Shrubbery Hotel Somerset League
Division 4
Lympsham & Belvedere 131-2 beat Castle Cary 128 by 8 wkts

LYMPSHAM and Belvedere hosted Castle Cary and, having lost the toss, were asked to bowl, writes Neil Chadwick.

The visitors were soon in trouble as Samuel McCrea struck twice, clean bowling both J Elsworth and C Chainey.

Callum Neate (2-18) soon joined in the action, having C. Elsworth caught behind by Peter Hooper and T. Williams caught at square leg by Nilanjan Chatterjee.

McCrea (3-12) continued to cause havoc, bowling T. Woods while combining with Tom Gooding to run out the dangerous Mekala for 6.

Leach and Collings dug in for Castle Cary, though the latter fell as Jack Neville took a fine catch at mid-off to give Chatterjee a wicket.

Leach and C. Martin took the score past the 100 mark before Chadwick (3-13) bowled Leach for a fine 48 and soon removed D. Keirl (0) and C. Martin (24) in the same manner to leave Castle Cary all out for 128.

The reply started well as Mike Hosey and McCrea hit early boundaries.

The partnership passed 50 before McCrea was stumped on 18 but Hosey continued to bat with conviction and reached his 50 with a cover drive.

Jack Luff (23) continued his good form before Gooding (17no) joined Hosey (67no) and eased the hosts to victory with nine overs to spare.

Lympsham and Belvedere remain second and look forward to their Somerset Minor Cup semi-final match at home to Temple Cloud 2s on Sunday.

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HUNTSPILL & District were frustrated by the weather in their match at Ilton in Division 4 on Saturday.

Sam Lillycrop (1-17) took the only wicket to fall, but the game was abandoned after just 18 overs with Ilton on 45-1.

Billy Halford inspired Wedmore to a five-wicket victory at Winscombe 2nds in Division 6N.

The youngster took 2-42 as Winscombe were restricted to 165-9, with D. Maddox (3-15) and D. Haining (2-22) also impressing with the ball.

It was with the bat that Halford delivered the match-winning display, as he made 88 at the top of the order to set up his side’s charge to victory.

M. Lacey (23) and S. Blackburn (20) also contributed as Wedmore eased home.

Elsewhere in the division, East Huntspill edged past Weston-super-Mare 3rds by 13 runs.

Matt Edwards’ 69 was the top score as East Huntspill finished on 193-8, with valuable knocks also coming from Martin Cooke (31) and Ned Harding (27).

Harding was then inspired with the ball, taking 4-18 from eight overs to help restrict Weston to 181-9, despite Dominic Mayo’s 61.

Matt Knight’s unbeaten 37 meant Weston were always in the game, but Jon Picton’s 4-32 helped East Huntspill close out the win.

Burnham 2nds defeated Shapwick & Polden 3rds by 42 runs.

B. Diver (38) and D. Aston (34) impressed with the bat in Burnham’s total of 159, which turned out to be more than enough as Aston tore through the hosts on his way to 5-17 from eight overs.

Dave Counsell took 4-29 for Huntspill & District 2nds as they bowled out Mark for just 86 in Division 7N.

Lee Tinklin took 2-24 in reply, but M. Roper (29) and A. Hay’s unbeaten 35 helped Huntspill over the line for the loss of just four wickets.

Kevin Crockett and Paul Davis both shone for Lympsham & Belvedere 2nds in their seven-wicket win over Churchill 2nds in Division 8N.

Crockett took 5-8 from six overs while Davis ended with 1-4 off his eight, which included six maidens, as Churchill limped to 89 all out in 40 overs.

Felix Grandfield then made 41 not out for Lympsham as his side cruised to victory in just 14.5 overs.

Wedmore 2nds saw their home match with Purnells 2nds wiped out without a ball being bowled due to rain.