Melksham CC 1st XI won by 4 runs 146-6 Royal Wootton Bassett CC 3rd XI 142 all out
Captain Rich Hemmings won the toss for the second week in a row and opted to bowl first in overcast conditions in Melksham’s first home game of the season, and was soon rewarded with the breakthrough coming from Russ Collins once again.
The Bassett batsmen recovered however, with Mark Vincent keeping the scoreboard ticking. Melksham then gained control of the innings with the introduction of Ed Skippings into the attack who took full advantage of some loose strokeplay to take 5 wickets, denting Bassett’s hopes of putting up a big score. Melksham’s fine effort in the field was capped off by Dan Carpenter taking the last 3 wickets for just 7 runs.
Melksham’s reply was dominated by Joe Veacock smashing an unbeaten 74 from just 59 balls, and with the rest of the batting lineup supporting him and chipping in. Melksham chased down the target with almost 10 overs to spare, to secure the club’s first win of the season and their first win since the end of the 2015 season.
Trowbridge CC 2nd XI 77-2 from 21 overs
Melksham CC 1st XI 0-0
On a day where heavy showers were forecast, Melksham travelled to Trowbridge and for the third week in a row won the toss and chose to bowl.
Both sides were eager to move the game forward as quickly as possible in case of any potential rain early chances came for the bowling side, however the fielders were unable to maintain the standards the bowlers were setting with a few opportunities going begging, most notably an edge off of the bat of Ali Goddard who went on to hit some crisp boundaries on the way to an unbeaten 49.
The Melksham bowlers persevered however and kept things tight. Jack Footner and captain Rich Hemmings getting the only wickets to fall, before the rain came crashing down and ended the contest before it really got going.
