CASTLE played host to local rivals Winscombe looking to bounce back from last week's defeat at the hands of Wembdon. Sam Trego made it two out of two winning the toss, and elected to bat in good conditions.

CASTLE played host to local rivals Winscombe looking to bounce back from last week's defeat at the hands of Wembdon. Sam Trego made it two out of two winning the toss, and elected to bat in good conditions.

Steve Cooke and Trego opened the batting and got the home side off to a good start, going past 50 in only the ninth over. This forced early bowling changes from the Winscombe skipper Fraser, and Trego was keen not to let any of them settle. Though young Jordan Peters managed to find a way through Trego's defence when he got one to nip back in late.

Trego went for a boundary-filled 45 and his wicket brought his vice John Davidson to the crease. Cooke and Davidson pushed the score past 100 and kept the early momentum going. Davidson was batting with good confidence until Peters struck again, bowling him for 20. Chris Davidson (2) joined Cooke, but his stay was short lived as he was brilliantly caught down leg side by the Winscombe keeper Andrew Lund.

This gave Peters figures of 3-41, the pick of the Winscombe attack. Jon Lambert came in and Steve Cooke brought up his half century with a succession of drives through cover. Lambert looked in good form as he, too, hit some early boundaries, and looked positive in both defence and attack. The pair put on 57 for the fourth wicket, which was ended by a soft dismissal when Cooke scooped a shot straight back to the bowler Fraser. Cooke scored 76 chanceless runs, and looked in fine form.

Llewellyn came and went and Hayden Watts joined Lambert for the final 12 overs. The pair added urgency to the innings as they looked to secure maximum batting points for the team. Lambert started to play his shots as the man in, and reached his first half century of the season in the 39th over. In the closing overs Lambert hit three sixes, and was well supported by Watts and his ability to the hit the gaps and push the field.

Watts went in the closing overs for a useful 26, and Lambert remained not out on 81 off just 63 balls. The side reached an impressive 278-7 off their allotted 45 overs, against a depleted Winscombe bowling attack.

After tea the Castle side looked to make early in-roads. Chris Davidson (3-32) and Alex Winn (2-22) opened up and were both soon in the wickets. Alex Winn had Jack Fraser (16) trapped leg before, and with his next ball had Alan Hunt out the same way for a duck. This was excellent bowling by the uphill Under-17 as he showed his maturity as a strike bowler.

Chris Davidson quickly got in the act, too, as he had Shephard (12) caught at the wicket, and Bawden (1) out in identical fashion. But Davidson saved his best for the following over when a fine delivery swung in late to bowl Bailey for just one.

At this stage Winscombe were reeling at 56-6. Matt Lunn offered resistance, scoring a dogged 25, but when he went brilliantly caught at first slip by Cooke off the bowling of Gary Kennedy, Winscombe's fight was over. Sam Trego brought himself into the attack and between him and Kennedy were able to take the remaining wickets, leaving Wincombe all out for just 87 in the 24th over. Kennedy finished with figures of 3-18, and Trego 2-12 as Castle looked far sharper in the field this week.

This was a fantastic performance by Castle, winning by a massive 191 runs, and picking up a maximum 22 points from the game. Man of the match went to Lambert for his efforts with the bat, though collectively it was a solid team display. Coach Nick Evans will be looking for more of the same when Trego leads his Castle side at Frome on Saturday.

Uphill Castle

S Trego b Peters45

S Cooke c & b Fraser76

J Davidson b Peters20

C Davidson c Lunn b Peters2

J Lambert not out81

A Llewellyn lbw b Fraser1

H Watts c & b Hunt23

T Mosseling run out0

A Luke, jnr not out7

Extras; 23

Total (7 wkts): 278

Bowling: C Clough 3-0-15-0; M Lunn 4-0-23-0; A Hunt 12-0-96-1; I Fraser 13-2-54-2.

Winscombe

R Shephard c J Davidson b C Davidson12

J Fraser lbw b Winn16

A Hunt lbw b Winn0

M Lunn c Cooke b Kennedy25

S Bawden c J Davidson b C Davidson1

D Bailey b C Davidson1

A Lund b Kennedy8

I Fraser st J Davidson b Trego5

C Clough b Kennedy8

J Peters c Trego5

D Kennedy not out0

Extras: 6

Total: 87

Bowling: C Davidson 9-1-32-0; A Winn 6-1-22-2; G Kennedy 5-2-0-18-3; S Trego 3-1-12-2.

Uphill Castle 2nds visited Winscombe 2nds following last weeks victory and, upon winning the toss, elected to bat.

Uphill were given a solid start to their innings with a opening partnership of 47 between Mark Hodder and Seb Winn in the first 11 overs, However, Winscombe hit back strongly by taking three wickets in four overs, including those of Hodder for seven and Winn for 30 to leave Uphill struggling on 65-3 after 15 overs.

Chris Disney and Adrian Gardener then consolidated the innings with a fourth wicket partnership of 33 which was ended when Gardner was run out for 19 to leave Uphill 105-4 after 30 overs and needing to add some impetus to the innings if a competitive total was to be set.

Craig Grabham provided the initial thrust with a run a ball 15 as Uphill picked up the pace in a fifth wicket partnership with Disney of 35 in only five overs. However, the major partnership of the innings was between Disney and Matt Humphries (27 not out) as they added 60 for the 7th wicket in the final 10 overs to post a total of 203-6 and claim maximum batting points. Disney finished on 55 not out having anchored the second half of the Uphill innings in a chanceless fashion.

In reply, Winscombe started in positive fashion as openers Steve Vowles and Rob Perry brought up the 50 in the ninth over, taking full advantage of any loose deliveries offered by the Uphill attack.

Vowles and Perry continued the onslaught which was only ended in the 22nd over when Humphries bowled Vowles for 57 to end an opening partnership of 139. By far Uphill's best bowler, Humphries (12- 2-51-1) can count himself unfortunate not to have returned better figures.

However, Uphill could not dislodge Perry as brought up his century to finish on 110 not out, ensuring that Winscombe cruised to victory by nine wickets in the 33rd over.

For Uphill, the man of the match award was shared between Humphries and Disney.