Corsham crushed

WESTON captain Gary Morgan won the toss and asked visitors Corsham to bat hopeful that there would be something in the pitch for the home bowlers.

He was not wrong. Man of the match Sean Stringer regained his early season form and, in tandem with Andy Fear, had the Corsham batsmen in all sorts of trouble.

Stringer struggled with his line in his first over, but from then on he was virtually unplayable - either that or the Corsham batsmen did a very good job of making all the Weston bowlers look good as they threw their wickets away left, right and centre.

They started sensibly until frustration got the better of Abbott who, in the sixth over, chipped Fear (1-18) straight to Morgan. In the very next over ex-Weston overseas player Robin D’souza top edged Stringer (5-30) once again into Morgan’s safe hands.

A devastating 10 over period saw Stringer’s confidence build and sharp catches taken in the slips by Shabil Ahmed and John Williams. Stringer then took an easy return catch to reduce Corsham to 46-5 in the 15th over.

Jalal Ahmed then joined in, removing the previously in-form Bowler, leaving Corsham with an uphill struggle to simply bat out 50 overs.

Morrison and Turner tried their best to turn things around, but Morgan turned to Shabil Ahmed who, in consecutive overs, accounted for wickets seven, eight and nine, to return figures of 3-11.

Stringer then returned to trap Collier lbw and record his second five-wicket haul of the season against Corsham, who were bowled out for just 74 in the 34th over.

Weston openers Edd Brown and Simon Green made their way back out to the middle after a quick turnaround.

D’souza opened the bowling with his usual accuracy, but Morrison was punished for straying off line, as Brown took command of any delivery that deserved dispatching to the boundary.

A minor five over blip saw Green, Jackson Davey and Williams all lose their wickets, but with plenty in hand and overs to play with the result was never in question.

Brown hit 53, with 44 coming in boundaries, but he left it for Jason Neave to hit the winning runs in the 17th over.

* The struggles continued for Weston 2nd XI as an experimental side lost heavily against top-of-the-table Corsham.

Corsham won the toss and elected to bowl and they soon had their visitors in all sorts of trouble. The first four Weston batsmen were dismissed for ducks and when Matt Humphrey followed for nine Weston had been reduced to 21-5.

Sixteen-year-old Pete Hooper (19), on his second team debut, teamed up with Sam Curley (10) to add a modicum of respectibility as Weston limped to 73 all out, one fewer than Corsham’s senior side managed to muster in the reverse fixture back in Weston.

The chase was to prove as easy for Corsham seconds as it was for Weston firsts, with James Walsh (38) steering his side over the line in just the 10th over for the loss of three wickets, taken by Paul Stringer (2-36) and Ben Curley (1-9).

Weston’s man of the match was Pete Hooper.

* Weston’s third team fared better as they secured a comfortable win against a weakened Frome 2nds team with an unlikely hero in the shape of Terry Horler.

After winning the toss and choosing to bowl, Frome got off to a steady start as Larder (19) and Dredge (29) batted patiently until Ricky Bissex (2-38) removed Larder.

With the dangerous Smith bowled soon after, Weston looked to be in the ascendency although with wickets hard to come by it looked as though a long afternoon in the field was likely.

It took the introduction of last minute call-up Horler to the attack to get the wicket column running as he ripped through the lower middle order to record astonishing figures of 4.3-2-3-5 in just his second third team game.

Stu Roberts (2-17) wrapped up the tail as Frome were dismissed for 101.

In reply, the experienced opening partnership of Pete Lomax and Mark Bissex seized on anything short to get the

scoreboard ticking until Bissex’s innings was brought to an end when he received a nasty blow to the cheek from a top edged pull.

Sam Harris took his place, but was soon dismissed lbw, allowing Bissex to resume. His injury looked to have affected him though as he was soon bowled for 10. Remaining at the other end was Lomax who finished one short of his 50, guiding Weston over the line by six wickets with 23 overs remaining.

The man of the match award went to Terry Horler.

UNDEFEATED Weston Ladies travelled to Bridgwater where they lost the toss and were put into bat in a 30-over friendly.

Georgia Tulip and Sarah Tedder opened the batting, Tedder repeatedly finding the boundary as Tulip went for seven.

Lisa Parris was then run out for eight before Tedder retired on 27 to make way for Roxiee Newman who made just five before being bowled. Helen Clough went for nine and Lucy Tilden made just a single before Emily Taylor and Emma Whitehead, each scoring 11, took Weston to 133.

Alice Wiseman and Clough opened the bowling and reduced Bridgwater to 44-3. This soon became 56-6 thanks to a fine spell by player of the match Tedder, who clean bowled three of the opposition.

Lisa Parris and Kelly Stone then combined for a run out before Whitehead, Lucy Tilden and Georgia Tulip wrapped up the innings to secure a 13-run victory.

The ladies’ last league match, at home to Wells, takes place on Sunday (2pm).