Uphill Castle CC took on Shaftesbury in the Stephenson Memorial Cup in the Weston and District Midweek League, a repeat of last year’s semi-final in which Shaftesbury triumphed by 10 wickets.

This time around it was a closer affair, but Shaftesbury managed to best Castle again, this time winning by only 16 runs.

Visitors Shaftesbury won the toss and decided to bat first, opener Iraq Thomas wasted no time in high scoring for Shaftesbury after battering 44 runs off just 17 balls but was dismissed by Himesha Halneththige in the fifth over as Castle’s bowling attack got started.

Castle continued to bowl well and removed five more of Shaftesbury’s men in the next five overs, leaving the visitors at 81-6.

James Wakefield added two more wickets afterwards to bring his bowling numbers to four wickets in three overs whilst conceding just eight runs, helping end Shaftesbury’s innings at 144 runs after 20 overs.

Shaftesbury shared their overs around with eight different bowlers, James Jones recording the best record after taking two wickets from four overs whilst conceding 13 runs.

Chare Smith and Paddy Holyday high-scored for Castle with 26 and 25 respectively, but the squad struggled to match Shaftesbury’s run rate and finished their innings on 128, narrowly losing the match by 16 runs.