Wiltshire CCC Men's 1st XI charge to victory over Dorset in NCCA Championship
Wiltshire CCC v Dorset Cricket
NCCA Cluberly Championship Western Division 2
Sunday 10th August – Tuesday 12th August
Venue: Corsham Cricket Club
Day 1
Having won the toss Wiltshire elected to bat first on yet another hot summer’s day. The match had been well publicised locally and a good crowd assembled to see how Wiltshire would cope with a strong Dorset side. Dorset having already been crowned 50 over champions and through to the final stages of the T20 competition. In keeping with the entire match everybody contributed to a challenging Wiltshire total of 369 all out. The major partnership was between skipper Ed Young 64 (75 balls, 11x4, 1x6) and Josh Kelly 72 (124 balls, 8x4) who put on 124 for the 3rd wicket. Charan Chahal 53 (76 balls, 3x4, 2x6) led the middle order and the tail. Chris Aubrey 39, Will Naish 24, Thomas Vermaak 20 and Archie Pascoe 30 all added significant runs. Connor Smith 4 for 83 and Ben Jack 3 for 75 were Dorset’s leading wicket takers.
Dorset were left to face 21 overs at the end of the day and closed on 74 for 1.
Dylan Church was the unfortunate victim caught by Will Naish off the bowling of Chris Aubrey from the first ball he faced. Captain Luke Webb was 26 not out with Joseph Eckland 40 not out.
Day 2
Webb and Eckland progressed the score to 113 before Luke Webb became the second victim and the first for debutant Thomas Vermaak as he rattled the stumps. This brought Will Tripcony in to partner Joe Eckland and they formed a formidable partnership that added a staggering 232 runs for the 3rd wicket. With shots all around the wicked Joe Eckland 166 (224 balls, 25x4, 1x6) was in majestic form and ably supported by Will Tripcony 114 (151 balls, 19x4) Fortunately for Wiltshire the scoring rate was on a par and when they began to open up, wickets began to fall and so the first innings lead for Dorset was just 23 runs. Connor Smith added a cameo 34 not out (20balls, 4x4, 2x6) as Dorset closed on 392 for 9 from their 90 overs. As is so often the case, the man doing the damage for Wiltshire was Joe King with a marathon stint of 28 overs during which he took 5 for 109.
Wiltshire had an awkward 24 overs to face at the end of day 2 and were disappointed to lose four wickets in the process as they closed on 80 for 4, a slender lead of just 57 runs but for the loss of four top order batters -two falling to Mohammad Abbas.
Day 3
The third day began with any result possible, but with an advantage to Dorset thanks to the 4 wickets they had taken late on day 2. But this Wiltshire side showed great determination and increased their lead to 253 with Will Naish 78 (92 balls, 11x4) Charan Chahal 62 not out (77 balls, 6x4, 2x6) leading the way with Ed Young 24, Jake Goodwin 22, Will Naish 29 and Archie Pascoe 20 all helping Wiltshire to score a valuable 276 all out. Mohammad Abbas bowled 29 overs for his return of 4 for 117. Connor Smith added 3 for 50, Ben Jack 2 for 47 and one for Ed Bartlett.
Dorset had a reasonable target, 254, with talented batters in their ranks. Dylan Church seemed determined to rectify his first innings score and was the mainstay of the Dorset challenge scoring 76 (118 balls, 14x4). Sadly for Dorset no-one could stay with him as he watched wickets tumble around him. Luke Webb, 13,(ct Joe King bowled Thomas Vermaak), was the first to fall closely followed by the first innings century makers. Joe Eckland,5, was caught behind the wicket by Jake Goodwin – one of three victims for Jake and one of 5 for skipper Ed Young (18 overs, 7 maidens, 22 runs and 5 wickets). Will Tripcony, 8,soon followed suit as he hooked the ball around the corner into the grateful hands of Charan Chahal from Joe King’s bowling. Charan Chahal, having contributed 115 runs in the game then added 3 wickets for just 15 runs. He took the final wicket of Ben Jack with just 5 overs remaining. Wiltshire had won this Championship Game against strong opposition thanks to a concerted effort by every member of the team. It would have been fascinating for a neutral to watch the smiles slowly disappear from the faces of the Dorset faithful as they simultaneously appeared and grew on the faces of the Wiltshire contingent – all part of the magic of cricket!
No individual Wadworth Man of the Match award was given out as it was agreed that the whole team were worthy recipients and so it was the Wadworth Team of the Day. Just the one game to go to complete the season – another Cluberly Championship game against Shropshire at Bridgnorth CC from Sunday 17th August – Tuesday 19th August, - more of the same please gentlemen.
Roy Honeybone, August 2025
