Butleigh 163 Wellington 164-7 Wellington ended their home season in style with this three wicket win over relegation threatened Butleigh last weekend as they chalked up their eleventh win of the campaign despite a late wobble from the middle order.
Heavy thundery rain the previous evening had seen the toss winners lead towards bowling first and Paul Short had the choice and he asked Butleigh to bat.
Collett and Seal opened well for Butleigh and added 59 for the opening wicket as they played with Seal hitting 47 with ten fours, but when Rob Moysey bowled Collett and Max Capaldi trapped Seal LBW the visitors to Courtland Road were despatched for 104 all told.
Moysey with 4-46 in 9.3 overs and Capaldi with 3-32 in 7 overs led the attack well and took wickets at regular intervals.
This was supported by Luke Desave, George Hooper and Paul Short who all took wickets too. Hicks with 26 and Drew with 23 got a start for Butleigh, but they fell away to be all out with 9.3 overs left.
Charlie Davies with 29 and Alex Sparks with 31 played with style and other solid knocks from Paul Short (28), Max Capaldi (21) and Aks Latifi (26) aided Wellington’s effort and although 153-4 became 159-7 the game was won and Wellington took 18 points.
The team end their season away to Uphill Castle next weekend.
Wellington 2ndXI v Wembdon
Wellington 2nd XI suffered an 89 run loss at Wembdon in Division Three of the Somerset League last weekend when their bowling did not click as a unit and let the home side score more than they should have done and as a result the team slip one place to fifth with one game to play.
Wembdon were asked to bat first and Adrian Lee’s excellent caught and bowled effort started things well for Wellington, but after that a 114 run second wicket stand between Lott and Jenkins set Wembdon on their way to a big total.
Lott made a fine 108 and Jenkins with 32 and Bennett with 26no made the Red and Blacks second string have a long time in the field.
Richard Henwood with 5-41 in 10 overs was excellent and deserved his success.
Nearly thirty extras were leaked by Wellington and this did not help their fielding effort.
Wellington’s innings was a solid one with several players getting a start, but something of the order of what Lott had produced was needed to win this game and that was not forthcoming.
Marc Holloway (12) and Tom Hawkings (19) got Wellington away to a good 37 run opening stand and Ollie Wilkins with 13 did well in the middle order.
This was complimented by an excellent 40 from Trevor Brooks and 24 from Arron Campbell, but Wellington ended well short of their target and took 14 points from the game.
Horrington are the visitors to Courtland Road for the last game of the season for the team.
Bridgwater Sunday XI 154 Wellington Sunday XI 155-5
Wellington Sunday XI beat Taunton and District Sunday League Division A leaders Bridgwater on their own patch last weekend and secured at least the runners up spot and have a slim chance of winning the title too following this five wicket win on Bank Holiday Sunday.
Bridgwater opted to bat first and were in trouble first up as George Hooper and Lewis Sparks formed an excellent opening attack for Wellington as the home side were reduced to 19-3 with both bowling with pace and accuracy.
This was continued by Jack Beal whose left arm over angle caused issues; one player who had no issues was Barrett who cracked 83 for Bridgwater and this was a class knock.
Spin in the form of Ben Evett took 4-34 in seven very good overs and Arron Campbell with 1-11 in seven overs of his own worked through the rest of the Bridgwater line up and Lewis Sparks came back to end matters with 7.3 overs unused.
Wellington were quickly into their stride as Max Capaldi and Robin Davies blazed a trail to a 57 run opening stand as both took advantage of some wayward Bridgwater bowling.
Although both were trapped LBW the foundations for a Wellington win had been laid.
Scott Davey with 15 made a good contribution and Aks Latifi (39no) along with Alex Sparks ended matters with 11.3 overs left and saw Wellington collect a full 25 points.
The team are at Chard this coming weekend for their last game and a chance to go top of the pile is on offer.
Match Reports: David Derrick