West of England Premier Cricket League
Somerset Division
North Perrott 1st XI 246-8 beat Chard 1st XI 170 all out by 76 runs

TROY Johnson scored 88 and took two wickets as second-placed North Perrott beat lowly Chard by 76 runs.

Pete Moxom claimed three wickets in Perrott’s innings of 246-8, but was outdone by Gordon Whorlow, who bagged four to end the hosts’ reply in their 44th over.

Batting first, Perrott reached 61 before the first wicket fell – Whorlow going for a watchful 11 off 41 balls (bowled by Jon Dalwood), his opening partner George Retter racing to 49 from 50 balls before falling to Harvey Dening.

Jake Symes departed for 10, also to Dening, at 95-3 – only for the fourth-wicket partnership between Johnson and Alex Eckland to tip the game in Perrott’s favour.

Johnson blasted 88 off 91 balls (10 fours and three 6s) and Eckland 50 off 82, the partnership staying intact until Johnson’s reign of terror finally ended at 203-4 (caught by Matthew Micale off the bowling of Dalwood).

Moxom stepped up for Chard with three wickets, including that of Nick Taylor (20), but Eckland almost stayed in to the end – he was the last man out (c Robert Glentworth b Nathan Johnson) as Perrott ended their overs on 246-8.

For Chard, Moxom finished with 3-48 off nine overs, Dalwood 2-32 off 10 and Dening 2-52 off 10.

Chard & Ilminster News:

TWO WICKETS: Jon Dalwood bowling for Chard against North Perrott on Saturday. Pic: Steve Richardson

The hosts’ reply got off to a terrible start, as Nathan Johnson was bowled by Joshua Marshall-James without a run on the board.

Glentworth also went for a duck, run out at 1-2, but the third-wicket pairing of Micale and Moxom prevented the ship from sinking.

Micale departed for 35, bowled by Whorlow, and he was soon followed by Dening (6) and Dalwood (11), as the hosts stumbled to 83-5.

Alex Hunt (24) and Danny Cleal (16) had a little more staying power, but when Moxom finally fell (caught by Stacy Hawes off Symes) for 61 off 91 balls (seven 4s and one 6) at 164-7, that was that.

Only six more runs were added as the hosts were dismissed in 43.2 overs – for Perrott, Whorlow took 4-21 off 8.2, Johnson 2-40 off 10 and Symes 2-10 off two.

Perrott collected 20 points to stay on Weston-super-Mare’s coat-tails at the top, while Chard’s six points took them above Wellington, thumped by 10 wickets by Staplegrove, to sit third from bottom.

This Saturday Chard are at basement side Temple Cloud, while North Perrott host Wellington (both 1pm starts).

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WEPL Premier 2 Bristol/Somerset
Glastonbury 1st XI 45-3 v Ilminster 1st XI 168 all out - abandoned

ILMINSTER’S match away to Glastonbury on Saturday fell victim to the weather with the hosts on 45-3.

Ilminster recovered from a shaky start thanks to Jon Hurford's rapid 39 off just 27 balls, while Charlie Vickery made 16 and Sam Spurway 36.

The rest of the batting order suffered at the hands of Ross Jenkins (3-29 off eight overs) and Joe Mason (3-14 off 4.4), with wicketkeeper Josh Lee the best of the rest by hitting 19.

Ilminster were all out for 168 in just 39.4 overs, but they made a decent start with the ball before the rain intervened, as Sam Grinter (1-20 off seven overs) and Harry Montacute (2-24 off 6.4) struck.

Second-placed Glastonbury picked up 11 points, while Ilminster took nine to lie 15 points off Bishopston in third.

Bishopston provide the opposition this coming Saturday, for a match which could make or break Ilminster’s promotion hopes (12.30pm start).