Melksham back to winning ways

23rd July. Winsley 162 ao Melksham 164-2 Melksham won by 8 wickets

The 1st XI were back to winning way, comfortably beating Winsley 2s at home by 8 wickets to put the pressure back on league leaders Wanborough.

A solid performance with the ball saw Melksham bowl Winsley out for 162, with all the bowlers chipping in with at least one wicket. Batsmen Chay Forester and Adam Mitchell then ensured that the run-chase was a breeze with an opening stand of 136 to help seal a first win in three matches.

Opening bowlers Rich Hemmings and Chris Long got the day off to a solid start for Melksham, taking a wicket each inside the first 7 overs to reduce Winsley to just 18-2. The away side fought back well in the following overs however, reaching a score of 60-2 after the subsequent 7 overs. Melksham then claimed three quickfire wickets to reassert their dominance.

The first came via a run-out from Long, before first-change bowler Liam Merrett picked up wickets in back-to-back overs during his stingy spell of 2-18 off 9, helping to contain Winsley to a score of 71-5 from 21 overs. Although Winsley did enjoy some success during the 2nd half of the innings, with batsmen Freddie Richards and Fred Fenton reaching scores of 50 and 33 respectively, in the end it was not enough to prevent Melksham from restricting them to a below par total.

Wickets from Mitchell (2), Mark Mullis (2) and Chris Singh (1) were enough to bowl Winsley out with nearly 3 overs to spare, giving the home side a solid platform from which to push on for the win. Forester and Mitchell wasted little time in going about the run-chase.

The pair raced to 61 in just the first 10 overs alone, before racking up a similar amount of runs just the next 10 to make the win seem like a formality. The only wobbles for Melksham came very late on, first when Mitchell was caught for 79, then when number 3 batsman Russ Collins was trapped LBW for just 3 a few overs later.

Nevertheless, Forester carried his bat with an assured 70 to help see his side over the line, claiming a win that moves Melksham to just 3 points of top-spot, with title rivals Wanborough slipping up against bottom of the table Westbury 2s. Narrow win Continued from back page going on the front foot.

He and Joe Veacock pushed Melksham to a score of 72 in less than 10 overs, an effort which had seemingly set the foundations for an easy win. More twists were in the offing though. First Mitchell was bowled for 47, before Simon Turner (21) and Veacock (40) were both dismissed by the 19th over, leaving the score on 123-5.

The situation suddenly began to look perilous, with several lower order batsmen all going cheaply. Lewie Simmons (14), Chris Singh (5), Luke Wilkins (0), and Rich Hemmings (5) all lost their wickets during the tense closing stages, leaving it to number 9 bat Merrett to be the one to get Melksham over the line.

Thankfully he proved up to the task, with him and Honeybone hitting the winning runs in the 34th over much to the relief of their teammates, claiming a win which helps keep Melksham’s title ambitions on track with just five games of the season remaining.