Chard 244 / 9 (50) were beaten by Taunton 248 / 5 (46.4)

IN their season opener at the weekend, Chard Cricket Club were beaten by five wickets by a strong Taunton Cricket Club side.

Chard won the coin toss and elected to bat first in front of their home crowd and sent out openers Niall Crouch and Reid Mawdsley.

Crouch was dismissed for 10 runs off 10 balls however Mawdsley went on to a solid innings; he hit 4 fours and 2 sixes on his way to 64 runs.

Two ducks for Jonathan Scott and Nathan Johnson did not help the batting but Harvey Dening helped steer the ship with a strong score of 61 runs off 77 balls.

The middle order added some small scores to the total, Devon Du Plessis with 2, Scott Wells-Burr with 11 and Jon Dalwood hit 8 runs.

However Chris Scott and Nathan Warren at the bottom end of the order made sure the score was decent as they hit 29 and 19 respectively to add some important late runs.

Taunton bowler Henry Weatherhill will have been happy with his numbers as he took 4 wickets from 10 overs and was only hit for 49 runs.

Sam Toohey also took three wickets for the Taunton side as Chard set the target of 244 in their innings.

Taunton then took to the pitch with the bat and the top order of batsmen made sure they reached the target in 46.4 overs.

Hugh Kelly scored 37 runs which included 7 fours and his fellow opener William Abell hit 17 runs before being bowled by Chris Scott.

Dan Quick was the Taunton sides top scorer with the bat; he scored 60 runs off 77 balls and quite impressively he hit 5 fours and 4 sixes.

Perhaps more impressive was how he was dismissed, Chard bowler Reid Mawdsley dramatically caught and bowled Quick.

Solly Woodall scored 38 runs for Taunton and he was joined at the crease by Jack Cooper who scored 54 in what was a quick half century.

The pair of those batsman were dismissed by Chris Scott but it was all too late it seemed.

Scott was the best for Chard with the ball, taking three wickets in 10 overs for 80 runs.

Charles Solanki and Liam Redrup reached the target for the Taunton side which in turn earned them the win.

In defeat Chard earned 7 points towards the league table and Taunton got 21 points, meaning that the Taunton CC are now top of the WEPL Somerset league.

Up next, Chard CC travel to Bridgwater to face their First XI and can expect another tough game, as they all will be in this competitive division this season.

Midsomer Norton CC vs Ilminster CC

Midsomer Norton 156 / 5 (35.4) defeated Ilminster 155 / all out (36.3)

ILMINSTER Cricket Club have begun the competitive season in defeat after a tough away match at Midsomer Norton at the weekend.

The home side won the toss and elected to field first, sending Ilminster in to bat with openers Jonny Warry and Charlie Vickery.

Vickery scored a respectable 31 off 28 balls with 6 fours however his partner Warry was dismissed for 0 after 9 balls.

The best scorer with the bat was Ben Johnston on 60 runs, his half century came off 65 balls.

The middle and bottom order helped raise the target to 155 runs but the score was easily chased down by Midsomer Norton.

Paul Robbins with 52 top-scored for the home side as they went on to win by five wickets.

Adam Cox bowled well for Ilminster with 2 wickets off 7 overs but it was not enough to get a win.

Ilminster were award 4 points in the defeat while Midsomer Norton got 19 points.