WELLINGTON'S hopes of ending their dismal spell in the Bristol/Somerset Division of the West of England Premier Cricket League were dashed when they slumped to an eight-wicket defeat against Congresbury at the Playing Field on Saturday, June 15.

On a day when it was important to win the toss, Wellington were forced to bat fist - and simply did not make enough runs.

Despite overnight rain and showers in the morning, the covers came off for the game to start on time. Unfortunately, Wellington suffered an early setback, losing opener Nathan Roberts (6) with only eight scored.

Jacob Hurry joined opener George Ruell in the blustery conditions and the pair put on 27 before Hurry departed for 15. There was more pain for Wellington with skipper Arron Campbell out lbw without scoring and Ruell out for ten having been at the crease for nearly an hour.

Not for the first time this season, Wellington needed a big innings from one of their players but Sri Lankan Sachindu Colombage (6) and Luke Desave (0) perished with six down for 74.

Sam Whitefield was still defiant, however, and he and Callum Hendy put on 20 before the wicketkeeper was out for ten with the score on 94-7.

All six of Congresbury's bowlers had taken wickets at this stage proving this was not a batters' pitch in the conditions.

Richard Sharples lost his wicket at exactly 100 - with the home side down to their last two batters - and 37 overs used up. Whitefield was eventually out for a top score of 37 - an innings which lasted 102 minutes - with the score on 111 and Nathan Yarde (5) was out one run later.

Adeel Khan finished with match-winning figures of 5-17 in 7.2 overs, while there was a wicket apiece for Rishabh Singh, Tabish Khan, Justin Yau, Tim Sugumar and Sam Evans.

Facing a very modest target of 113 to win, Congresbury encountered few problems although they lost opener Peter Woodland (16) with the score on 23 and Matthew Thompson (8) with the visitors on 56.

Opener Jack Kearns made batting looked fairly easy. He brought up his 50 in less than a run a ball with seven 4s and one six.

He was still there at the close 60 not out while Sigumar was unbeaten on 13. Toby Stirzaker and Colombage were Wellington's only wicket takers.

It was Wellington's fourth successive defeat and they took only one point from the game although remaining above the relegation zone.

Meanwhile, Downend stay top of the table after beating Clevedon by 89 runs with Omar Randhawa, who scored a century against Wellington the previous weekend, top scoring with 75.