Taunton School 108 for 8

Doctors 112 for 5

The School chose first use of an excellent Foxcombe pitch and there was general amazement when the first ball of the innings, bowled by John Down was loose and was hit for 4. This was Down’s only concession to human frailty and there were no more gifts as he and Peter Reed (1-2) kept the score down to 30 for 1 from the first 8 overs. When they were relieved by Graham Fergusson and James Powell the batsmen decided that there was need for acceleration and 20 runs came from the next 2 overs but Fergusson was avenged in his following over. First T.Large (24) made the fatal error of taking on Down’s arm from deep midwicket. The return was well taken by the bowler who threw down the non-striker’s wicket with Large a couple of feet short of his ground. Two balls later A.Matthews (18) went for a big hit over long on but didn’t make it past the safe hands of Phil Barker and from the following ball T.Frith (4) attempted a similar shot and top edged a skier to keeper Dave Rooke. A wicket for Powell (1-28) and a tight spell of teasing swing bowling from Barker (1-11) put a heavy burden on the home skipper Simon Hogg who responded with his usual competitive spirit to post an invaluable 40 not out. Fergusson returned to bowl the final over and his flighted legbreaks gained further rewards courtesy of a stumping by Rooke and a comprehensive dismissal off the last ball as the batsman edged the ball to Rooke who removed any doubt by also stumping him.

Doctors made a steady start with a pleasing cameo from Nick Bray (10) until he hit G.Moore (2-20) in the air to mid on where Frith took a good running catch. None of the other members of Doctors top order got started as G.Way (1-7) and Fishlock (1-26) made useful contributions to limit the visitors to 33 for 4. Barker (11) started the recovery until he misjudged the length of a ball from débutante Beccy Gwynne Jones (1-18) and found the hands of Fishlock at cover. The match was decided by a fine partnership between Keith and James Powell. Hesitant at first against the legbreaks and googlies of the wily Hogg, they then showed what a good batting strip this was with a salvo of explosive shots in the arc between midwicket and mid on. The School bowlers could find no answer as the total was passed with 3 overs in hand. Keith Powell finished on 32 not out and James Powell on 27 not out.