Wellington Cricket Club

Wellington were in the ascendancy throughout last Sunday’s second indoor match against Cullompton as they made a fine 146 with the bat and restricted the Devon side to less than half of that.

Paul Short and Richard Henwood gave Wellington a fine start, but both were out in consecutive balls as Henwood was run out and Short was bowled and it was Marc Holloway and Aks Latifi who bonded the Wellington innings with two retirement level scores.

Adrian Lee and Sam Murdock got some good late runs as Wellington profited from Cullompton’s high extras count.

Wellington’s bowling never let Cullompton get away, but it took until the last ball of the innings to confirm full points for Wellington.

Adrian Lee and Richard Henwood were in mean mood opening up and this laid the path for Paul Short, Marc Holloway and Sam Murdock to get what was required for a full points Red and Blacks win and with another good show behind the stumps from Aks Latifi this was a good team effort.

Wellington’s indoor side kept up its decent form in the short form of the game as it beat previously unbeaten Stogumber and then made it two in two on the day by seeing off Cullompton last Sunday.

Stogumber had got full points from the no show of South Petherton in the second match of the day, so had had an hour of inactivity before asking Wellington to bat first and with a wicket third ball of the Red and Blacks innings they had started well, but Richard Henwood and Marc Holloway did great work for Wellington to get the innings back on track after the early loss.

Aks Latifi played another sublime innings as his wristy strokes and good timing worked the ball around the arena well and he was not afraid to play with power either.

Adrian Lee and Sam Murdock got Wellington to a decent total of 118 and now had to set about defending it.

Lee got a wicket third ball in when Latifi accepted a simple chance that gently looped up and Henwood was in great show with the ball as he got the cherry swinging furiously to the plethora of left handers that Stogumber paraded – he was close with two LBW shouts before getting one perfect.

Paul Short and Marc Holloway were in good form with the ball too as they built on Lee and Henwood’s opening spell.

Short got good spin from the matting wicket and was always posing an issue as he spins the ball so sharply at times and Holloway’s tidy medium pace was delivered in a consistent and neat way.

Stogumber had to go big to keep up with the rate, but it was beyond them and they were all out for 82 in the last over when their returning opening batsman dragged one on to his castle from Short.

1030 – Sampford Arundel v Up the ‘Grove
1130 – South Petherton v Stogumber
1230 – Stogumber v Wellington
1330 – Wellington v Cullompton
1430 – Curry Rivel v Queen’s
1530 – Blagdon Hill v Queen’s

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. 

Wellington’s indoor side were first on show last weekend at Wellington School for the second round of matches in the Cougar Cricket Indoor League and came away with a win and a loss from matches with local rivals Up The Grove (Staplegrove CC) and Sampford Arundel writes team skipper Marc Holloway.

Wellington v Up The Grove

Wellington won the toss and adopted the scoreboard pressure approach and batted first.

Wellington racked up a fine 146-4 thanks to an intense and hard working opening stand between Marc Holloway and Richard Henwood; both made the score board tick over rapidly and Wellington were going at 13 an over for the first four.

Henwood was out trying to force the pressure and this bought Paul Short to the crease who worked the angles well.

Holloway made it to 25 and Wellington was 50-1 off 4 overs.

Thom Trott and Aks Latifi both worked the ball well with both playing an array of expansive drives and strong hitting to gain maxima from the back wall.

Wellington was more than happy with this total and felt sure they could defend this.

Up The Grove replied with a spirited chase which saw both Gary Bishop and Brendan Craggs attacking the bowling from the off; they both raced on to retirement after 4 overs and this caused Wellington to reassess their bowling options.

Trott was bought into the attack and bowled some super lines just outside off stump and he was rewarded with fine figures, picking up a wicket for his efforts.

Adrian Lee bowled his three straight off with his third over causing particular trouble for the new batsmen.

Grove needed 36 from three overs with 4 wickets in hand; positive batting from Simon Cutler and their number three saw that they got this down to 26 off the last two.

Short came back into the attack and bowled a great penultimate over just going for six and combined with brilliant fielding from Trott and Lee this aiding him to pick up a wicket and a run out occurred too. 

With 20 required from the final over Grove’s returning openers Bishop and Craggs looked to run everything; eventually Craggs ran himself out thanks to a smart piece of work from Henwood and they could only muster six, thus handing Wellington a second consecutive win.

Wellington v Sampford Arundel

Wellington again won the toss and batted first.

Paul Short and Thom Trott opening up found it tough going against Seb Coe and Neil Hendy with Hendy conceding just two runs in his first over and Wellington was 13-0 after two.

Short was the first to go while trying to work the evergreen Hendy off his hip only to feather through to the keeper.

Trott and Aks Latifi went about rebuilding the Wellington innings which to be fair was not easy as Sampford hit their straps straight away with some excellently disciplined bowling which turned out to be the difference between the two sides. 

Trott – again looking comfortable with driving the ball to the back wall – was again playing well until he was caught off the wall within one of his retirement.

Wellington at this stage was 50-1 off 7 overs.

Latifi continued to flow, but perished on 22, three short of retiring, this left Wellington needing to accelerate and keep wickets for the final onslaught, this came in the form of Adrian Lee who continued his love for the straight drive by scoring the best part of twenty runs down the order whilst Richard Henwood recuperated at the other end.

Wellington just about crawled to 100-5, a below par score.

Sampford started their reply in fine style with Neil Hendy working the ball round well to all parts, he was batting particularly well as Thom Trott again found his line with the ball and was sending down some absolute beauties.

Hendy made his 25 and all the time Dave Kittow was also working hard to reach his 25 which he did and Sampford had amassed 60-0 off 5 overs.

Lee bowling better than his figures suggests.

Henwood came into the attack and quickly found his length and bowled really well in combination with Paul Short who applied a stranglehold on the Sampford scoring.

They did this to such good effect that they got Wellington right back into the game.

Sampford needed seven runs off the last two overs and Paul Short and Adrian Lee hit a purple patch; Short first clean bowled Coe, looking to finish it one ball and then he then tempted Andy Childs and Jamie Cooksley into making similar mistakes and had picked up three wickets for just one run.

Adrian Lee had obviously found a new lease of life and took two exceptional catches to help Short in this over.

Sampford needed six from the final over which they did thanks to Vince Milton and Hendy who worked the ball again into the gaps to finish with three balls remaining.

Thanks also go to both sets of players for an intense, but most enjoyable game of cricket.

Thanks go to David Derrick for umpiring both games for Wellington and to Bill Townsend for umpiring the Sampford Arundel game, also to Cougar Cricket for hosting.

Next week (Sunday 7th February) the team play Curry Rivel at 10.30am before a month’s break.

The indoor side started their Cougar Cricket Indoor League season at Wellington School with a good win over Queen’s last Sunday morning – here’s Marc Holloway’s match report.

Wellington totalled a very competitive 134-4; their innings was built on a solid start from the two openers, Thom Trott and Paul Short, who compiled the best part of 40 runs before Short, who was looking well set, feathered one off the glove to the keeper. Trott went on to retire with a fluent 26 not out.

Aks Latifi came in and worked the ball around well with some good aggressive stroke play, he was dismissed in the final over for 24.

Richard Henwood meanwhile at the opposite end was powering the Wellington innings towards a very respectable score of 134 including a huge six off the final ball.

The Queen’s innings got going well with threes being taken at every opportunity – George Hooper bowled a great line and length and certainly deserved better than 0-35.

Adrian Lee got the first breakthrough, bowling the Queen’s opener for 14.

Lee – a stalwart of indoor cricket – showing how great line and length bowling can work in this game.

Short came into the attack in the fifth over with Queen’s still going well at 55-1, with flight and guile he accounted for two quick wickets in successive overs with the aid of some fine fielding from Lee with a diving catch off the wall. 

A quick thinking Short and Henwood combination accounted for an excellent run out; this leaving Queen’s at 84-4, needing 50 off the last 4 overs.

Further tight bowling from Trott and Latifi saw that Wellington had this one in the bag and start their indoor season with 19 points out of a possible 22.

Thanks go to David Derrick for umpiring the game and also Cougar Cricket for getting this type of cricket back up and running in Wellington. 

The weather caused the SCCC indoor event to be postponed today, so it has been re-scheduled for a fortnight’s time with the same timings and fixtures.

Paul Short is taking charge of this event.

The fixtures for the Wellington School based indoor cricket league have been received and have given us the following matches,

• Sunday 17th January – Queen’s 10.30am
• Sunday 31st January – Up the Grove 10.30am
• Sunday 31st January – Sampford Arundel 11.30am
• Sunday 7th February – Curry Rivel 10.30am
• Sunday 7th March – Stogumber 12.30pm
• Sunday 7th March – Cullompton 1.30pm
• Sunday 28th March – South Petherton 11.30am
• Sunday 11th April – Blagdon Hill 11.30am

Nine teams are to compete in this competition and your contact and organiser is Marc Holloway.