Seasiders put to the sword by Bridgwater

DESPITE widespread rain across the South West, Bridgwater worked hard to get their fixture against Weston started on time.

Weston captain Gary Morgan won the toss and elected to field first, but two overs in was left ruing the decision as Bridgwater’s Michael Coles put both Sean Stringer and Tom Main (2-71) to the sword, scoring rapidly with good support from Andy Hallaran.

Sam Trego (1-30) soon replaced Main, and quickly accounted for Hallaran, who was well stumped by Jackson Davey. As Calum Haggett joined Coles, it was clear that one wicket was not going to equal a let up in the batting devastation inflicted by Coles, who pushed solidly towards his half century before Haggett was run out by Morgan.

However, Morgan soon ran out of bowling options and had to revert to the opening bowlers, who, once again, Coles took a distinct liking to, and was soon on top of his century.

Stuart Butt offered some lusty shots as he helped Bridgwater comfortably into the 250s and beyond before Coles (130) made his first and only mistake, and found John Williams deep on the boundary.

By now, the damage was done, and even though Weston managed to remove a fifth Bridgwater wicket, they finished their overs on 292-5, which unfortunately for Weston included 43 extras.

In reply, Trego and Simon Green started positively, flaying Ian Bishop to the boundary. However, Chris Skidmore (2-13) turned the screw at the pavilion end and soon both Trego and Morgan had finished their innings.

Coles and Bridgwater captain Steve Davis then did the real damage, between them accounting for the middle order, who despite all making starts failed to score any significant runs, the top score in the innings being 25 to Jackson Davey.

The final wicket fell in the 40th over and Bridgwater recorded a resounding 161-run victory as Weston subsided to 131 all out.

The Intouch CRM man of the match was Sam Trego, who managed to return figures of 10-1-30-1 under difficult conditions.