Wiltshire open NCCA T20 campaign with two defeats
Game 1 - Wiltshire CCC v Dorset CCC, 11:00 am
This was a game that Wiltshire will want to forget as they slumped to 56 for 7 with only openers Jake Goodwin 12 and Jacob Lintott 15 making double figures. This brought two South Wilts youngsters together – Ben Draper 34 not out and Ben Huntley 22 with a partnership of 48 took the total to 3 figure respectability and eventually closing the innings on 117 for 9. Powerhouse Ben Huntley hit three massive sixes in his innings. Dorset were boosted by the late inclusion of Hampshire’s Felix Organ replacing Oli Soames. Felix had the impressive figures of 3 for 13 from his 4 overs. Keeper Ed Ellis claimed 4 victims with two caught and two stumped.
In reply Dorset coasted to victory with 15 balls to spare. Felix Organ hit a quick 20 before falling to Jacob Lintott courtesy of a catch by Ben Huntley. Sam Young was caught by Neil Clark from the bowling of Arthur Godsal taking Dorset to 29 for 2. This brought Tom Prest 49 not out and skipper Luke Webb 37 not out together and they put on an unbroken partnership of 89 to steer Dorset to a comfortable victory.
Dorset beat Wiltshire by 8 wickets
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Game 2 - Wiltshire CCC v Dorset CCC, 2:30 pm
In this game Dorset batted first and set an impressive target of 161 for 4 from their 20 overs with runs coming from Felix Organ 22, Sam Young 29, Tom Prest 69 and Alex Eckland 32 not out. The 4 wickets that fell were shared equally between Arthur Godsal and Will Naish with each of them flattening the stumps once and getting another wicket courtesy of two fine catches by Neil Clark.
Could Wiltshire regain some pride with their batting in this second match? Indeed they could and could count themselves rather unfortunate not to secure the victory. They reached an impressive 156 for 5 from their 20 overs with captain Ed Young leading the way with an excellent 58 runs until being caught on the boundary ( the ball was headed for 6 to tie the game otherwise) in the final over. Earlier, Jake Goodwin 13 and Jacob Lintott 43 had put on 40 for the first wicket. Jacob was still there to help Ed Young put on 44 for the third wicket and when Jacob fell Ed stayed firm to put on 61 with Neil Clark 21 for the 4th wicket. Playing a true captain’s innings Ed Young was at the crease to take the score from 47 for 2 until the last over when he had helped the score on to 156. As a result of his three magnificent sixes in game one Ben Huntley was promoted and came to the crease in the final over, but could only watch having taken a single with his first and only ball faced. Brad Dawson came to the crease with just one ball remaining and 6 runs still required for victory. A valiant effort sadly came to nothing and Brad collapsed in pain as he had further damaged his shoulder in a valiant effort to win the game. The game may have been lost, but pride was certainly restored and Dorset claimed their victory with no doubt a sigh of relief.
Dorset beat Wiltshire by 5 runs
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