WESTON Cricket Club's 1st XI played themselves back into title contention with a good performance against Taunton St Andrew's.

WESTON Cricket Club's 1st XI played themselves back into title contention with a good performance against Taunton St Andrew's.

After losing the toss and being asked to bat it was not long before Gary Morgan was back in the pavilion, dismissed by a good Lloyd Alley delivery. Rob Holman joined Rob Turner and it was clear run scoring was going to be a protracted affair.

Holman and Turner returned to the pavilion inside 20 overs and a score of 150 was looking like being a good total, but Robin d'Souza and John Williams dropped anchor and began to work the ball around to good effect as they slowly but surely upped the run rate, taking a distinct liking to Kevin Sedgbeer and Ben Pitkin.

Gradually the run rate increased to over two an over and both d'Souza and Williams progressed steadily towards their half centuries, d'Souza posting his off just 52 balls, and Weston were looking at a highly competitive 200 total. Robin d'Souza made the most of Williams being happy in support and removed dot balls from his agenda and he appeared to be cruising towards his ton. An unfortunate miscue removed him for 89, but from 47 for 3 when d'Souza and Williams had come together at the crease Weston were now 186 for 4.

With five overs to go, Williams upped the run rate and recorded his own half century before being bowled for 68. Harold Booth and Andy Fear played out the final overs, rarely missing a scoring opportunity to allow Weston to record maximum batting points and a highly defendable total of 225 for 5.

St Andrew's reply was a dream come true for the Weston bowlers as a number of poor shots left the Andrews batting line-up depleted at 73 for 7 with 25 overs remaining. Ben Main bowled an aggressive 14 overs for just 23 runs, and accounted for both the openers and Keith Parsons.

Sean Stringer bowled well in his first outing for the 1st XI this year, finishing with 1-27, there were also two wickets for Fear, but it was clearly not a spinners wicket as although Matt Kearsey and Freddie Gabbitas bowled tightly they were not rewarded, and the pitch becoming lower and slower throughout the day just allowed the Andrews middle order, Ben Pitkin and Sedgbeer, to successfully drop anchor for 25 overs in order to save the game.

Andrews surprised Weston by clawing their way to 130 for 7 after 55 overs, but this was still a good winning draw for Weston, which puts them just 15 points behind current leaders Frocester and 11 points behind second placed Andrews.

On Saturday, Weston 1st XI travel to already relegated Downend.