Uphill Castle 2nd XI vs Taunton Indians 1st XI
Uphill 2nds played host to Taunton Indians 1st XI at The Castle Ground for game number 6 in the fourth division of the Somerset Cricket League. Conditions looked ideal with occasional cloud cover breaking up an otherwise warm and sunny afternoon. Presented with one of the best batting wickets seen so far this season the unsurprising decision to bat first was made by Taunton Indian skipper S. Koonampacal upon winning the toss.
The skipper and his opening partner S. Augustine set about the task of getting their teams innings underway with a slow but assured performance seeing off opening spells from T. Miller (8 – 1 – 35 – 1) and H. Watts (5 – 1 – 17 – 0).
The first wicket fell after drinks in the 16th over with 56 runs on the board as J. Fowler (7 – 0 – 26 – 1) dismissed S. Augustine for 20 with a full out-swinging delivery coming back in from the leg side for a undeniable LBW. This brought P. Kurian to the crease who facing N. Kennedy (7 – 1 – 27 – 0) and J Robinson (6 – 1 -38 – 0) contribute 43 runs to the partnership that took the visitors to 152 before he was run out by keeper D. Fox
M. Biggs (5 – 0 – 33 – 0) once again lost out on a wicket due to dropped catches in the field despite bowling well. J. Jacob (8) and P. Thekkathil (10) were both dismissed by Uphill skipper C. Grabham (2 – 0 – 12 – 2) leaving Taunton Indians with 206 – 5 after 40 overs.
The Uphill opening batsmen appeared to have settled at the crease until an error from J. Fowler (8) saw him mistime a shot which inspired an impressive c&b from S. Thomas (8 – 0 – 39 – 2) who dove down the wicket with fine athletic form. This brought P. Frake to the crease with the score at just 18 runs.
G. Lloyd (9) followed shortly after, dismissed LBW to the bowling of J. Jacob (8 – 2 – 19 – 3) with Uphill 20 – 2 early in the innings. H. Watts joined Frake and looked to be in good form until a dropped catch was steered into the stumps to run out non-striker P. Frake (1) leaving Uphill 35 – 3.
Uphill skipper C. Grabham joined H. Watts in the middle, however no partnership had time to develop as Watts (16) was bowled by a ball off his pads from J. Jacob leaving Uphill 38 – 4 and looking in some real trouble having yet to reach the first drinks break.
Fortunately the arrival of M. Biggs gave Uphills captain the batting partner he needed, with the two setting in action a plan to regain the lost ground and developing a partnership of 86 runs before M. Biggs (29) was given out LBW to the bowling of J. Jacob.
With the scorecard reading 124 – 5, H. Frake (8) came to the crease only to be undone by a very ambitious call for a single from his captain leaving him too much ground to make and being run out cheaply. Grabham (58) had his captains innings cut short to a chest high full toss which he pulled just short of the boundary at deep square leg, the catch being taken and to the dismay of those watching a no ball was not given.
T. Miller came and went for 7 runs being bowled by S. Natarajapillai (5.1 – 0 – 22 – 3), followed by D. Fox (7) who managed to chop a ball wide on the offside onto his stumps with a ¨creative” stroke of his own imagining. With Uphill requiring 27 from the final wicket, J. Robinson (4) and N. Kennedy (0*) made their stand, however Robinson was unable to keep a delivery from S. Natarajapillai out and Taunton Indians claimed victory by 20 runs with 3.5 overs remaining.
Uphill seconds continue their league journey away to Spaxton 1st XI next Saturday.
Uphill Castle 3rd XI vs Wedmore 2nd XI
Uphill Castle 3rd Team were hosts to Wedmore 2nd Team at the Castle Ground for the 6th game of the season in Division 7 Blue Somerset Cricket League. The conditions on the day were ideal for a game of cricket with little to no cloud and the sun was out to ensure a warm afternoon. The Captains went out to the middle and after an inspection of the wicket, Uphill Castle 3rd XI skipper Ian Harrington won the toss electing to field for the 1st Innings.
The opening bowling partnership made up of Pete Jobling and Andy Leech took some early wickets with Andy Leech clean bowling Wedmore’s opening batsmen Adam Stringer out for 0 in the first over. Wedmore’s number 2 batsman was not far behind after being given out for LBW off the bowling of Pete Jobling for 1. Pete Jobling continued his good spell of bowling with a second wicket dismissing the number 3 batsman for LBW as well.
With the 4th and 5th batsmen in play, scoring some much-needed runs for Wedmore, Pete Jobling finished his spell on 22-2 and Andy Leech finished with 41-1. Joining the bowling attack was the spin of Dave Wilcox and the seam bowling of Charlie Beal. With the 5th wicket partnership building, the batsmen began to hit the ball around the field much more increasing Wedmore’s score. After 3 overs, Charlie Beal was replaced by Stuart Butson.
The number 4 batsman decided to go big off the bowling of Dave Wilcox which resulted with him being caught at mid-on by Stuart Butson. The following over, Dave Wilcox also took the wicket of the 5th batsman after being caught at Mid-Wicket by Ian Harrington. Dave Wilcox then finished his spell of 8 overs with 53-2.
Stuart Butson continued to bowl 6 overs and took the wicket of the 8th batsman via LBW finishing his spell 27-1 to then be replaced by Salman Habibkheil. Charlie Beal and Salman Habibkheil bowled through to the end of the 40 overs with Charlie Beal bowling 7 overs 60-0 and Salman Habibkheil bowling 3 overs for 31-1 after taking the wicket of the 6th batsman in his second over. Wedmore had set a very strong target of 238 at the end of the 40 overs.
After a short break, the openers for Uphill Castle went out to bat with Rob Skeen scoring 5 runs for Uphill in the first over. However, C. Major of Wedmore took a very early wicket from Bruce Butson for 0, leaving the field at 5-1. Ian Harrington entered the field and scored some much-needed runs bringing up his fifty by the fifteenth over. However very soon after his fifty, Rob Skeen was given out for LBW off the bowling of W. Macarthur to be replaced by Wez Bryant.
W. Macarthur took his second wicket a couple overs later after the stumping of Ian Harrington who finished his innings with a score of 52 runs. W. Macarthur took a second wicket of the over from the catch of Stuart Butson who was out for 0 with Uphill sitting at a score of 97-4.
Wez Bryant continued to bat well holding the strike whilst Graeme Wigg stood at the non-strikers end of the wicket. Graeme Wigg was then dismissed by T. Ingle for 1 bringing Dave Wilcox onto the pitch to rebuild a partnership with Wez Bryant who continued to score runs. Wez Bryant was then caught out by A. Stringer off the bowling of T. Ingle after scoring 41 runs.
With a win beginning to look unlikely for Uphill Castle who needed 80 runs off the last 7 overs, the batsmen began to hit out a bit more which resulted in Dave Wilcox being bowled out for 11 and Andy Leech being caught out on the boundary after playing an excellent shot which was followed by an excellent catch by A. Peters.
Charlie Beal then arrived at the crease to then be very quickly sent back to the changing rooms after catching the outside edge of his bat on his first ball. Salman Habibkheil then scored one run before being stumped by C. Jackson, leaving Pete Jobbers as the not out batsman finishing his innings with 2 runs.
An excellent performance from Wedmore both batting and fielding, which saw them win the game comfortably after bowling Uphill all out for 172.
Wedmore won by 65 runs, scoring the maximum of 35 points and Uphill Castle scoring 15 points.
