CRICKET: Jack Luff hits century as Lympsham & Belvedere beat Ilminster Seconds

JACK Luff fired a superb century as Lympsham & Belvedere earned an impressive victory against second-placed Ilminster 2nds on Saturday.

Having elected to field on a well baked outfield, L&B started well as Sam McCrea (3-45) removed both openers early on.

J House (82) rebuilt from 96-5 and he and Cox (42) both looked to be cruising before both were removed by the accurate Jack Neville (3-35).

Neville then also took the hard hitting Sims’ (27) middle stump clean out of the ground and a late run out saw Ilminster take their total to 246-9.

L&B started after the break with a flurry of boundaries from McCrea and Mike Hosey (15) before the latter chopped on.

Gooding fell first ball to a yorker, McCrea (28) followed to a replica delivery and Dave Luff (3) chipped to mid-off, leaving L&B in trouble at 52-4.

Jack Luff and Nathan Hancock led the rebuilding but Hancock was removed by a ball that kept low for a brilliant 28 in a match winning stand of 147.

Luff then brought up his second century of the season and L&B were 210-6 with six overs remaining.

Luff continued to put away the bad balls from Ilminster’s bowling attack and was well supported by Ben Laing (12*), who hit the winning runs with 10 balls to spare.

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HUNTSPILL & District came up 27 runs short in their Division 4 match at home to South Petherton on Saturday.

Put in to bat, the visitors posted 229-7, mainly thanks to a 76-run opening stand between Adam Young (39) and Paul Acreman, who went on to score a fine 86.

Deane Adams was the pick of the Huntspill attack, taking 3-36.

In reply, all looked good while Nick Slack (32) and Sam Lillycrop (66) were at the crease, but the later order couldn’t push on despite five reaching double figures against a tight bowling attack and they ran out of overs with three wickets remaining.

In Division 6N, leaders Wedmore enjoyed another emphatic win at Wembdon 3s.

The home side elected to bat first but lost an early wicket before Keith Futcher (33) and Alex Hurford (44no) restored the innings.

However, there followed a rout as Josh Burgess (3-17) dismissed the middle order and Wembdon had to settle for 146-9.

Bob Burgess returned the fine figures of 1-6 off 8.

Wedmore made no mistake in their reply as Billy Halford (50) and Josh Burgess (41) added 85 for the opening wicket and Jack Tonkin (29) all but completed the job as they came home with seven wickets and 27 overs to spare.

The game between East Huntspill and Shapwick & Polden 3s was cancelled.

A poor batting performance from Huntspill & District 2s kept them hovering above the relegation zone in Division 7N following a seven-wicket defeat at Purnells 2s.

Craig Lefrere topped the scoring for Huntspill with 56 but that was the highlight as Jack Hewish (3-13) and Ian Jones (2-11 off 8) restricted them to 133-8.

When Purnells replied, Adrian Curtis (55no) and Freddie Dalglish (41) did the bulk of the scoring as they coasted home.

Lowly Mark were unable to raise a side at home to Butleigh 2s.

Lympsham & Belvedere 2s slipped out of the promotion chase following their six-wicket defeat at second-placed Winscombe 2s.

The visitors hit 168-9 with six batsmen reaching double figures but Andrew Hall top-scoring with 33.

Stephen Vowles was the pick of the home bowlers with 4-29.

When Winscombe replied, they made steady progress against a tight Lympsham attack which was thwarted by Ben Knapman (39), Steve Bawden (38) and Matthew Coe (38no).

Despite not taking a wicket, Paul Davis was the pick of the Lympsham bowlers, spilling only 20 runs in his eight overs.

In Division 8N, second placed Wedmore 2s had a surprisingly emphatic victory over mid-table Wembdon 4s, who were bowled out for just 32.

Wedmore elected to bat first but were immediately in trouble as Sam Edmonds (2-29) and Hugh Hellings (3-23) tore through the top order.

No 6 Dave Maddock (37) and skipper G. Atkins (27) stopped the rot before Charlie Jackson (26) added invaluable late runs to take Wedmore to 159 all out.

Wembdon’s reply was a disaster as Marcus Lee (5-12 off 6) and Alfie Lavender (3-17) routed the line-up.

Hugh Hellings’ 8 was top score as Wembdon crumbled to 32 all out.

Huntspill & District 2s were in action again in Division 7N on Sunday as they welcomed high-flying Uphill Castle.

Deciding to bat first, opener Martyn Roper was at his Sunday best, hitting a fine 65. But his team-mates were out of sorts as they were all out for 135.

After Louis Wright claimed the wicket of Ben Castle, Thomas Oultram (64no) and Hayden Watts (58) took over and Uphill won by nine wickets.