On what promised to be a day of showers and arguing about covers, the skies eventually turned blue to allow for a superb game of cricket between Cheddar and Ilmimster seconds at Sharpham Road.

After winning the toss and electing to field Cheddar found themselves in luck after Liam Jones deflected a Mike McNee drive onto the stumps to dismiss JT Langridge.

Cheddar kept control of the game from there taking wickets on a regular basis.

It wasn’t until the Ilminster captain Craig Rice came to the crease that the tides turned in favour of the visitors.

Rice took his time against the slower bowling of Freddie Mehlig and once he found his groove he struck the ball well, ending up on a well made 73 not out.

Assisted by Riley Millet (30) and Cal Rice (20 not out) Ilminster got themselves to 226 which seemed to be a big ask for the Cheddar batting unit to chase.

Cheddar did not get off to the best of starts, losing Nick Hitchcott for seven and the dangerous Scot Harris for 18 as they fell to 28-3 and seemed to be in a spot of bother and in danger of slipping deeper into the relegation zone.

Ryan Llewellyn had other ideas, starting a rebuild with the young Creaser and putting on 51 before Creaser fell for a well made 21.

Partnerships kept coming for Cheddar as Kieran McManus (27) provided impetus into the innings with flamboyant stroke making and Jones (32) provided lusty blows to put the hosts in contention.

Captain Llewellyn was the mainstay of the Cheddar innings as Jones was eventually dismissed by Langridge, and it was down to the skipper to see his side home.

With the balls running out, Llewellyn was never fazed by the climbing run rate, taking singles when on offer and putting away the bad ball, assisted by Jimmy Clark (10) at the other end.

Llewellyn struck the winning runs in the penultimate over, ending up on 92 not out to help Cheddar win by four wickets.

It was a true captain's knock which saw Cheddar off the bottom of the table and looking to climb out of the relegation zone as they host Frome at Sharpham Road this Saturday.