West of England Premier League
Covid Group D
Ilminster 182-9 beat Chard 145 by 37 runs

ILMINSTER denied Chard a shot at second place in the final Group D standings, while securing fifth place for themselves, with a 37-run win over their neighbours on Saturday.

The final round of WEPL fixtures for the truncated 2020 season saw Ilminster make the short trip to the Dening Field, where they won the toss and opted to bat first.

Openers George Hayward (10) and Michael McNee (23) proceeded to 40 without loss, but that became 61-3 and then 87-4 as Chris Scott (3-26), Jon Dalwood (1-25) and Reid Mawdsley (1-30) hit back.

The visitors’ fifth-wicket partnership proved to be the defining one of the match, however, as Charlie Vickery (48 off 62 balls, with seven fours) and Sam Spurway (42 off 36, with four fours and two sixes) progressed up to 150.

Jonathan Scott (2-24) and Richard Scott (2-27) were eventually able to apply the brakes, reducing Ilminster to 172-9, only for Harry Montacute (12* off six balls) to add valuable late runs.

Chard’s reply began well enough, making it to 87-1 thanks to Mawdsley (42), Harvey Dening (11) and Ben Ford (18).

But then it went horribly wrong for the hosts, losing three wickets for no more runs, with Vickery (2-23) taking two of them and Josh Lee running out Mawdsley.

Chard’s 87-4 became 101-6 and then 119-7 as more wickets tumbled, but Chris Scott (19) and Dalwood (6) kept their side’s hopes alive by moving on to 140-7.

But Scott fell to Sam Grinter (2-13) and the home side were all out for 145, with Hayward contributing 2-8 and James Thompson 2-29.

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GROUP D was won by North Perrott, who completed an unbeaten league season with a 136-run victory away to Staplegrove.

Perrott racked up 282-6 from their 40 overs, thanks to 108 from Jake Symes, plus contributions from Sam Rowswell (35), George Johnson (28) and James Salaman (26).

The hosts were dismissed for 146, despite a defiant late 51 from Tobias Bishop, as Alfie Ogborne took 2-7, George Johnson 2-20 and Krishnan Subramanian 2-27.

But Sunday saw Perrott’s dream of appearing in a Lord’s final dashed by St Albans-based Redbourn in their National Village Cup semi-final.

Perrott made 160-9 from 40 overs, recovering from 73-4 thanks to Symes’ 39 and Rowswell’s 47.

Daniel Roe (4-40) did much of the damage for the visitors, who won by eight wickets thanks to Edward Hales (71) and William Hales (77*).

Lorraine Szczepanski took 2-32 for Perrott.