CRICKET: Jack Luff hits 93 as Lympsham and Belvedere beat South Petherton

LYMPSHAM and Belvedere consolidated their place in second with a comfortable victory over South Petherton on Saturday, writes Neil Chadwick.

Having lost the toss, the hosts were asked to bat first and were soon in trouble as the accurate J Edmonds removed Samuel McCrea (9) and Dave Luff (5).

Jack Luff and Neil Chadwick looked to rebuild the innings, and batted sensibly until Chadwick fell caught behind on 22 to leave the score at 74-3.

Tom Gooding joined Luff in putting together the crucial partnership as both ran hard and put away the loose ball at will.

Luff looked in fine form, making a hard hitting 93 including 15 fours and two 6s before he was finally bowled by Harris, but Gooding continued the attack on his way to 47 as Lympsham closed on 225-7.

McCrea got an early wicket in reply, clean bowling Lukins in the first over, and later had Reed (10) well caught by Gooding.

The introduction of Jack Luff and Jon Youngs changed the game in Lympsham and Belvedere’s favour as they dried up the runs and forced the batsman to take risks.

Youngs bowled a fine spell of left-arm spin on his way to 3-12 from seven miserly overs, and Luff destroyed the lower order to finish with 4-27.

Chadwick finished the innings off by taking a wicket with his first delivery as South Petherton were all out for 107 on another good day for Lympsham.

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MATT Osmant scored an excellent 84 to help his Huntspill & District side to a first league victory of the season as they beat Wembdon 2nds in Division 4 of the Shrubbery Hotel Somerset League.

Huntspill batted first and, after the early loss of M. Crawford, J. Randall (19) and T. Garner (32) rebuilt the innings.

Osmant then came in at number five and proceeded to dominate on his way to 84, with good support provided by Matt Counsell’s 36.

The visitors finished on 227-9, and got stuck straight into Wembdon in reply as opener D. Stone was dismissed for a duck.

Huntspill then took regular wickets to stay in control, with T. Garner taking 3-40 and Counsell claiming 2-26 to go alongside his earlier runs.

Wembdon were eventually bowled out for 191, handing Huntspill a 36-run win.

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BURNHAM 2nds lost by three wickets in a low-scoring match at Wedmore in Division 6N.

D. Aston (35) and T. Lewis (27) were the chief contributors to Burnham’s 123-9, an innings which saw Wedmore’s S. Blackburn take 5-26 from six overs.

Though no batsman scored more than B. Halford’s 21 in reply, the majority chipped in with useful contributions as Wedmore made it to 124-7.

A. Birkett took 2-26 for Burnham, with the rest of the wickets shared around the bowlers.

Elsewhere in the division, East Huntspill cruised past Cheddar 2nds by nine wickets.

M. Crook (3-8), N. Harding (2-7) and M. Mitchell (2-14) all impressed with the ball as Cheddar were skittled for 70, which was surpassed with ease as M. Edwards (23*) and J. Picton (31*) guided East Huntspill home.

In Division 7N, half-centuries from D. Tippetts and R. Edwards were in vain as the rest of the Huntspill & District 2nds batting line-up failed to fire against Horrington.

In pursuit of the visitors’ 256-4, no batsmen apart from Tippetts (58) and Edwards (62) made it into double figures as Huntspill were bowled out for 143.

Mark lost by 31 runs at Kilmington & Stourton 2nds, as no player passed 20 on their way to 144 all out chasing Kilmington’s total of 175-6.

Wedmore 2nds were able to field just eight players against Cranmore 2nds in Division 8N, and were dismissed for 123 - C. Scott top-scoring with 26.

Cranmore cruised home for the loss of just two wickets.

Lympsham & Belvedere eased past another depleted side, putting seven-man Bridgwater Sports to the sword with a 10-wicket win.

Simon Pilgrim took 4-14 from 6.5 overs before Jason Parsons hit an unbeaten 58.