Wellington Cricket Club

Wellington Sunday XI were in a good position to have a really good go at the 218 they needed to win at Devon Premier League side Sidmouth last weekend, but a collapse from 92-3 to 92-7 put paid to that and in the end the Red and Blacks fell to a 67 run defeat.

Sidmouth opted to bat first and saw Z.Bess with his capital 54 put them into a position of supremacy as he pulled the ball with awesome power and he looked like he was going to make a lot more, but the impressive Jake Nichol trapped him LBW with one that was homing in on middle and leg and 1-40 in seven overs was a good effort all told and George Hooper bowled better than his figures suggest.

Thom Trott used his height well to extract extra lift and he was rewarded with two wickets when he yorked Sobczak for 26 and Griffiths played on for 9.

Had the run out of Sidmouth keeper Chilcott stood then the home side would have been in a spot of bother, but the wicket was broken without the ball in hand and he went on to play a fine hand of 70no.

Paul Short with 2-20 in 8 good overs of off spin was complimented by Arron Campbell and Scott Davey as Sidmouth closed on 217-6 at tea.

Charlie Davies and Thom Trott got the Wellington reply off to a good start, but Mansfield with 2-20 in seven overs got them both by the time the score had reached 24; cue Aks Latifi and Robin Davies to add 55 for the third Wellington wicket with Latifi making 47 with three shots that went out of the ground and Davies a pleasant 19.

But Wellington were undone by Sidmouth’s good mix of pace and spin and any chance of victory evaporated when they lost four wickets for no runs, but the effort was not over as Arron Campbell with 16 and Paul Short with a belligerent 34 got Wellington to 150 before Short was last man out.

The team are away to Staplegrove this coming weekend.

Wellington 2nd XI will feel they let this Somerset League Division Four match slip away somewhat as they had Wembdon 2nd XI at 16-3 and a big chance to lock down the game having made a good total of their own batting first.

Skipper Richard Henwood carried his bat for a capital 79no with three sixes in it as he was well supported by others; he added 26 first up with Marc Holloway and 24 with Sam Cook to bring up the team’s half century with the telling stands been 54 for the fourth wicket with Tom Baycock (25) and the same for the fifth with George Hooper (29no) as Wellington closed on 174-4 in their 45 overs.

Adrian Lee and George Hooper raced Wellington into the ascendancy in the game as they reduced Wembdon to 16-3 with three of their top four making ducks, but the powerful batting of Trunks with 70no and the steady play of Bingham (43no) saved the day for the home side as they pulled the game back in their favour to win by three wickets and take 29 points to Wellington’s 15.

There are things to work on for Wellington and they will get them in order for the visit of Fitzhead next weekend which is a first for the side as it will be the first time in 40 years competing in the Somerset League that they will have played a Club first team in a league match.

In one of only two Somerset League Division One games to be played following the atrocious weather of the previous week Wellington started as they mean to carry on in 2012 when they beat last season’s runners up North Petherton at a cold and breezy Courtland Road last Saturday.

Club groundsman Simon Rudd and his team did so much hard work in the lead up to the game to get things on and it was a testament to these efforts that there was a game at all.

Petherton – with Ali Bunce who played for Wellington in 2011 back in their ranks – asked Wellington to bat first and it was hard going for Paul Short and Neil Hendy early on as Knight and Gibbs bowled a tight line and length that made run scoring hard work, but the opening Wellington wicket came when Hendy was run out after a call for quick single was aborted and he could not make his ground in time.

Skipper Short and Alex Sparks got their heads down and added 57 patient runs for the second wicket as run scoring opportunities were limited – only six boundaries were hit in the entire Wellington innings – Short had made it to 23 before he went to hit over the top and Bunce (3-38 in 12 overs) had a wicket.

Charlie Davies with a workmanlike 19 gave Sparks (48) fine support in a fifty run third wicket stand.

From 111-2 to 126-6 Wellington saw their score dip somewhat, but Rob Moysey and James Bath with 23no and 16 got the Red and Blacks to over 150 and Sam Murdock was with Moysey as Wellington pulled up one run short of an eighth batting point to leave North Petherton 160 to win.

The only time when they seemed to be in charge of the chase was when O.Irish and Gibbs were adding 55 for their fourth wicket as earlier Thom Trott and Luke Desave had reduced Petherton to 29-3 in 12 overs.

Irish made a fine 42, but was dropped once and made some profit from this drop, but other than Gibbs with 27 there was not really anyone to support this effort.

Indika Weerawarna was a handful as his bag of spin tricks came to the fore and he bowled better than 0-33 in 9 overs suggests.

Desave came back and took 4-15 (5-28 all told) in his second spell as he ran through the Petherton tail and this is such a potent weapon to have access to, this and Rob Moysey’s 3-34 in 10 overs delivered 32 points to Wellington.

The only other game to survive was Temple Cloud’s match with Watchet and the Bristol side took 34 points from a 65 run win.

Wellington trek north to Purnells next weekend.

Steve Symons (Capt), Paul Short, Rob Moysey, Aks Latifi (Wkt), Charlie Davies, Thom Trott, Leo Goodman-Jones, Scott Davey, George Hooper, Jake Nichol, Arron Campbell.

Depart from Courtland Road Car Park at 1.00pm for a 2.30pm start.

Details from Steve Symons.

Chard CC has informed us that they have withdrawn their eight a side Under 13s side from the Taunton and District Youth League.

This means that Paul Rowlandson’s team has no game this coming weekend.

Their season will now start on Sunday 13th May.

Richard Henwood (Capt), Marc Holloway, Darren Davis, Tom Baycock, Simon Rudd, Will Hinchcliffe, George Hooper, Sam Cook (Wkt), Aaron Chugg, Scott Davey and Adrian Lee.

Depart from Courtland Road Car Park at 12.30pm for a 2.00pm start.

Details from Richard Henwood.

Paul Short (Capt), Thom Trott, Luke Desave, Aks Latifi, Rob Moysey, Sam Murdock, Alex Sparks, Charlie Davies, Indika Weerawarna, James Bath and Neil Hendy.

Meet at Pavilion at 12.30pm for a 1.45pm start.

Details from Paul Short.

Wellington’s wet weekend continued with a second successive washout – this time the visit of WEPL Somerset club Street to Courtland Road was the match to fall by the wayside – as the predicted persistent and heavy rain hit Wellington on the Sunday morning.

It left the Club with no option but to call off the match and give everyone involved another free date.

Attention now turns to the start of the Somerset League season next weekend with the 1st XI at home to North Petherton in Division One and the 2nd XI away to Wembdon 2nd XI in Division Four on Saturday 5th May.

On Sunday 6th May the Sunday XI are away to Sidmouth.

The Club’s Selection Committee meets on Sunday evenings this season.

Wellington’s opening competitive match of the 2012 season was scuppered by the week’s heavy rains and that their Courtland Road ground’s outfield was too wet to be tended to and so saw their match with WEPL Premier One club Bridgwater called off.

The match – in Division A of the Taunton and District Sunday League – was called off at 9.30am on Saturday morning and sees both sides take 10 points each.

Wellington’s next match in this competition is on Sunday 10th June when they host Somerset League Division Two side North Newton.

Steve Symons (Capt), Aks Latifi, Paul Short, Rob Moysey, Marc Holloway, Sam Cook, James Bath, George Hooper, Jake Nichol, Lee Nichol, Adrian Lee

Meet at Pavilion at 12.15pm for a 1.00pm start.

Details from Steve Symons.