Weston defeated Taunton Deane to move out of the bottom two of the league.

WESTON picked up a valuable victory against title hopefuls Taunton Deane.

Losing the toss, Weston were asked to bowl first and Tom Main got the early breakthrough as Shabel Ahmed took a catch at second slip. The dangerous pair of Rob Woodman and Australian John Rogers then raced to 60 in the first 10 overs, with both batsmen looking set.

The introduction of Sam Trego removed Rogers with his first ball for 22 and he picked up two more quick wickets. Andy Fear was able to find the edge of Brand and John Davidson held up to the stumps and when Trego bowled Woodman for 39, Deane had been reduced to 70-6.

Fear picked up two more wickets, with but Sam Shaik was looking to go down fighting until he mistimed Fear to Allen on the boundary for his fourth wicket.

Charl Willoughby returned to have Milligan caught at cover to end Deane’s innings on 111. Trego returned 10-4-15-4 and Fear 10-2-33-4, while Shabel Ahmed claimed four excellent catches.

In reply, Weston were held together by an excellent innings from Shabel Ahmed. Weston lost their first wicket on 17 as Jalal Ahmed edged behind. On 34, John Williams was returning in the same fashion.

Gary Morgan helped Ahmed take the run chase past halfway, with Ahmed in particular using excellent footwork against the spinners. Jack Fraser bowled Morgan (10) and Fear was trapped lbw.

A quick 16 from Trego took the game beyond Deane, but he found midwicket off a long hop. With Ahmed in a determined mood, he was able to see Weston home as he hit Milligan back over his head for the winning boundary, bringing up an excellent half century in the process.

The win has taken Weston back out of the bottom two, but still needing further wins to guarantee safety. The Intouch CRM man of the match was shared by Shabel Ahmed and Sam Trego, while Andy Fear had an excellent return following the birth of son James.

On Saturday, Weston welcome Bridgwater to Devonshire Road.