Cider Watch: Abell shines with the ball in league win for Taunton
West of England Premier Cricket League Bristol Somerset – Saturday 2 August 2014
Tom Abell made up for an extremely rare failure with the bat by taking four wickets as Taunton Cricket Club beat Wembdon at Don Valley last Saturday.
Opening the bowling, Abell nipped out Wembdon’s opening batsman and then ran through the tail, finishing with very tidy figures of 8-2-19-4. George Cook also took 4-41.
Wembdon finished on 160-9 off 42 overs in a match cut short by the weather. Jonathan Brockwell top scored for the home side with 41, while Harry Bowditch made 39 and former Somerset and England all-rounder Ian Blackwell made 21.
The visitors had a bad start, losing two quick wickets, with Abell falling for a duck.
Chris Davenport (42) and Taunton skipper Jack Cooper (29) rebuilt, but then Blackwell nipped in with a couple of middle order wickets to create a few nerves in the Taunton dressing room.
However, that brought together Jon Kerslake (35*) and George Cook (32*) who safely saw their side home by four wickets.
Blackwell, who signed for Wembdon in June this year, finished with figures of 9-2-25-2.
The result, Taunton’s eighth win of the season, sees them hold firmly on to their well-earned second place in the West of England Premier Cricket League Bristol and Somerset Division. They are still 39 points behind runaway leaders Midsomer Norton, but 35 points ahead of third-placed Brislington, current home of former Somerset batsman Richard Ollis.
This coming Saturday sees a must-win top of the table clash between Taunton and Midsomer Norton which could well decide the sole promotion spot. We’ll have a full report of the game here on The InCider next week.
Wembdon are joint bottom of Premier Two with Chew Magna.
Meanwhile in Premier Two, former Somerset and England bowler Andy Caddick took 2-38 as Clevedon side beat Chard by eight wickets.
Links:
Wembdon CC v Taunton CC – http://taunton.play-cricket.com/view_results_details?id=11848095
West of England Premier Cricket League Bristol Somerset Division league table after 14 games: http://taunton.play-cricket.com/league_table?id=405&season_id=72