Uphill Castle Under-13s are through to the second round of the NSYCL Ken Barrington Cup.

UPHILL Castle Under-13s are through to the second round of the NSYCL Ken Barrington Cup after Long Ashton were unable to raise a side.

As the cup game was cancelled, Uphill entertained Cheddar in a friendly encounter. After winning the toss and choosing to bat, Uphill lost opener Matthew Davis first ball. After a nervous start, Connor McDowell (14) and Archit Singal put on 67 before McDowell was out. Singal continued to dominate until he retired on 28.

Captain Kruz Belcher and Tommy Llewellyn continued to score freely and took the score past the 100 mark as Llewellyn (13) was out.

Belcher and Aaron Hoddinott remained unbeaten with 19 and 10 not out respectively as Uphill Castle amassed 125-3 off their 20 overs.

Uphill’s opening bowler, Bradley Patch (2-1-1-2), had a double wicket maiden to start. He was a well supported by Dominic Boardman (2-0-3-0), Sonny Carr (2-0-7-1) and Zak Ricardo-Johnson (2-0-5-1).

The spin triplet of Joe Statham (2-0-3-0), Llewellyn (2-1-5-0) and Belcher (2-1-2-0) failed to claim a victim. Singal (2-1-1-1) continued his impressive game as Cheddar moved onto 28, but Lynch (8 not out) and Broadbent (1 not out) held firm against McDowell (2-0-6-0) and Davis (2-1-4-0).

Uphill’s fielding was excellent, especially Aaron Hoddinott who made his wicket keeping debut that meant Cheddar could only get 38-5 from their overs.

WESTON Wizards Under-11s began their season with a comprehensive 174-run victory away at Nailsea.

After losing the toss, Weston were asked to bat first and the team’s captain, Alex Leeks (40) was soon scoring freely and striking a succession of boundaries. He was helped by Jack Press (19) in particular as all of the batsmen chipped in and took the team score to +132 after 20 overs.

Nailsea’s batsmen were unable to cope with a strong Wizards bowling line-up, with all of the bowlers taking at least one wicket each. Standout bowling performances were seen from Press, John Fleming and Noel Daniel, who all bagged three wickets each.

Weston’s outfielders backed up their bowlers well, with Liam Horsnell impressing behind the stumps with two excellent catches and a run out.

Nailsea’s innings concluded on -42 (158), with Weston taking 17 Nailsea wickets in total.