Paul Tweddle, who graced Kensham Park in the 2012 campaign, has flown to the Caribbean to join the England T20 squad as fielding coach, for the forthcoming matches between West Indies and England..
Paul ended the 2012 Premier Division campaign as our 1st XI leading run scorer. In 17 games and 16 innings, Paul accrued a total of 426 runs at an average of 28.40. His highest score in the league campaign came on the June 2nd game at Budleigh Salterton where he hit 84.
That season the ‘best of the rest’ in terms of runs scored was the 349 runs from Ross Acton who averaged 24.93 while third was Gary Chappell with 263 runs and an average of 21.92.
Paul’s Bradninch debut came at home to North Curry in a match played on April 7, 2012. Bradninch scored an impressive 313 in 36.3 overs. Interestingly, the bulk of the Ninch runs that days came from Paul and Gary Chapple with both retiring with their wickets intact – Chaps having scored 100 and Paul with an unbeaten 79 to his name. As for the rest of the Ninch batting effort in this pre-season game: Matt Jarrett hit 21 and Tim Piper, 15, but no one else made it into double figures – Ross Acton (9), Paul Nott (7), Will Squire (6), Ben Franks (3), James Hope (1), Phil Chappell (1) and Dan Hardy (0). When North Curry came to bat they were bowled out for just 83 in 40 overs and three balls. Ben Franks led the way with figures of 3-2 and there were braces for Will Squire (2-32) and Gary Chappell (2-2) and single wickets for Matt Jarrett (1-5), Phil Chapple (1-10) and Paul Nott (1-23).
Speaking to the Somerset County Cricket Club’s official website about his England mission, Paul said: “I’m very excited and it’s a great group to be involved with and to learn from. Hopefully, I’ll be able to add some value as well.
“Opportunities like this are all about learning from the environment. It’s about seeing how the players and staff go about things at international level and building on those standards.”
We wish Paul every success in his time with the England T20 side.