CHILCOMPTON SPORTS 222-9 ABBOTS LEIGH 205 all-out
On a lovely summer’s day at the Chilcompton Sports Ground, skipper, Ben Futcher, kept his 100% streak of winning the toss without Jared Greenhalgh and Matt Rivers in the starting line-up. Futcher promptly chose to bat, which was a surprise given the Chili First XI’s batting crumbles this year.
The Injured Skipper (6) and Kyle Gloudesman (14) started the innings, with the latter getting a beautiful start before they both found the keeper’s mitts. Kieran Thick tried to put his injured hamstring to good use, but his poles were knocked back quickly from a great delivery from F. Elicity who was bowling well in tandem with A. Budge.
With Chili struggling at 29-3, James Purchase (54) and Adam Deverill (64) batted beautifully and put on 130 for the fourth wicket, before the former walked after a tickle, something for the opposition to learn from. Adam Deverill was run-out taking on a deep-throw from midwicket – shame he didn’t get the bat on it with his Ben Stokes lunge into the crease, and he and his broken glove had to depart.
Jack Ford (28) had a typical knock. Sam Hudson (2) wished he had DRS to use after being pinned in front and everyone was in awe of Alex Fudge, who scored a quickfire 18 off ten balls. It was left to Jordan Harding Bowen-Jones (8*) and Lauren Harding Bowen-Jones (1*) to take Chili to a par-222 after their allotted 45 overs.
Chili knew they may have to bowl Abbots Leigh out to win, and would have to do it without their hostile strike-bowler, Rivers, who was promoted to the Legends for their trip to Mells. Like in the away fixture, Lauren Bowen-Jones (0-28) was creating all sorts of problems, but unlike the away game, the hosts couldn’t take them, and in contrast Jack Ford with 3-for-42 finally got some reward for his excellent bowling this season.
James Purchase (2-25) beat the outside edge numerous times, and was unlucky as even when he hit it, it was adjudged to be not-out. With the game still in the balance, the skipper got his field placings spot-on and turned to Nathan Crocker (3-33), whose spell was the deciding factor in the match. Hearing the festivities at Chilcompton Celebrates, Kieran Thick (1-30) wrapped the innings up slightly early and Chilcompton won by 17 runs to finally return to winning ways.