WELLINGTON crashed to a nine-wicket home loss against relegation-rivals Ilminster in the Bristol/Somerset Division of the West of England Premier Cricket League.

Defeat means Wellington, who are now bottom, will be returning to the Somerset Division after only one season in the higher division.

However, Wellington's young side have never played at such a level before and, on a positive note, the experience will have done them no harm.

The match at the Playing Field against Ilminster was delayed for two and a half hours following overnight rain with Wellington being put into bat in blustery conditions and under a cloudy sky with rain always a threat. The home side, whose batting has been frail all season, were soon in trouble as opener Nathan Roberts fell lbw in the very first over, meaning an early appearance at the crease for skipper Arron Campbell.

However, opener George Ruell (11), Campbell (0), Alex Sparks (4) and Ben Evett (4) were all back in the pavilion with only 33 runs on the scoreboard.

With half the side out, much rested on the shoulders of Sachindu Colombage and Callum Hendy but the wicketkeeper was out without scoring.

Vice-captain Luke Desave, who has come to his side's rescue with the bat in the past, joined the Sri Lankan with Roberts having been the only batter so far to have reached double figures - and with six wickets down.

Desave decided the best form of defence was attack and hit three boundaries before being out for 13 - with the score on 48 with only 12.2 overs bowled.

Colombage and new batter Richard Sharples saw up the 50 after an hour's play with 22 of the runs coming from extras.

Colombage was eighth out, having scored nine in a 32-minute innings, with Wellington in dire trouble at 73-8. Nathan Yarde (4) departed four runs later and Richard Sharples was last out on 93, his innings of nine having taken 49 minutes. Wellington's innings had lasted just 25 overs.

Charlie Vickery finished with the impressive figures of 3-16 off six overs, Michael Reynolds 3-30 off seven and Sam Grinter 2-9 off five.

Ilminster opened with Tom Sainsbury and Adeesha Nanayakkara and they scored 45 before the former was out for only nine. At the other end Nanayakkara had scored 36 off only 21 balls, showing there was nothing wrong with the wicket.

He raced to 75 off only 40 balls as Ilminster gained victory by nine wickets, with Lachlan Rice seven not out at the other end. Ilminster had taken only 52 minutes to chalk up a crucial victory and to secure their status in the division for another season. They had batted for only 13.4 overs.