North Petherton CC 223 / 7 (50.0) lost to Chard CC - 1st XI 226 / 4 (47.4)

CHARD Cricket Club earned a very important win over North Petherton at the weekend.

The result takes Chard to second place in the WEPL Somerset table and within touching distance of league leaders Wellington.

In the match, captain Jon Dalwood won the toss and asked North Petherton to bat first and struck early with Cloete picking up Owen Irish for 1.

Despite a few early chances Petherton were able to build a partnership making it to 69 before Dalwood picked up the wicket of Lott thanks to some tidy glove work from Warren behind the stumps.

Short was then brought into the attack and struck instantly pick up the prized wicket of Pethertons overseas Khumalo, Short was able to grab another couple of wickets leaving Petherton 124/6.

Valuable runs at the end saw North Petherton work there way to 223/7 from there 50 overs, a formidable score but one Chard felt comfortable chasing down.

Chard got off to a terrible start, losing Crouch 2nd ball and then Johnson leaving the visitors 4/2 with Petherton on the attack hunting for more wickets.

Mawdsley’s and Dening saw off the barrage from Khumalo and Gregory but disaster struck as Dening was run out for 19 trying to pinch a run from a misfield.

At 37/3 Chard still had batting to come but needed a partnership to get them back in the contest.

Short and Mawdsley battled away running hard between the wickets and picking off anything loose.

They managed to get Chard upto 171 as the run rate stayed around 7 an over for the final 10 overs.

Short tried to drag the run rate down clearing the fence with a maximum before edging Lott behind for a vital 61.

With work still left to do Cloete and Mawdsley punished any loose bowling as Chard looked to finish the game with overs to spare.

A big over from Cloete saw Chard get ahead of the run rate and leave it for player of the game Mawdsley to hit the winning runs and bring up a outstanding 101 from 123 balls.

Whilst it wasn't as easy as they would have liked, it was a very strong performance from Chard, both with bat and ball.

The win sets up Chard up for a big away fixture next weekend as they travel to league leaders Wellington in a top of the table clash.

It is almost a winner takes all situation as the victor in that match will move clear at the top of the WEPL Somerset table.