A decent fortnight for Melksham Cricket Club saw the 1st XI achieve two thumping wins on the bounce to ensure that their WCCL Division 3 campaign got off to a roaring start.
First came a resounding 10-wicket win at home against Wanborough. Gary Ings made an instant impact on his return to the side, claiming figures of 4-21 to help reduce Wanborough to 32-5 inside 13 overs. Slower bowler Steve Rendell then delivered the killer-blow with a 5-wicket haul, leaving the away side reeling on 102 all out.
Skipper Adam Mitchell was merciless in the second innings, scoring the vast majority of the runs with an unbeaten 90 as his side romped home inside 20 overs.
It was a similar story during the side’s trip to Devizes the following week, which saw them dispatch their 2nd XI by 8 wickets. Once again, a solid display with the ball proved to be the foundation for victory, with Rich Hemmings (3-29) and Liam Merrett (2-27) leading the way as Devizes were bowled out for a below-par 144.
Mitchell then repeated his previous week’s heroics with the bat with a knock of 114 not out, ensuring that Melksham made it three wins on the bounce, ending the opening month of the league campaign in third place with a game in hand over the two teams above.
It proved to be a mixed couple of weeks for the 2nd XI, with a scratchy defeat away to Warminster 3rd XI followed up with a comprehensive victory at home to Chippenham 6th XI.
The ill-fated trip to Warminster saw the home side notch up a decent first innings total of 189-8, despite a stingy spell of 3-10 from skipper Tom Watling. The run-chase suffered from a lack of any real momentum, meaning that the 2s finished well short on 144-6 despite a 50 from Ross Holbrook.
Fortunately, the following week’s win proved to be a much happier affair, with Chippenham 6ths in the end being hammered by a comprehensive margin of 129-runs. Tony Trotman led the charge with 94 not out to power Melksham towards a first innings total of 231-6, with John Wiltshire (46) and Ian Doyle (33) also helping themselves to decent totals.
Despite getting off to a promising start thanks to an opening wicket stand of 61 inside 13 overs, Chippenham were in the end ripped apart by Melksham’s first change pairing of Mark Mullis (6-22) and Tom Watling (4-17), meaning that they fell well short of their target with a total of 102 all out.
Sadly the 3rd XI fell to two defeats, losing both their matches by a margin of 6 wickets to Lacock 2s and Allington 2s. The home-match against Lacock saw the 3s post a first innings total of 150-6, with batsman Jonny House scoring a personal best of 40. Unfortunately, the bowlers were unable to make sufficient inroads during the second innings, paving the way for Lacock to march home comfortably with just under 10 overs to spare.
The following week’s contest followed a similar pattern. Once again House (30) and skipper Dave Light (42) led the way as the 3s posted a first innings total of 161-7 against Allington. Once again though the bowlers were only able to make minimal inroads into the opposition batting line-up, going onto lose by the same margin as the previous week, although youngsters Finley Burns and Mustafa Nasiri were able to pick up two wickets each.
