wicket runs for Wellington; Read had the final say as he took 4-24 in 12 overs when he bowled Moysey for 19.

Davies had made 35 when he done by a grubber and was LBW to Horton.

Paul Short and James Bath joined forces to add 47 fo the fifth Wellington wicket with knocks of 22 and 27 respectively, but run scoring was never easy on this deck; Luke Desave with 15 wielded the bat late on to get Wellington to 156-9 at tea.

Staplegrove reached their target with 2.1 overs left as they batted sensibly; Pantling with 18 and Sizer with 34 go things going with 37 first up and although Ali Bunce took a wonderful catch to get rid of Sizer the home side’s nerves were calmed through Bishop making 45 and Bird 36no as their 87 run fourth wicket stand saw the points come the way of the Grove and they are nearly there.

Please cast your vote for your choice of Players Player for the 2011 season for the 1st and 2nd XIs.

Votes should be sent to Duncan Short via e-mail to Duncan.Short@towergate.co.uk to arrive by Wednesday 14th September at the latest and need to specify what team each vote relates to.

Wellington moved back into third place in Division One of the Somerset League last weekend when they easily beat Watchet by 97 runs at home last weekend and will take on the two title contenders in their last two games of the season in good heart; Watchet won the toss and asked Wellington to bat first and they made no breakthrough until the 28th over as Paul Short and Alex Sparks added a capital 151 for the opening wicket as they cashed in on some wayward Watchet bowling – there were a lot of boundaries hit as Short hit 11 fours in his 62 and Sparks 16 in his 79.

151-0 became 160-3 and needed a response as Charlie Davies and Marc Holloway added 54 for the fourth Wellington wicket and it was then a case of getting as many runs as possible – Holloway with a crisp 40 and Davies with 21 started this work and Max Capaldi finished it to take Wellington to 257-8 at tea with Watchet having spent a long afternoon in the field.

Bowden with 3-41 was their best bowler.

Watchet required six an over to win and that was not going to happen and at 32-4 with Thom Trott and Luke Desave bowling fast and straight the seasiders were in trouble, but through M.Strong and J.Strong they edged towards three figures with a 62 run fifth wicket stand with M.Strong’s 38 been a good effort for his side.

Wellington tried all they could to get the 35 points on offer and wickets were claimed in the end, but they could not claim the tenth Watchet wicket and when stumps were drawn the Red and Blacks had third place back and now need to hang on to it.

It’s off to Staplegrove this weekend for a match that may see the title going a long way to being settled.

Paul Short (Capt), Thom Trott, Aks Latifi, Marc Holloway, Max Capaldi, James Bath, George Hooper, Luke Desave, Alex Sparks, Rob Moysey and Charlie Davies.

Meet at Pavilion at 11.45am for a 1.15pm start.

Details from Paul Short.

Paul Short (Capt), Thom Trott, James Bath (Wkt), Marc Holloway, Neil Hendy, Charlie Davies, Luke Desave, Ali Bunce, Rob Moysey, Alex Sparks and George Hooper.

Depart from Courtland Road Car Park at 11.45am for a 1.45pm start.

Contact Paul Short for details.

Andy Hill had opted to bat first in the local derby and saw Rob Hill and Luke Williams add a decent 42 in 11 overs first up before Hill sent Thom Trott a chance at mid on off of Ali Bunce who again was in decent form with the ball taking 2-36 in 12 good overs of off spin, but Wellington’s putting down of Williams three times cost them dearly as he advanced to 77 before being third out at 103; his was the telling factor in the Ashbrittle innings.

Wellington continued to chip away at the Ashbrittle side as Luke Desave with 2-39 in 10 overs rolled over the tail and Rob Moysey and Paul Short with five wickets combined saw that Ashbrittle made 188-9 at tea with Rob Williams making a punchy 28.

Wellington opened with Paul Short and Alex Sparks and they negotiated the early overs to get 24 on the board before Jerry Bradbury with 4-26 in 12 overs got his teeth into Wellington as he saw the Red and Blacks totter to 67-6 in 24 overs and be in trouble.

A spirited and technically sound stand of 83 for the seventh wicket from Rob Moysey and Thom Trott got Wellington to an ace of winning as they took to the Ashbrittle second string attack with vigour; Alfie Venner-Woodcock joined the attack with Trott closing in on a fifty and got him bowled for 43 and this was crucial for both sides for differing reasons.

Luke Desave and Ali Bunce added 34 runs with Moysey who hit 50no and with the last over coming around Wellington needed 7 to win, but Rob Hill was equal to it and bowled Desave leaving George Hooper to get four to tie and five to win off the last ball, but he could only get two and the gap between Ashbrittle and Wellington had narrowed in respect of securing third place this season.