Chard CC 1st team took on Taunton this weekend and suffered a heavy defeat by four wickets as they were skittled for just 82 runs by Taunton’s bowling attack.

Taunton won the toss on their home field and put Chard into bat first, with the home team knowing a big score would be needed to be competitive against a team placed third in the league.

However, things quickly fell apart for Chard as only three batters could manage double digits and the whole line-up was bowled out for a slim 82 runs.

Jonathan Legg and Dan Parsons opened up the batting for Chard but could only survive until the start of the fourth over until the first man fell.

Legg was caught off a Paul Brathwaite ball for one before his replacement Harvey Evans was dismissed for five in the same fashion off a Tom Abell delivery just three overs later, putting Chard at 13-2.

Abell struck again in the 11th as he trapped opener Parsons for four with an LBW and then took his third of the day when he caught and bowled Chard’s Nathan Johnson for 12.

The wickets left Chard on 33-4 after 13 overs and it didn’t get any better for the batting side.

Fifth batsman Malcolm Cloete followed Johnson back to the changing rooms after adding two before his dismissal off an Oscar Coleman delivery in the 15th and Danny Cleal also contributed two before he faced the same fate three overs later.

Dominic Williams added six runs to Chard’s total before being caught in the 22nd to put his team at 45-7.

Chard’s bottom order then managed to contribute the most runs to their team’s effort, as eighth and ninth batsmen Chris Scott and Nathan Warren scored 16 and 10 runs respectively before they were bowled.

Richard Scott, 0, and Oliver Legg, nine, came in at the end to add a few more before they were dismissed by the end of the 33rd, ending Chard’s innings on a dismal 82-10 after just 32.4 overs.

Taunton came into bat and despite decent bowling from Cloete, 3-26 from nine overs, and Williams, 2-16 from 3.3, managed to knock off the Chard total comfortably after just 19.3 overs, handing Chard the four-wicket loss.

Chard will now go on to play Frome on July 13th as they try to bounce back from a heavy defeat.