Castle fight back to earn a tie

UPHILL Castle managed to come back to tie a game against Bishop’s Lydeard when they looked down and out.

Asked to bat on a wet wicket, Uphill got off to a flying start as Andre Belcher and Seb Winn rattled off 74 in 14 overs before Belcher was caught in the deep for an excellent 52 which included eight fours and a six.

Seb Winn quickly followed for 21 before the Uphill innings crumbled to 117-6. Dave Bickell and Rob Tasker hung around and rebuilt on the foundations of the excellent start, before Tasker was out for 28.

Bickell (34 not out) rolled back the years and guided Uphill to 210, ably assisted by Simon Webster, George Cox and Marcus Bail, giving the bowlers a target.

Cox bowled an excellent opening spell with no luck, but lacked support at the other end allowing Lydeard to score freely. With the score on 83 after 17 overs, the introduction of Webster saw him take two quick wickets as he bowled Clark and followed up by trapping Johnson on the crease.

Webster finished an excellent spell with figures of 10-2-19-2. Cox (10-2-22-0) came back and conceded three runs from his final three overs. Uphill were still down and out with Lydeard on 182-4 in the 39th over when Alex Winn took an excellent catch running back over his shoulder to remove Taylor off the bowling of Watts for 31.

Panic gripped the Lydeard batsmen as an assortment of shots failed to work as Bail and Watts took four wickets in four overs, leaving Lydeard on 199-9. Parker and Millard took the scores level with two balls to go and with only a single required, Watts bowled Parker to tie the match.

There were a number of candidates for Uphill’s Beachland’s hotel man of the match, but it was awarded to Simon Webster.

UPHILL CASTLE

A Belcher c T Stone b Sapey 52

S Winn b Sapey 21

R Tasker c Thomas b Clark 28

A Winn lbw Sapey 0

H Watts c&b B Stone 9

T Oultram st Parker b B Stone 0

G Williams c Fitt b B Stone 0

D Bickell not out 34

S Webster lbw Thomas 6

G Cox c Clark b Johnson 14

M Bail run out 8

Extras 38

Total 210

BISHOPS LYDEARD

A Sapey c Webster b Winn 41

M Clark b Webster 36

A Raymond Clark c Winn b Tasker 38

S Johnson lbw Webster 5

T Stone b Bail 27

N Taylor c Winn b Watts 31

B Stone b Watts 8

J Parker b Watts 9

G Fitt b Bail 0

M Thomas c Cox b Bail 0

S Millard not out 0

Extras 15

Total 210

Bowling: G Cox 10-1-22-0; R Tasker 6-0-39-1; M Bail 7-0-49-3; A Winn 7-0-49-1; S Webster 10-2-19-2; H Watts 7.5-0-28-3.

Uphill Castle 2nds entertained Bridgwater 3rds in their last home game of the season.

On winning the toss, Uphill elected to field first and opening bowlers James Holt and Matt Loud kept the visitors on a tight reign as on 25 runs were scored in the first 10 overs.

The introduction into the attack of James Dawkins (12-1-34-2) and Chris Slocombe (12-3-30-2) saw Uphill make inroads into the Bridgwater batting as they were reduced to 75-4 after 30 overs.

After a brief respite for rain, the visitors began to take the attack to Uphill as 108 were scored from the last 15 overs, thanks mainly to the efforts of Brown (44) and Hill (35 not out).

Further wickets were taken by Holt (11-2-33-1) and Mark Patch (1-49) thanks to a sharp leg side stumping from Rob Owen to leave Bridgwater 183-6 from their 45 overs.

In reply, Uphill started steadily as Ashley Doyle (24) and Mark Hodder put on 69 for the first wicket. However, the loss of Hodder for 41 with the score on 91 sparked a collapse that saw Uphill fall from 91-1 to 111-6, with only Martin Taylor (20) holding firm.

Despite a late flurry from Matt Loud (20), the task for scoring 73 in the last 10 overs proved to be beyond Uphill as they were dismissed for 158 off the last ball of the innings to leave Bridgwater victors by 25 runs.

The Beachlands Hotel man of the match was Mark Hodder.