Uphill Castle returned to winnning way with victory at Staplegrove.

UPHILL Castle got back to winning ways when they defeated Staplegrove by 67 runs.

Being asked to bat on a wicket of variable bounce, Uphill had a difficult start against the quick and accurate opening attack of Mazurabani and Bishop, losing Ty Watson, Andre Belcher and Simon Cattermole and were reduced to 28-3 from 18 overs.

This brought together Dave Millard and Luke Bliss who rebuilt the innings with good defence and some aggressive hitting, putting on 97 before Bliss was lbw for 43. Millard reached his maiden league 50 for Uphill before being caught for an excellent 64, which included six fours and three sixes.

Krish Kumar weighed in with 24 as Uphill reached a respectable 186 all out in the 50th over

Uphill got off to a fine start when Simon Webster had Pantling smartly caught by Bliss at first slip. Bishop looked dangerous, but hit a low full toss to mid-off and was well caught by Hayden Watts diving forward.

Some loose bowling enabled Staplegrove to race to 65 off 12 overs before Marcus Bail struck twice in an over. Uphill needed to stem the runs and Bliss and Cattermole stepped up to the plate and the runs dried up.

Conceding only 40 runs from their combined overs, they put pressure on the batsmen and the game swung Uphill’s way when Cattermole struck in his sixth over, taking three wickets in four balls, including a brilliant one-handed caught and bowled.

Following Bliss’s excellent spell, Bail returned into the attack from the opposite end and promptly bowled Pantling with an excellent turning ball. The following over he finished the job when he bowled Bird round his legs and had Read well caught by Kumar, the last wicket going down at 119 giving Uphill two extra points.

The Autosmart man of the match had four contenders, with an excellent knock from Millard, an all-round performance from Bliss and a miserly spell from Cattermole, but the award went to Marcus Bail for his first league five-wicket haul.

UPHILL CASTLE

T Watson b Mazurabani 0

A Belcher b Bishop 12

S Cattermole b Read 8

D Millard c Pantling b Mazurabani 64

L Bliss lbw Bird 43

K Kumar b Bird 24

H Watts b Pantling 9

G Williams b Bird 4

M Bail not out 9

S Webster b Pantling 1

R Dibben run out 0

Extras 12

Total 186

STAPLEGROVE

T Pantling c Bliss b Webster 4

I Bishop c Watts b Kumar 16

B Craggs lbw Cattermole 21

C Reed c Watts b Bail 16

A Jeanes lbw Bail 0

J Pantling b Bail 29

T Mazurabani b Cattermole 0

R Rowe c&b Cattermole 0

M Bird b Bail 8

P Hardy not out 4

W Read c Kumar b Bail 0

Extras 21

Total 119

Bowling: S Webster 8-2-25-1; K Kumar 4-0-22-1; M Bail 5-1-20-5; L Bliss 10-1-25-0; S Cattermole 10-4-15-3.

THE seconds played their first home game of the season and ended up with a comfortable 99-run victory over Huntspill & District.

After being put into bat, Castle made a steady start through Mark Hodder (23) and Steve Worrall (20) putting on 48 for the first wicket. Two quick wickets fell before Tom Oultram (34), Ian Tasker (43) and Matt Keasey (58 not out) took the score to 197-6 at the end of the innings.

Huntspill started their innings slowly and never really got going, with Castle bowling and fielding well and were all out for 98.

There was a wicket each for Ward, Chapman and Kearsey, but the main destroyer was Autosmart man of the match Pete Jobling with 6-22 from 12 overs.