Uphill Castle defeated league leaders Wembdon by one wicket in an exciting encounter.

UPHILL Castle fought back to beat top of the table Wembdon by one wicket in the last over.

Winning the toss and batting first, Wembdon got off to a good start reaching 58 in the 11th over before Puddy holed out on the mid-on boundary to Keiron Ward off the bowling of Marcus Bail.

Gower and Lowe managed to take the score to 112 before Lowe was bowled by Ward. Excellent spells by Ward and Watts put the brakes on, leaving Wembdon on 197-4 with 10 overs to go.

With new batsmen at the crease in the search for runs, Williams and Bliss managed to keep a lid on things, conceding just 45 runs from the last nine overs with Bliss picking up three wickets and Williams two, as the innings closed on 242-8, helped by an excellent all-round effort from the Uphill team in the field.

Uphill did not get off to the best start, losing Bail with the score on seven, Oultram and Bliss followed leaving Uphill on 44-3. Watts joined Belcher and rebuilt the innings before Belcher was caught behind for a hard-earned 37.

Watts went for 29 and Llewellyn fell with the score on 144, leaving Uphill to get 99 from the last 12 overs. Goegan, who had started slowly, then cut loose, supported by Williams as they picked up the momentum edging Uphill closer to the score.

Uphill reached 227 with two overs to go when Williams was caught on the boundary for a run-a-ball 34. Ward crashed a four before being caught behind and with 10 runs needed off the last over, Goegan finished the job in hand, hitting four from the first ball and two from each of the following three deliveries, taking Uphill to an unlikely, but excellent victory with two balls to spare.

Specsavers man of the match Goegan finished on a magnificent undefeated 90 from a total of 79 balls hitting eight fours and three sixes. His last 66 runs came from only 38 deliveries.

WEMBDON

G Lowe b Ward 48

S Puddy c Ward b Bail 33

R Gower c Watts b Bliss 51

P Curd c Bliss b Ward 47

K Trunks b Williams 13

D Bingham not out 23

J Lowe lbw Bliss 4

P Joshi c Bail b Bliss 1

R Eckley b Williams 3

M Hubbard not out 1

Extras 18

Total (8 wkts) 242

Bowling: M Bail 10-0-52-1; A Leech 5-0-29-0; H Watts 10-1-29-3; K Ward 10-1-40-2; L Bliss 10-1-54-3; G Williams 5-0-31-2.

UPHILL CASTLE

A Belcher c Eckley b Cook 37

M Bail c Eckley b Bingham 0

T Oultram c Cook b Bingham 11

L Bliss c Eckley b Lowe 6

H Watts c Joshi b Gower 27

J Goegan not out 90

A Llewellyn c Eckley b Joshi 15

G Williams c Curd b Lowe 34

K Ward c Eckley b Lowe 4

D Bickell run out 1

A Leech not out 0

Extras 18

Total (9 wkts) 243

THE seconds travelled to Wembdon with several players making their 2nd XI debuts.

Batting first, Uphill openers Hodder and Worrall rolled back the years, putting on 99 for the first wicket before Worrall fell for 42.

Newman scored quickly on his debut before being adjudge lbw for 11. Hodder went on to score 75 before being caught behind. A late flourish by new boy Harrington left Uphill on 209-5.

The Uphill bowlers toiled hard on a flat pitch and after a sloppy start, started to tie the Wembdon openers down, but with home captain Jenkins at the crease, the total was chased down with two overs to spare.

Special mention on the bowling debut of young Tommy Llewellyn, whose three overs showed great promise.

Specsavers man of the match was Mark Hodder.

UPHILL Castle Cavaliers maintained their push for promotion with a comfortable 99-run victory away to Huish & Langport.

Batting first, Uphill made a steady start as openers Martin Palmer and Mike Holyday put on 73 for the first wicket before Holyday was dismissed for 31, while Palmer fell three short of a well-deserved half-century.

Uphill’s innings finally began to gather momentum when Rich Fletcher joined Ben Castle, as the pair put on 52 for the fourth wicket, but when they both fell for 12 and 36 respectively, a score of 180 plus looked a long way away.

Some lusty blows from skipper Gary Kennedy (25 not out), including 16 from the last over, saw Uphill to 182-7.

In reply, Huish & Langport were never in the hunt as Uphill’s opening attack of Sam Matthews (2-8) and Kieran Chapman (3-8) knocked over their top order to leave them four down with just three runs on the board.

An expansive spell from Tony Moore produced wicket number five, as Huish started to give some respectability to the total.

Chapman returned to claim his third wicket, and Moore’s throw instigated a run out. Huish were final dismissed for 83 as skipper Kennedy removed the tail to complete a good team performance.

THE 4th XI got off to a fine start against Huntspill & District, with 14-year-old opening bowling Tom Miller starting with a double wicket maiden.

Matt Humphries completed a good spell of 1-34 from 12 overs and skipper Dave Kelley bowled 11 overs and took 3-35. Miller finished with 5-44 in his 11 overs as Huntspill were bowled out for 147.

Uphill openers Martin Taylor and Dave Statham put on 41 before Taylor was caught for 21, while Statham grafted his way to 27. Harry Oultram batted through the rest of the innings for 55 not out from only 38 balls. Matt Humphries chipped in with 15 as Uphill finished on 147-7.

Specsavers man of the match was shared between Tom Miller and Harry Oultram.