Uphill Castle defeated Westlands by one wicket in a thrilling match at Yeovil.

UPHILL Castle continued their winning start to the season when they beat Westlands by one wicket in a thrilling match at Yeovil.

On winning the toss on a good cricket wicket and fast outfield, Uphill asked Westlands to bat first. Webster was the first to break through when he yorked Parker with the score on 17.

Gundry and Horlock put Westlands back in control with a half century partnership before Gundry was smartly caught and bowled by Tasker. Bliss and Tasker put the pressure on with accurate bowling backed up by some excellent fielding.

Bail picked up two wickets in two balls which reduced Westlands to 151-6 in the 40th over. With Uphill in the driving seat, Reeves and McCabe went on the offensive with some excellent hitting and managed to get Westlands up to 224.

Uphill were confident of getting the score, but got off to a difficult start when last week’s top scorer, the Winn brothers, were both dismissed before the score was on 30.

With Uphill under pressure, Belcher and Tasker took the attack to Westlands, racing to 89 in the 15th over, before Belcher was adjudged lbw. Bliss and Tasker took the score to 113 when Tasker went the same way as Belcher for a hard hit 58.

Watts chipped in with 29, but when he and Bliss (32) were out, Uphill needed another 41 off the last 14 overs.

Llewellyn and Williams looked to finish the game, but Llewellyn was run out going for a quick single and Williams followed lbw the following ball. This left Uphill needing 27 to win with two wickets left.

Cox and Webster got Uphill to within eight runs of the Westlands score when Webster was given out caught behind. Bail and Cox held their nerve and edged Uphill closer before Bail finished the job by pulling a short ball for four, taking Uphill to an exciting one wicket win.

Specsavers man of the match was Rob Tasker.

WESTLANDS

C Gundry c & b Tasker 43

R Parker b Webster 3

B Hurlock c Williams b Webster 47

N Hallam lbw Tasker 20

J Cook b Bail 21

D Reeves not out 39

N Bond lbw Bail 0

D McCabe c A Winn b Cox 26

J Reeves not out 11

Extras 14

Total (7 wkts) 224

Bowling: S Webster 10-0-57-2; G Cox 9-1-51-1; L Bliss 10-0-28-0; R Tasker 10-0-30-2; H Watts 1-0-1-0; M Bail 10-0-52-2.

UPHILL CASTLE

A Belcher lbw Hurlock 30

S Winn c D Reeves b Bond 0

A Winn c J Reeves b Bond 10

R Tasker lbw D Reeves 58

L Bliss c J Reeves b McCabe 32

H Watts c Hurlock b McCabe 29

A Llewellyn run out 12

G Williams lbw Greenwood 5

G Cox not out 8

S Webster c J Reeves b Gundry 10

M Bail not out 6

Extras 26

Total (9 wkts) 226

On a blustery day, Wellington won the toss and put Uphill seconds into bat. For the second week running, the Castle openers provided a solid start. Stand-in skipper Mark Hodder and Ashley Doyle took the score to 52, beore Doyle was out for a good 25.

Tom Oultram came in, but after hitting a boundary succumbed to a catch and shortly afterwards Hodder was removed for 26.

Youngster Jake Llewellyn compiled 30 to continue his fine start to the season and he was joined by veteran Dave Bickell.

Bickell (54 not out) mixed aggression with solid defence and as wickets fell at the other end, he remained steady and took the Castle through to a useful 193-8. He had good support at the close from young James Holt, who ended on 13 not out in an unbeaten ninth wicket stand of 42.

The Wellington innings got off to a poor start with Davies run out without facing a ball. The opening bowlers, Holt and Matt Loud again bowled well and Holt bowled Brooks to leave Wellington at 30-2.

Young Keiran Ward came on and bowled well to take 4-19 off of 11.1 overs. This ripped the heart out of the Wellington batting and they were eventually all out for 92.

Specsavers man of the match was Dave Bickell.

The fourth XI began their campaign at home to Bridgwater Sports. Uphill were asked to bat first on a soft wicket and wickets fell at regular intervals.

Only top scorer Nick Kuht (28) and father Paul (27) showed any resistance as Uphill were bowled out for 96.

In reply, skipper Dave Kelley took an early wicket and Tony Moore picked up one at the other end and completed his spell of 12 overs with 2-40.

Hallam Bickell was introduced in the 12th over, and the 17-year-old and proceeded to decimate the Bridgwater line-up. He opened his spell with a double wicket maiden, a feat he repeated in his fifth over and went on to complete eight overs to finish with 5-9.

Kelley came back and removed the last two batsmen for no additional runs to complete an excellent team performance.

Specsavers man of the match was Hallam Bickell.