Uphill seconds’ George Chapman starred with both bat and ball against Wellington.

UPHILL Castle seconds entertained Wellington in their opening league match of the season.

After losing the toss, Uphill were asked to bat first and got off to a steady start, with Mark Hodder and Gareth Williams putting on 50 for the first wicket before Hodder departed on 20.

This resulted in a mini collapse and they were reduced to 67-4 before Williams (69) and young George Chapman (64 not out) put the team back into the game. Some late hitting from Ward (14), Dibben and Leech saw Uphill post 217-7.

Wellington started their innings slowly due to the bowling of Andy Leech and Peter Jobling (2-27), but their middle order got them back into game before the arrival of Chapman (5-48) and Mathews (2-30) plus a superb one-handed diving catch by Sam Frost, saw Uphill bowl the visitors out for 180 and maximum points.

THE fourth team opened their season with a resounding victory over opponents who had suffered a couple of late withdrawals.

Having lost the toss, Uphill were invited to bat and started off at a brisk pace with openers Ashley Doyle and Rich Fletcher reaching the boundary regularly. It was somewhat of a surprise when Fletcher was dismissed for 17, but this led to the introduction of Holyday, and with Doyle now in full flow, the two set about the bowling.

Doyle reached his century, but decided to retire hurt with a shoulder injury. Soon after, Paddy Holyday (59) reached his maiden senior half century. Young Matt Ogbourne delivered a quick 22 on senior debut, in support of veteran Sloman, who reached his half century on the penultimate ball, as Uphill finished on 297-5.

Facing a formidable total, the Leigh openers set an early warning finding the boundary on a few occasions, but Dave Wilcox achieved the important breakthrough, and with the introduction of young spinner Jacob Matthews, they proceeded to dismantle the opposition innings.

When Ogbourne completed a run out in the 30th over, Leigh had been bowled out for 64. Wilcox had returned impressive figures of 2-12 in his 10 overs, but Matthews took the bowling honours with 7-25 in 10 overs of accurate spin bowling.