A weakened Weston side travelled to Minehead and returned with an excellent 188-run victory.

WESTON completed an almost perfect double against Minehead as they romped to a 188-run victory.

A gritty opening partnership from Sam Trego (46) and Andy Fear (12) saw off the new ball, before Fear flicked straight to midwicket with the score on 44. Trego then ran himself out, but Shabil Ahmed and John Williams pushed the score past 100.

At the halfway mark, Weston had reached 124-2 and on course for a good total. Ahmed (35) was bowled by Sully with the first ball of his spell, before Williams (29) was caught in the deep. Carl Fletcher and Chris Davidson dug in, with Fletcher in particular, in grinding out a tough period before hitting Sully for 24 in two overs, before falling lbw for 32.

At the other end, Davidson began to kick on and with the help of Sean Stringer (22), took the side beyond 200.After a couple of boundaries, Davidson fell to Taylor for 31 before Matt Blamire, Ashley Allen and Simon Turner all chipped in with crucial late runs to help Weston finish on 248-9.

The Minehead innings got off to a poor start as Stringer removed Harrison for nought, well caught by Ahmed at slip. He followed this up with two more wickets reducing Minehead to 29-3.

After beating the bat regularly, Fear finally found the edge of Barrett, which Simon Turner brilliant held behind the stumps. Stringer took two more wickets to bring up a fine five wicket haul, ending with 10-1-18-5.

Fear picked up another wicket in his final over to finish with 10-3-31-2. Ahmed replaced Fear and picked up two wickets in his first over, before Trego wrapped up the innings.

Weston were excellent in the field with Blamire, Hawkins and Fletcher adding to the pressure with superb in-fielding and Turner had an excellent game behind the stumps.

This was an outstanding team effort to pick up 22 points with six regulars unavailable. This win takes Weston 21 points clear of next weeks second-placed opponents Taunton Deane.

The match begins at 12.30pm and all support is welcome as Weston hope to take another step towards promotion.

WESTON

S Trego run out 46

A Fear c Taylor b Hayes 12

S Ahmed b Sully 35

J Williams c Taylor b Sully 29

C Fletcher lbw Woodward 32

C Davidson c Weetch b Taylor 31

S Stringer st Drakeley b Woodward 22

M Blamire c Sully b Taylor 8

S Turner not out 16

A Allen b Sherring 8

A Hawkins not out 0

Extras 9

Total (9 wkts) 248

MINEHEAD

J Weetch lbw Stringer 6

A Harrison c Turner b Stringer 0

M Drakeley c & b Stringer 18

D Bowditch b Stringer 6

J Barrett c Turner b Fear 5

A Woodward lbw Stringer 4

M Sully c Stringer b Trego 10

S Hayes lbw Fear 1

D Sherring b Ahmed 2

B Taylor lbw Ahmed 0

E Taylor not out 0

Extras 8

Total 60

Bowling: S Stringer 10-1-18-5; A Fear 10-3-31-2; S Trego 1.3-0-6-1; S Ahmed 1-0-1-2.

Weston’s second XI increased their chances of beating relegation with a remarkable tied game against Taunton St Andrews.

Weston made early inroads into the Taunton top order as Stu Roberts (9-0-32-3) reduced them to 23-3. A mini recovery was built by Brian Hoyle and Tom Poole (35) before Poole was run out by Tom Ford.

Further wickets came from Matt Kearsey (9-1-42-2) and Adam Davies (7-0-33-3) on his return from injury. However, with the tail wagging, in the shape of Luke Poole (13) and Josh Clatworthy (27), both supporting the obdurate Hoyle (64 not out) Taunton recovered from 123-7 to 185 all out, the final wicket falling to Ford (3.2-0-28-1).

In reply, Weston got off to a crackerjack start as Ford (14) and Jason Neave (21) found the boundary with regularity. When both fell in quick succession, Mitch Smit picked up the baton in some style. One huge six onto the roof of the clubhouse was followed by regular boundaries, his run-a-ball 33 getting Weston well ahead in the game before he was lbw.

Andy Logan and Gary Morgan began to rebuild the innings before Logan was caught behind for 24. Pete Hooper (16) offered Morgan good support, but Weston were reduced to 153-8.

Alex Penwill joined Morgan and took Weston to within three of victory before Morgan was bowled by Brice for an excellent 40. Last man Roberts joined Penwill and with two wides bringing the scores level, but Penwill was run out, leaving the scores level and the points split between the teams.

Intouch CRM man of the match was Stu Roberts.

THE 3rd XI took to the field in a crucial match against Cheddar 2s with only four regular players, the loser being almost certain of going down.

Things started well with Rhys Crocker and Georgia Tulip removing the openers quickly. Paul Skinner tied up one end, but unfortunately Weston were unable to do the same at the other. Some strong hitting saw Cheddar bring their innings to a close on 248-8.

In reply, Weston ended up 70 runs short, with only Harry Wiseman (18), Jon Lawrence (38) and Ren Bosman (54 not out) making scores of note.

Intouch CRM man of the match went to Ren Bosman.

THE 4th XI travelled the short distance to play Banwell and Churchill 2nd XI.

After an early breakthrough, Weston struggled to take further wickets but kept the scoring rate steady with an economic opening spell from Tom Chambers (10-0-17-1).

Some big hitting from Fowkes (59) and Eckett (70) took Banwell to 194-7, with further wickets for Terry Horler, Ben Evans and John Plaister, who took two each.

Weston’s reply started steadily, with contributions from Jamie Dance (11), Fin Mayo (17) and Alex Harper (18). Jon Mayo (50) upped the rate and shared a good partnership with Under-13 player Aniraj Sapra (27).

Some fine strokes from Horler (21) and Evans (23) took Weston to the final, but they fell two runs short in the end.

Intouch CRM man of the match was Jon Mayo.