WELLINGTON travelled to Wiltshire on Sunday, 28th June, to contest the second phase group two of the West of England Premier League's Four Regions T20 Cup for Tier Three sides as Trowbridge, from the Wiltshire Division, hosted and entertained the Red and Blacks and Bristol/North Somerset Division side Bishopston in a tri-series format.

And it was Jacob Hurry's charges that took the day's crown by winning both of their games with a couple of dominant showings, writes David Derrick.

Bishopston 144-8 Trowbridge 134-5: The day's play began with the host club taking on their Bristol visitors from 10am given that Wellington had, by far, the furthest to travel and Trowbridge asked Bishopston to bat on winning the toss who proceeded to make a solid yet not overbearing 144-8 in their twenty over allocation.

Lower order Bishopston batter Hamza with a breezy 42 not out in 21 balls gave his side's score a boost to go from 78-5 to his side's eventual total in the mid 140s; Otwani with 28 and skipper O'Brien with 19 made good contributions to the Bristol side's effort with the bat as, for Trowbridge, Campo with 3-26 in four overs returned their best analysis.

Trowbridge would need to score at just over seven runs per over to secure a win in the day's first game and their reply was based around Pretorius and his 53 at a run a ball from his position as opener and middle order batter T. Oakley with his 36 not out.

The host side scored at a good rate, but were squeezed out of the game in the last few overs as Thirkell, who let just eleven runs go in his four overs, saw Bishopston over the line by ten runs.

Bishopston 146-6 Wellington 148-3: Wellington took on Bishopston in the day's second game from 1pm and the Bristol side opted to bat on winning the toss and made pretty much what they had totalled in the morning's game. Toby Stirzaker was in the wickets early as he and skipper Jacob Hurry combined to remove Otwani in the first over caught behind.

He also removed Jungbauer for 14 as Lakshan Edirisinghe made a catch in his next over. Bishopston's total was anchored around a 95 run stand for the third wicket between Rawat (52) and Booth (49) who both played well, but they never broke away from Wellington as taking the pace off the ball once more was profitable for the Red and Blacks.

Arron Campbell let 22 runs go in his four over opening spell of off spin and later Stian Smith with his leg spin only conceded 26 in the same. Sam Whitefield snapped up three wickets in the two overs that he delivered (3-14) as a Jacob Hurry stumping and a second catch for Lakshan Edirisinghe brought him success and with a Luke Desave catch off of Toby Stirzaker, who had come back for his second spell, giving him 3-31 in four overs, Wellington would need around 7.50 runs per over to win.

Arron Campbell and Luke Desave got the Red and Blacks reply underway with an opening stand of 37 in 33 balls which was curtailed when Desave was caught behind for 19 (15 balls, three fours) - Wellington had received a most decent start from the former 1st XI captain and vice captain.

Stian Smith joined Campbell and they added a dominant second wicket stand of 60 to take the score to 97 when their combination was broken through the run out of Campbell for a capital 43 (37 balls, five fours) which represented a top quality effort from the all rounder.

Lakshan Edirisinghe was next at the crease for Wellington and he and Smith added a further 36 runs for the third wicket to bring the team into view of victory to get to 132 -3 when Smith was caught for a masterful 54 (39 balls, six fours and a six). Sam Whitefield joined Edirisinghe and between them they saw the good ship Wellington home to a magnificent seven wicket win over a Bishopston side who are both the top of the shop and the form side in their WEPL division with a full two overs to spare as Edirisinghe crafted 22 not out (13 balls, four fours) and Sam Whitefield with 7 not out with one four sealed the deal.

]For Bishopston Rawat and Thirkell took a wicket each, but there was no other success other than the run out.

Wellington 114 Trowbridge 59: Wellington chose to bat on Jacob Hurry winning the toss and it was Arron Campbell and Luke Desave who opened up once more and they got twelve on the board before Desave was caught off the bowling of John.

Stian Smith arrived at the crease looking to continue his good T20 day in the sun and with Campbell he added 31 second wicket runs to get the Red and Blacks to 43 before Campbell was bowled by D.Tallentire for a well made 21 in 23 balls with four fours.

Lakshan Edirisinghe was next in and, unfortunately for Wellington, was out in the same D.Tallentire over as he entered the Trowbridge attack with a double wicket offering first up. Smith made 18 in 13 balls this time round with a four and a six before he was bowled by Campo and departed at 51-4.

Sam Whitefield and Jacob Hurry added 31 fifth wicket runs in good style with the skipper making 15 in eighteen balls with two sixes before he was adjudged LBW to D.Tallentire to become his third victim as he finished with 3-23 in four overs.

Ben Evett gave good support to Whitefield to take the Wellington score into the 90s before he was stumped with six overs to go with Toby Stirzaker doing the same as three figures were raised. Whitefield with 34 (24 balls, two fours and two sixes) top scored and was out at 114-8, but Wellington did not add further to their total as the innings closed with fourteen balls going unused as Julian with a fine T20 analysis of 4-10 in 2,4 overs did the trick for Trowbridge.

The home side would need nearly six runs an over to win the day's last game of three. Toby Stirzaker took the new ball once more for Wellington along with Arron Campbell as pace and spin combined again and made an instant impact as Campbell bowled K.Oakley for a single and Stirzaker removed Julian via a Stian Smith catch and Trowbridge were in a spot of trouble at 6-2.

This soon became 11-3 in four overs when Oscar Milton pouched a catch to remove Campo for four to give Campbell his second victim of the innings. 14-4 then showed on screen as Stirzaker had Trowbridge skipper Keevil bowled first ball with keeper Pretorius having to depart caught by Stian Smith for no further addition and Stirzaker had his third wicket of the match and the board showing the home side at 14-5.

Trowbridge limped to 25 before T.Oakley was Stirzaker's fourth wicket in a blinding spell that saw him take 4-21 in four devastating overs. Campbell completed the opening eight overs of the Wellington effort and took a most economical 2-9 in four overs.

A seventh wicket fell at 36 when Hanny was bowled by Stian Smith in his first over with more spin from Lakshan Edirisinghe realising the eighth scalp of the Trowbridge innings as bowled Tolworthy for four and the hosts were down and almost out at 42-8.

John with 22 not out (30 balls with one four) was Trowbridge's one shining light with the bat as all crumbled around him as the Wellington win by 55 runs was completed by Stian Smith with 3-14 and the day's hosts were all out for 59 in just 13 overs.

Wellington have stormed into the final of this new competition and are set to face another WEPL Wiltshire side in Swindon CC sometime in July.