WEPL Premier 1 Second XI

Bridgwater 263-8 beat Taunton Deane 114 by 151 runs

BRIDGWATER 2nd XI got their league season on track with a convincing 151-run victory over Taunton Deane on Saturday.

At a sun-drenched Parks, Bridgwater chose to make first use of a belting wicket.

They set off at a fast pace but lost Ben Coombes (8) with the score on 17.

Liam Kitch (23) and Stu Butt (16) then put on 46 for the second wicket in quick time, before both were dismissed in the space of two balls, leaving Bridgwater on 64-3.

In need of some consolidation, skipper Scott Sealey and Andrew Skidmore provided just that, mixing solid defence with aggression in putting on 61 for the fourth wicket before Skidmore (38) was adjudged lbw.

This brought Kyran Devitt to join his captain and he played in his usual aggressive mode, but in a sensible manner.

Sealey and Devitt added a further 41 before Sealey was caught trying to up the tempo with the score on 166 for 5 after 33 overs.

Devitt (48) continued his assault on the bowlers and he was well supported by Ed Habberfield (17), Tom Pople (18) and Chris Singleton (23no) as Bridgwater amassed an imposing 263 for 8 from their 45 overs.

After a fine tea, Ian Higgins and Chris Singleton soon reduced the Dean to 10-3, with Higgins in particular bowling a testing line and length and extracting movement in the air.

Visiting captain Sam Burgess (44) briefly launched a counterattack against the home side’s bowling unit, however, he was lacking support from the other end.

Higgins (4-19) was to pick up two more wickets including the crucial one of Burgess very well caught by Ben Coombes at long-on, and with Matt Habberfield (3-30) also getting in on the act, the Deane’s batting was blown away for a final score of 114.

Many thanks to scorer Andrea Taylor, umpire Alan Prowse, match sponsors Ramblers CC and match ball sponsors TMB Patterns Ltd.