Stylish Seasiders grab second spot

WESTON finished the season in style, defeating Glastonbury by seven wickets and finished second in the West of England Premier One Division.

Having lost the toss and being asked to field by stand-in Glastonbury captain Wes Durston, the luck seemed to be in Weston's favour as Durston was adjudged caught behind off Somerset counterpart David Stiff in only the eighth over.

Robin d'Souza followed suit in the next over, when an lbw decision against McKinnon swiftly followed the run-out of up and coming Somerset player Jos Buttler, and Glastonbury for 26-3. Keates stayed firm and he and James Fear began to build a partnership of 46, the highest of the innings.

Keate (23) and Fear (43) began to push the ball around and find the boundary with increased frequency, but Keates became over confident and became Andy Fear's only victim of the game when he was caught by Matt Kearsey.

Fear and Timms attempted to rebuild but soon Kearsey (3-26) joined the party accounting for the Glastonbury middle order and leaving the opposition on the brink at 138-7. Steve Spencer tried his best to hold things together, but the reintroduction of d'Souza (3-24) and Stiff into the attack soon saw Glastonbury staring down the barrel at 161 all out.

In reply, Edd Brown and Gary Morgan were soon back in the pavilion as the Weston innings seemed to be mirroring that of Glastonbury, and a short-lived cameo from d'Souza still saw Weston needing 100 runs on a pitch that was becoming much more difficult to bat on.

However, the experienced Rob Turner dropped anchor and happily supported while Williams played the heroics, hitting 72 not out from 81 balls and hitting the winning runs, as Turner finished 32 not out, slow but effective batting which ensured the favourable result for Weston.

Table topping rivals Frocester lost their game away to Bath, but Taunton St Andrew's also won, leaving Weston in their strongest finish position.

Weston 2nd XI, away to Glastonbury 2nds, won the toss and elected to bowl.

Harry Ellison, the son of Richard Ellison of Kent and England, opened the batting for the home side and his was the first wicket to fall, clean bowled by Luke Parfitt who took two wickets in his third over.

Ellison's fellow opener Brock was trapped leg before by Sean Stringer and the hosts were reduced to 49-3 by the 15th over. Weston then turned to their spinners, Ashley Allen and Shabil Ahmed, who tightened the screw still further. Glastonbury's inexperienced batsmen found Allen in particular all but unplayable and Allen took four wickets off his 13 overs.

From a position of 89-9, Glastonbury put on their highest partnership of 28 runs for the 10th wicket before their top scorer Heywood was run out by Shabil Ahmed off the last ball of the innings.

After an excellent tea, Weston's opening batsmen, Will Whitell and Shabil Ahmed, set about chasing a modest target of 118 to win. Both batted and scored with ever greater freedom and Whitell rode his luck. Glastonbury tried six different bowlers in a vain attempt to take wickets.

The openers put on a century partnership and Weston was in sight of a win by 10 wickets on a score of 113. Going for glory in the last league match of the season, Ahmed advanced down the track to the bowling of Brock and was stumped.

So it was left to Harold Booth to score the last boundary of the match and Weston recorded a win over Glastonbury by nine wickets and their third victory in succession.

Brunel Ford man of the match was Ashley Allen, whose bowling figures were 13-7-10-4.

Weston 3rds brought their season to a close in disappointing fashion with a 10-wicket stuffing at the hands of Bath Hospitals.

After losing what was to prove an important toss and being asked to bat, the Falcons struggled to come to terms with the underprepared surface.

Mark Bissex (16), Andr� Belcher (23), Mike Lee (17) and Pete Lomax (27) got starts, but soon got themselves out as the innings limped to 144-8 from 40 overs, a score that never really looked enough.

Zimbabwean overseas player Craig Heath started in emphatic style, dispatching Stu Roberts over extra cover for six (his first of nine in a majestic 88 not out) from the first ball he faced. With Andy Boyce (41 not out) happy to play second fiddle to his opening partner, the Bath side cantered over the finishing line with more than 18 overs to spare. Pick of the bowlers, if such a thing can exist in such a mauling, was Pete Lomax whose five overs cost just 14.

Brunel Ford man of the match goes to Pete Lomax for his 27 and economical bowling.

In the last match of the season, the Eaglets lost the toss and being asked to bat.

Bitton got of to a good start with Jon Lawrence returning to the clubhouse on the second ball of the game well caught by Gover. Jordan Smith had Flo Broderick trapped leg before and Dom Mayo followed soon after leaving Weston on 29-3.

Wilf Huxtable (11) and Chad Smit (49) took the score to 70 before Wilf became Dorrington's second victim. That brought Wilf's brother Matt (93) to the middle. Smit made his way confidently to 49 before missing a straight one.

Terry Horler (29 not out) played a sensible innings supporting Matt at the other end. Matt finally fell in the last over trying reach his ton. Weston finished with their highest score of the season (214).

The Bitton innings could not have started in a worse way for them with Wilf Huxtable bowling both openers with the score on three. Terry Horler then reduced Bitton to 30-4 from which they never recovered.

With Aaron Hawkings and Flo Broderick taking it to 67-6 then 83-8 Weston were well on top and looking at their third win of the season, though they did try to give Bitton a chance by dropping some of what should have been the easiest catches of the season. Bitton finished up on 134-9.

Brunel Ford man of the match goes to Matt Huxtable.