Uphill Castle 2^nd XI V Wiveliscombe 1^st XI

Uphill Castle seconds travelled away this week to Wiveliscombe in division 4 of the Somerset cricket league. A hot and sunny Saturday got underway with Wiveliscombe skipper George Sinnott winning the toss and electing to field.

Uphill batsmen Gareth Lloyd (10) and Jack Fowler (4) started the innings off, with Lloyd looking comfortable at the crease. After an uneventful few overs Fowler played around a delivery from Fleming (7 – 1 – 44 – 3) and found himself heading back to the changing rooms having made little impact.

Lloyd continued on seemingly settled until he cut a ball from the bowling of Sinnott (8 – 0 – 28 – 2) that found its way into the waiting hands of 3^rd slip.
This brought Harry Frake (63*) to the middle to join his farther Peter Frake (8) and the two looked in good form as they started to cautiously increase the scoring rate. Peter Frake taking one to many risks played a ball from Fleming in the air to a fielder, leaving Harry to continue on without him.

Dan Fox (10) calmed things down for Uphill for several overs before being stumped by Pinney off the bowling of Onions (7- 3 – 12 – 1). Tom Miler (13) arriving characteristically late just had time to change and pad up before heading out to the middle. Playing his usual aggressive style of cricket brought a few boundaries but eventually missing one from Hill (4 – 0 – 15 – 1) and was given out LBW.

Rob Skeen (3) joined Frake in the middle, as castle continued to pick up runs where they could, but a wayward shot sent another ball into the air from the bowling of Fleming and was caught by Welch. Peter Skeen (5), replacing his farther after the catch was able to support Frake as he continued to add runs to the total but fell victim to Sinnott´s bowling with yet another catch being taken by the home side.

Veteran all rounder Dave Wilcox (17*) was the man to help Frake reach the end of the Uphill innings with some quick-fire boundaries. An impressive performance by Harry Frake finishing on 63* his highest senior score and his maiden 50! Uphill finished the innings with 167 runs after 40 overs, having only lost 7 wickets.

Wiveliscombe openers Andrew Hill (73) and Henry Welch (1) initially struggled to progress against Uphills opening bowling attack. T. Miller (8 – 1 – 44 – 1) and A. Leech (4 – 0 – 21 – 0) worked hard in the heat to keep the batsmen under pressure. This tactic paid dividends as Miller bowled Welch for 1, bringing Elliot Adu Darko (86) to the crease.

Economic bowling from N. Kennedy (8 – 1 – 43 – 0) and P. Skeen (4 – 0 – 17 – 0) kept Uphills hopes of making a breakthrough alive for some time, unfortunately the partnership remained unbroken until the 28^th over when they hit the winning runs.

Uphill seconds are back at the Castle Ground this coming Saturday (16^th July) against Trull 2^nd XI in a bottom of the table clash.