Uphill Castle are still looking for their first away win after narrowly losing at Ilton.

UPHILL Castle travelled to Ilton hoping to get a vital win on the road, however things did not start well when they lost the toss.

After the early loss of Bail, Andre Belcher and captain Jon Lambert took the score to 97-1. But Belcher was bowled by Williams for a well crafted 43. Unfortunately, Castle soon lost Tom Oultram and then Lambert went just after drinks for a hard working 44. Hayden Watts scored a typically breezy 21, before Sam Brewer (15) and Dave Bickell (22) took the score past 160.

Castle then collapsed and failed to reach the third batting point ending up on 172, with six overs still left to use. Williams the pick of the bowlers for the home side with 5-26.

After tea, Castle started aggressively, with Simon Webster taking a wicket with the fourth ball of the innings and then removed the other opener a few overs later. George Cox and Sam Brewer gave good support at the other end, but failed to get a wicket.

Spin was introduced before drinks, with youngsters Kieran Ward and Marcus Bail and the pair forced the Ilton batsmen to play some shots and Ward getting success by having Williams caught by the safe hands of Oultram for 31.

Bail got the big wicket of Price (51) and went on to get two further wickets, one an excellent catch by George Kimmins in the deep reducing Ilton to 126-6.

The re-introduction of Brewer saw an outstanding diving catch from keeper Watts, for Brewer to claim his first league wicket. Cox came back for a second spell and passed the outside edge on numerous occasions.

He got his rewards when he had Issacs (18) caught in the covers by Brewer leaving the home side 147-8, but from that point onwards Castle gained no further luck and Ilton carved the necessary runs to win the game with an over to spare.

Castle showed a great spirit in the field, with some big performances with the ball. Lambert and Belcher performed well with the bat, and Bail’s 3-40 put him in contention. However, Simon Webster’s 10 overs for 2-18 won him the Beachlands Hotel man of the match award.

UPHILL CASTLE

A Belcher b Williams 43

M Bail b Ahmad 0

J Lambert c&b Williams 44

T Oultram lbw Williams 0

H Watts b Williams 21

S Brewer c&b Williams 15

D Bickell b Price 22

K Ward c Price b Oliver 0

S Webster not out 1

G Kimmins b Price 0

G Cox c Brunt b Price 4

Extras 22

Total 172

ILTON

P Oliver b Webster 0

M Davies b Webster 5

N Price b Bail 51

J Williams c Oultram b Ward 31

D Brunt c Watts b Brewer 7

D Price c Brewer b Bail 4

A Mason lbw Bail 10

S Isaacs c Brewer b Cox 18

M Ahmad not out 7

N Matravers not out 18

Extras 23

Total (8 wkts) 174

Bowling: S Webster 10-3-17-2; G Cox 9.1-3-31-1; S Brewer 9-2-34-1; K Ward 10-0-43-1; M Bail 10-1-40-3.

The seconds asked Horrington to bat first and Uphill openers Winn and Kennedy struggled to contain the openers who put on 65 for the first wicket in 12 overs.

The introduction of Chapman paid early dividends as he broke the partnership. Chapman continued to bowl an excellent spell of leg spin 3-26 from 11 overs, including a stunning one-handed caught and bowled.

Uphill slowed the run rate down with wickets falling regularly, with Kennedy picking up three wickets in his second spell and Winn two, but Horrington managed to reach 200-9 off the final ball of the innings.

Uphill’s innings never really got going and were always behind the clock, Hodder (24), Keiron Davidson (18) and Alex Winn (22) chipped in. The mainstay of the innings was Ian Tasker, who scored an undefeated 71, but lacked support from the other batsmen as Uphill’s innings petered out for 178-7.

Beachlands Hotel man of the match was George Chapman.

The Cavaliers continued their dismal start to the season with a comprehensive 10 wicket defeat at home to Glastonbury Lambs.

Batting first, openers Steve Worrall and Martin Palmer found scoring difficult on the and both fell to catches at point trying to up the tempo. Rob Owen (21) and Chris Oultram (14) took the score to 75-4 in the 30th over.

The late middle order failed as four more wickets fell cheaply, reducing Castle to 85-8 in the 36th over. However, this triggered an unlikely recovery as Bob Hurford (19 not out) and Andy Leech (25 not out) put on a 3rd XI club record unbeaten ninth wicket stand of 49.

Leech’s cameo was particularly enterprising with a six and three fours in a career league best knock and Uphill were elevated to 134-8.

Glastonbury openers, Rob and Will Holland had few alarms in knocking off the runs. Leech was unlucky on a couple of occasions and James Holt bowled tidily, but the tide was all one-way and the visitors cruised home in the 28th over.

Beachlands Hotel man of the match was Andy Leech.