Uphill Castle 1st XI end losing streak with seven wicket win against Lympsham & Belvedere
Uphill Castle CC ended their barren run with their first win in five games against Lympsham & Belvedere on Saturday. Lympsham & Belvedere lost the toss and were asked to bat first. Duo Dave Luff and Mike Hosey made a steady start accumulating runs nicely without taking risks.
Dave Luff (15) was first to go as he was caught at mid-wicket off Luke Bliss. Hosey (17) fell soon after as he was bowled by Robert Taylor. Wickets continued to fall regularly as Sam Neate (5) was bowled by the accurate Taylor.
Jack Luff continued his good form but wickets kept falling as Tom Gooding (0) caught behind and Nathan Hancock (0) caught at extra cover both fell victim to R Taylor. CJ Neate joined Jack Luff and looked to rebuild the innings taking the score past the hundred mark before CJ Neate (13) was bowled by Imran Oaiyhmail.
Brad Ashfield batted nicely alongside Jack Luff rotating the strike before Jack Luff (57) once again stood out top edged to the wicket keeper off George Cox. Ashfield fell soon after as he was well caught on the deep mid-wicket boundary off Kieran Ward. Neil Chadwick (1) was trapped LBW by Ward leaving Matt Grute and Craig Scriven to try and bat out the remaining overs.
Matt Grute (23) batted nicely as he remained not out as the innings closed with the run out of Craig Scriven (4) with the Lympsham & Belvedere innings on 176. Uphill’s reply started nervously as Ryan Davies rode his luck early on with some close decisions. However, once he got going, he timed the ball nicely as Gooding (0-28) and CJ Neate (0-39) struggled to make the breakthrough.
Davies went into top gear for Uphill hitting boundaries to all parts of the ground as the scoring rate increased dramatically. Hosey (1-42) got the breakthrough with the score on 100 as he bowled Tom Elstone (21). Davies made an excellent 84 before he was stumped by Matt Grute off the bowling of Chadwick (1-38) as Uphill reached 118 for two. A rain delay saw Uphill Castle needing to hit 44 off the remaining 12 overs to seal victory.
Jermaine Jones made an entertaining 37 before he was well caught by Jack Luff off Ashfield (1-24) leaving Paddy Holyday to hit the winning runs. He remained on 18 not out alongside Cox (4) as Uphill Castle ran out deserved winners by seven wickets.
Uphill return to action Saturday at Winscombe while Lympsham & Belvedere are also on their travels at Long Sutton.
Uphill Castle 2nd XI v Spaxton 1st XI
Uphill Castle 2nd XI were on the road this week against Spaxton 1st XI in division 4 of the Somerset Cricket League. Castle skipper C. Grabham having won the toss elected to field. Opening bowlers T. Miller (8-0-31-2) and J. Fowler (6-0-31-0) took a pace attack to the top order, containing the batsmen J.Bishop (16) and R. Gamblin (4) until the pressure built sufficiently to force errors. Grabham, who took to the field with protective gear donned from the start of the innings began a display of close fielding that resulted in a catching masterclass, taking both opening batsmen out of the game with highlight reel moments from the bowling of Miller.
Still under the lid while fielding at mid-wicket Grabham took yet another catch from the bowling of M. Bliss (7-0-42-1) to dismiss D. Andison (10). Bliss continued to contribute by running out Spaxton keeper R. Budd (49) by narrow margins, much to the anguish of the batsman. A wicket and a run out however was not enough for Bliss who then made ground to take a catch dismissing J. Venton (31) off the bowling of M. Biggs (5-0-44-1).
Both N. Kennedy (6-0-29-0) and J. Robinson (6-0-43-0) bowled well, Robinson causing the batsmen trouble several times and unfortunate not to get wickets. With the innings coming to a close Grabham (2-0-10-1) brought himself on to bowl, successfully removing Spaxton top scorer A. Richards (58), leaving D. Pople (31) and R. Baker (3) to lead Spaxton to 234/6 from the 40 overs.
During the interval, while enjoying a noteworthy cricket tea laid on by the hosts the rain set in. This however did not last for long and despite the uncovered wicket the ball was still pinging off the surface when Uphill openers G. Lloyd (2) and J. Fowler (1) took to the crease. First to go was Fowler run out pushing for 2 while unaware of the fielder in the deep. Lloyd followed soon after catching an edge behind from the bowling of R. Baker (4-0-24-1) of which he was unaware until the umpire sent him on his way.
T. Frost (4) got off the mark with a boundary before being dismissed LBW by A. Richards (4-0-14-1). This left Castle keeper D. Fox (14*) and M. Biggs (5*) the job of chasing down the required runs, before the game was cut short with the ominous black clouds delivering exactly that which they had threatened for the entirety of the second innings. Uphill were 31/3 at 10 overs when both teams admitted defeat to the weather and the match was ruled a draw.
Uphill 2nd XI will continue their season welcoming Butleigh 2nd XI to the Castle Ground next Saturday.
Frome 3rd XI Vs Uphill Castle 3rd XI
Frome CC hosted Uphill Castle CC at Mells Cricket Ground on Saturday 18th June. There had been heavy downpour in the morning and due to the ground not having access to any covers the wicket was wet and unpredictable. The toss was won by Frome CC who unsurprisingly elected to field considering the conditions.
Play started at 1:30 with Hallam Bickell opening alongside Harry Frake for Uphill Castle CC. Harry Frake was unfortunately dismissed for 1 in the second ball of the third over, caught and bowled by Ben Cooper, after the ball popped up off the wicket. Ian Harrington then made his way to the crease and slowly began to build a partnership with Hallam Bickell.
As he began to settle into the game, Ian Harrington began to increase the scoring rate for Uphill Castle and scored 16 runs in the 9th over. A strong partnership began to form with 57 runs scored between them until the call for a quick single was made, unfortunately fine leg got a direct hit which resulted in the run out of Ian Harrington with 46 runs. This was the captains 2nd good batting performance in a row, narrowly missing out on his fifty. Wez Bryant then came out to replace Ian Harrington at the non-strikers end of the wicket.
Following the Captains dismissal, an unfortunate collapse in the batting order began with Hallam Bickell being dismissed for 15 runs, only one ball after the dismissal of Ian Harrington. The ball to dismiss Hallam Bickell came from a short length but stayed down and did not bounce at all off the pitch, hitting middle stump. This wicket was then followed by the wicket of Wez Bryant who had caught the inside edge of his bat hitting the ball into his stump off an unplayable yorker delivery. This left Uphill Castle at 68-4 in the 16th over.
Dave Wilcox then entered the field alongside Toby Robinson as Uphill began to reach the latter end of the batting order much earlier than would have liked in the 40 over game. Two overs later in the 18th over, Toby Robinson was dismissed by an identical ball to the dismissal of Harry Frake at the beginning of the game, with a caught and bowled by Chris Glover of Frome CC.
The dismissals of Dave Wilcox for 13 and Graeme Wigg for 3 then followed, along with the LBW of Andy Leech. Charlie Beal and Pete Jobling then came to the crease with Charlie Beal being dismissed third ball after being caught in the slip. Salman Habibkheil then joined Pete Jobling scoring 5 runs between them before Salman Habibkheil was caught at mid on with 3 runs.
Uphill Castle ended their batting innings with 95 all out from 30.4 overs. It was a harsh day for the Castle having to bat on such an unpredictable wicket and with 3 batsmen out for 0, with only 3 batsmen reaching double figures.
Despite the unfortunate innings, Uphill Castle went out to field with heads high and ready to prevent as many runs as possible. Pete Jobling opened the bowling with Andy Leech hoping to get the same results off the wicket as Frome had in the first innings. Uphill started the innings with a wicket off the bowling of Pete Jobling through a run out by Charlie Beal.
Pete Jobling and Andy Leach bowled the first 16 overs between them, 8 each, only conceding 44 runs. They delivered some fine bowling, yet the balls missed the stumps by the slightest degree, somehow, on several occasions. They were then replaced by Charlie Beal and Salman Habibkheil who both suffered with multiple missed chances and Charlie Beal finding the inside edge of the batsmen’s bat which missed the stumps by the barest of margins. In the following over, Salman managed to find the top edge of the bat which went just out of reach of Graeme Wiggs’s keeping gloves.
The wicket had continued to be unpredictable throughout the second innings, but not quite as unpredictable as that in the first innings. Frome’s 2nd and 3rd batsmen chased down the total in 23 overs due to a strong innings with Mike Cooper Scoring 45 and Chris Glover scoring 49.
Despite the loss, Uphill Castle had fielded exceptionally well with few miss-fields and only two wides during the 23 overs.
Uphill Castle 3rd XI are still chasing that first win of the season but the team is growing ever stronger with all players contributing to the game, helping with the development and growth of the team…
By Charlie Beal
