Watchet Cricket Club
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Watchet v Brompton Ralph
Lewyn Plate Semi Final
Watchet secured their passage through to the final of the Lewyn plate (Which I reported wrongly as the Baker plate in the last report!) with a fine 6 wicket victory over Brompton Ralph.
On a sun baked evening in Brompton, Watchet Captain Martin Strong won the toss and decided to field first, This was the first time Watchet had played on Brompton’s new picturesque ground.
Watchet opening bowler Phil Sylvester struck early and bowled Brompton’s number 1 in the first over. This bought Stogumber regular Dane Gilbert to the crease, and the left hander started to get the scoreboard ticking over with his partner D. Takle. After 6 overs Sylvester was taken off to save some overs for the death and the pacey Jason Strong was bought into the attack. This was a fine example of controlled pace bowling that took wickets and restricted runs. Jason finished his 5 overs for 3-19 picking up Gilbert and Takle in his haul. M Strong also bowled well and was unlucky not to pickup more wickets due to a couple half chances being shelled (Main culprit his youngest son!). Some tight bowling at the end by Sylvester and Strong restricted Brompton to 103-6.
The Watchet innings got off to a steady start with Chris Sully looking in good nick, but Adam Bishop was bowled in the second over by Poole with one that kept a bit low! Chris Wookey came in and played some nice strokes before hitting a well struck shot straight to captain Takle who held on well at deep mid wicket. Clive Strong one of Watchet’s saviours from the victory against Ashbrittle came in and started well, but with Brompton having a least 6 players on the boundary through out the innings boundaries were hard to come by and the run rate was slowly creeping up! In the pursuit of some quick runs Clive played one straight down long off’s throat leaving Watchet requiring 58 off 10 overs and the game in the balance! However the fan’s favourite and football referees nemesis John Harris strode out to the wicket and upon that note the game was put in the bag. With Sully still there stroking it around and finding the gaps the pace of Harris actually allowed to turn ones into twos, and in one over the pair ran four two’s in a row! Which left Sully in need for a bit of a breather. By this time Harris had got his eye in and picked a Mullins slower ball and despatched it for a big six up the hill.
Harris was caught behind off Takle with 3 overs to go but only 5 to win and it was left to Sully to play a great cover drive for four to win a place in the final against Taunton Outcasts or Staplegrove to be played on 19th June.
Brompton 103-6: J Strong 3-19
Watchet 104-4: C Sully 45no, J Harris 22
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© Watchet Cricket Club 2006