Milton Abbot v Cornwood fourths

MILTON Abbot skipper Rich Baxter won the toss and elected to field.

This proved to be a good decision as Cornwood soon had their top three back in the pavilion with only ten scored following good opening spells from bowlers Riggs and Holding.

This brought two of Cornwoods younger players to the crease, Matt Scheemer and Luke Richardson, who calmed the situation for their team to pass the 50 mark. However, when Scheemer was bowled by Baxter Cornwood's middle order collapsed and lost another four before the score reached 80.

However Cornwood rallied when their experienced later order batsmen Stuart Mansfield and Mick Organ added another 50 runs — aided by a number of wides bowled by the Milton Abbot attack. Extras conceeded by the home team reaching 49 by the end of the innings; played a big part in their eventual defeat.

It was not all bad for Milton with Steve Gerry mopping up the tail with brilliant swing bowling dismissing Mansfield and then Fitzpatrick, lbw, as Cornwood were all out for 134.

Milton Abbot's innings started only slightly better than Cornwoods with openers Jake Barber and Paul Crocker back in the pavilion with less than 20 scored.

The middle order faired little better — Ben Whatley went for four while Steve Gerry was brilliantly stumped by Cornwood wicketkeeper Fitzpatrick, who also caught Mark Jenkin for 11.

With Milton running out of batsmen Riggs came to the crease. He stated his intent by striking Dave Matthews, the league's top bowler for six.

Unfortunately for Milton it did not last and Riggs was bowled next over by Mick Organ for seven. Baxter replaced him with 70 still required but with just four wickets left.

With good support from Holding and Bentley the score was taken onto 117, 17 runs short of the Cornwood total.

However, Cornwood's mix of experience and youth proved too much for Milton, who although in control of the game for long periods could not force home their advantage.

Cornwoods tight bowling attack restricting them to their lowest score of the season.

Milton Abbot's eight points from the game was enough to keep them off the bottom of the table.