Taunton 242 all out

Sherborne 193 all out (Jordan G 58)

Lost by 49 runs

This was a competitive game of cricket in which Taunton’s stars triumphed over a gutsy Sherborne collective effort. We lost the toss and faced with a damp outfield managed to strike early twice through JP T, the second a beauty to bowl Roberts. Taunton then batted very sensibly to reach 155-4 at lunch. Church was especially solid (on this church I will build my rock?), batting chancelessly through the morning session. After lunch we suddenly got stuck into our task and reduced Taunton to 174-7, with Ben D removing Church courtesy of a second good catch by Charlie R. One more wicket at that stage could have seen a very different score but Clayton at number 6 hit an aggressive 60 to frustrate us with the help of the tail. What could have been 200 ended up as 242 when Pat R who had earlier missed a far easier effort caught an absolute stunner one handed leaping above his head. Pick of the bowlers were JP, Ben D and Charlie R. The ground fielding was terrific on a slightly bumpy outfield that made us realise how lucky we are with the Upper.

As we began our reply the sky darkened and in gloomy conditions we lost our openers. A recovery was launched by Jordan G whose first scoring shot was a six and Fergus O’C. Ferg’s dismissal snapped up at extra cover was a setback but Jordan and Pat R took us safely to tea. Pat departed shortly after tea but with Jordan and Sam G at the crease things started to look a lot more positive. In a throw of the dice Taunton brought back their opener who managed to get Jordan to sky to long on after scoring our season’s first fifty. He then dismissed Sam with a full toss that looked suspiciously high. Sherlock Holmes might have presented exhibit one, Sam G whose name and stature are more hobbity than orcish and exhibit two, the behaviour of the Taunton boys who first failed to celebrate, second tried to run Sam out and third looked embarrassed as Sam was given out after a discussion. We continued to battle but there was nobody able to score the 60 needed to turn the result in our favour with six scores between 9 and 17. Tom M came in at number 11 and first ball lofted an elegant on drive: he remained defiantly undefeated when our last wicket fell in the 48th over

Taunton’s battery of seamers bowled a better length than us: their batsmen scored 80 runs down the ground compared with our 28. We outfielded them and showed signs of promise for the future. . My thanks to several parents who ignored my doom laden predictions about the weather and turned up - not a ball was lost to rain.

Giles Reynolds