1st XI
Weston won the toss and elected to bat. Rob Turner, in his last match as captain, and Jack Press put on 35 for the first wicket, with Turner playing some positive shots in the first over to find the short boundary. Turner fell for 16, bringing Andrew Fear to the crease. He batted with patience against a good attack, in partnerships of 31 with Press (26), 29 with Gully and 40 with Will Whitell (15), before falling for 54.
Weston then lost four wickets for the addition of only 12 runs leaving them 147-7, before Matt Huxtable (23 not out off 23 balls) steadied the ship slightly and got Weston over the 175 needed for a third batting point. Batting did not look easy on the wicket and Weston finished 183-8 off their 50 overs.
Taunton openers Clist and Sale, attacked the bowlers from the off and, helped by a flurry of wides in the first three overs, put on a quick fire 151 runs for the first wicket. Spinners Allen and Goodhew were particularly expensive in their first spells, both going at more than ten an over. Paul van Meekeren was the only bowler to bowl effectively, with figures of 10-1-29-2. A change of ends for Allen (10-0-60-2) saw the breakthrough Weston had been waiting for as he trapped Sale LBW for 74. A batting collapse reminiscent of an England test innings followed, with Taunton falling from 151-1 to 167-4, but Clist (70 not out) held his nerve. Goodhew took the fifth wicket, but by this point Taunton only needed 3 for victory, runs which Clist struck off the first ball of Ben Gully’s first over.
With no match on the last weekend of the season due to the withdrawal of Glastonbury from the league, it is a disappointing end to the season, especially after the high of the previous week’s convincing win against Shapwick and Polden.
Weston would like to take this opportunity to bid farewell and say thank you to Ben Gully, our overseas player for this season. A huge thank you must also go to Rob Turner for all he has done as captain in the past two years.
The Forte Financial Man of the match goes to veteran Andrew Fear for his patient innings, holding together the Weston batting and ensuring a challenging target was posted.
2nd XI
The 2nd XI suffered another defeat on Saturday, this time at home to Taunton.
They won the toss and batted first, but found it tough early on, losing young Davis Trego early on. Brothers Dom (22) and Fin Mayo (42) added 46 for the second wicket, battling hard. Simon Turner (50*) came in at 4 and worked hard for his runs, and with support from Eoin Austen (16), got Weston up to a decent score of 176-7.
As often this season for the 2nd’s, the opposition made batting look a lot more straightforward. They only lost one wicket on route to a comfortable chase, reaching the target in the 31st over.
Forte Financial Player of the Match goes to Simon Turner.
3rd XI
Weston 3s lost a crucial game on Saturday that now see’s them all but relegated from Division 5 in their first season after promotion, only a minor miracle will keep them up.
Weston lost the toss and were in the field. The game got off to the perfect start with 13 year old Will Crane (5-0-13-2) taking 2 wickets in the first over, both caught behind by skipper Josh Knight. Crane bowled beautifully swinging the ball both ways. Georgia Tulip (9-1-31-3) continued the great opening spell at the other end taking 2 wickets cleaned bowled and the other caught behind again by Knight. This left top of the league Yeovil 24-5. However a partnership of over a hundred between Martin and Malcolm for the 6th wicket bought Yeovil back into the game. Bayley Frise (8-0-51-1) removed Malcolm, caught by Filer and Ian Smith (9-0-36-2) had opener Martin LBW whilst his other wicket was again caught behind by Knight. Jamie Dance (5-0-31-2) took the final 2 wickets to leave Yeovil 179 all out, Weston thinking what could have been after that brilliant start.
Weston’s reply got off to a terrible start with Chris Pack (0) and Max Brown (1) removed early to leave Weston 6-2. However with captain Knight (56) and returning Luke Richards (52) at the crease Weston rebuilt reaching 106-2 in the 26th over, before Knight was caught at point off the bowling of Hurlock. After this the innings fell apart with no batsman scoring more than 5 runs. The visitors were all out for 145 in the 43rd over.
This game summed up Weston’s season; always competitive but just not quite good enough to get over the line. Josh Knight, Luke Richards and Will Crane were all contenders for player of the match but this week it goes to Georgia Tulip for her excellent spell of bowling setting the game up for the win which the batsmen couldn’t capitalise on.
Next week Weston play Cranmore at home on the final weekend of the season needing to get full points and hope that the visitors don’t get more than 6.
4th XI
Weston 4ths had two games across the bank holiday weekend, with both having a similar tale of finishing just short of victory.
The 1st game saw them host Mark CC, and after losing the toss found themselves in the field. The Mark batsman captaitlised on some wayward bowling early on. The experienced Matt Kearsey took 4 wickets to stem the flow on the quick scoring East Ground, and Matt Munday weighed in with 2, as Mark finished on 246-9.
Weston’s innings saw 5 players reach at least 20, but only Jon Mayo (56*) got to 50, as they finished just 15 short in a high scoring affair.
Forte Financial Player of the Game goes to Jon Mayo.
On Bank Holiday Monday, Weston again care up just short with the bat at home against Frome 3rd XI.
Weston won the toss and bowled first on a slow and damp wicket, but made an erratic start with numerous wides giving the visitors easy runs. Justin Turner found some good help from the pitch to pick up 3 wickets, helped by some excellent catching from Luke Richards and keeper Tom Bailey. The innings was fairly even throughout, as Frome finished in 200 all out, with Dominic Mayo picking up 3 wickets at the end.
Weston made a good if cautious start, with Frome using their experienced bowlers to good effect. Russ Green made it 42, but his wicket sparked a small collapse, as they lost 4 wickets with the score around 100. Dom Mayo came in and was immediately aggressive, and in partnership with Tom Bailey (32) they looked like they could guide the team to victory. The run rate kept climbing as wickets fell, but Mayo kept swinging the bat. The last over came with Weston needing 16, and eventually needing 6 to win off the last, but they couldn’t manage it, as Frome won by 5 runs, with Mayo finishing on 69 not out.
Forte Financial Player of the Match goes to Dom Mayo.
5th XI
The 5th XI travelled to play Wembdon 4ths on Saturday, and came away with an excellent victory. Batting first, Weston benefited from contributions from a few different players, as youngsters Enzo Cryer, Jack Trego, Harry Thompson, Ollie Thompson and Christian McMullan all scored at least 20. They finished on a good score of 184 all out.
In reply, Wembdon never got going, with only two batsman reaching double figures. All the youngsters again showed their promise with the ball, with all the bowlers picking up wickets. Ollie Thompson picked up 3, there were 2 for McMullan and Ryan Hearse, and one each for Bobbi-Lee Kingston, Holly McLaughlin and Georgina Goodwin, as they were bowled out for 113. Forte Financial Player of the Match goes to Ollie Thompson.
