Ilminster CC were led by a 96 run outing from Jon Hurford on their way to a 76 run victory at home to Taunton Deane CC this weekend.

Hurford’s vitally needed 96 came off 86 balls, with his seven sixes and seven fours being key in pushing his team past the 200 run mark whilst four wickets from Lachlan Rice helped keep Taunton’s batsmen at bay.

Ilminster opened batting and Riley Millet managed four before falling in the third over with replacement Jonny Wary following soon later to make them 19-2.

Adeesha Nanayakkara then hit his 25 runs in the next five overs, including a string of three fours in a row until his dismissal by Ben Chaffey, who did the same to L Rice sonn after.

This brought in Hurford with Ilminster at 69-4 and looking slightly unsteady.

Hurford, however, was not to be rushed and started his innings calmly and methodically, knowing he had more than 25 overs to play himself in.

He was partnered by Charlie Vickery,13 runs, Josh Lee, 16, and Sam Grinter, 0, before he started hitting big with his team at 117-7.

The start of his major attack was marked by two sixes off of Ali Hamid’s bowling in the 37th over and then two more maximum hits two overs later from Robert Woodman’s deliveries.

Cal Rice, 11 off 48 balls, proved an able partner as the two grinded out 87 runs between them, picking the right moments to defend and the right moments to attack against a proficient Taunton bowling line up.

Hurford’s dismissal came in the in the 48th over courtesy of a Hamid delivery and took his team to 204-8.

Ilminster managed to add three more runs before losing their final wicket on the last ball of the game and finished their innings on 207-10.

Taunton’s batsmen started off quickly and opener Harry Smith managed 18 off 15 balls before he was bowled by Michael Reynolds, 1-31 from six overs, at the start of the fourth.

Wickets then followed consistently for Ilminster with Vickery taking a wicket and then L Rice taking his 4-27 runs in the next 11 overs to put Taunton at 60-6.

Woodman then attempted to make a stand for Taunton with his 51 runs but Cal Rice, Hugh Moore, and a Nanayakkara run out helped finish the visiting side off after 36.2 balls and 131 runs, giving Ilminster the deserved 76 runs victory.