On the hottest day of the year so far, Midsomer Norton Cricket Club’s First XI suffered a heavy defeat at Withies Lane last Saturday when they lost by 177 runs to Taunton St Andrew.

The visitors won the toss and, not surprisingly, decided to bat.

Openers, Tinnion and Regan, put on fifty for the first wicket inside nine overs before the first wicket fell (Tinnion for 44) at 69 in the 11th over. Regan was joined by Terry and the pair put on more than a hundred before Terry (48) was dismissed at the

beginning of the 31st over.

Taunton were 194–2 with 14 overs still to go. Regan continued his battery of the Norton bowling and stayed at the wicket throughout the innings, ending with 177 scored at more than a run per ball. The wicket takers were Gary Filer, Chris Phylips, Jake Rowe and Harrison Veale.

Chasing down 330 runs was always going to be a mammoth task, so losing a wicket without a run on the board wasn’t the ideal start for Midsomer Norton. A half century partnership for the second wicket was as good as things got for the home side. Thomas Hankins scored 31 and there was a half century for Nick Cox, but Norton’s 153 all out was bulked out by 22 extras.

Norton’s Second Team narrowly lost by one wicket to Hampset last Saturday. Winning the toss and batting first, Norton made 206–6 in their forty overs with half centuries for Chris Hampshire and Mitchell Turner. Hampset were still 21 runs short of victory when they lost their ninth wicket but the last wicket pair – and 37 extras – helped them over the line. There were wickets for Max Bartlett, Mitchell Turner, Daniel Chard, Alex Davis, Charlotte Phillips and Martin Cox. The

Seconds are at home to Portishead on Saturday.

The Third XI lost at Barrow Gurney by five wickets. Archie Pitt and J Fuller were the main run scorers in Norton’s 173–9 and Barrow Gurney reached their target in 31 overs. Melvin Lawrence, Callum Bicknell and Harry Humphries took the wickets. Charlie Matthews