BELSTONE and Sticklepath met for their first ever afternoon game at Rew Meadow last Sunday, playing for a new trophy presented by Okehampton jewellersWJ Pearsall. In a match dominated by bowlers the only partnership of note came at the start of the Belstone innings and that would not have happened if Liam Bradbury had managed to hang on to a sharp return catch from Phil Woods off the first ball of the game. Woods took advantage of his let-off to dominate a half hour opening partnership of 44 with Pete Gross, hitting five boundaries and bringing up his 600 runs for the season before being well caught on the midwicket boundary for 31 by Ben Davey off Bradbury (9-0-29-2). A familiar Belstone pattern followed as wickets fell steadily with none of the middle order getting into double figures. Richard Boarder was most effective in this passage of play, taking four for ten but Davey also kept things quiet at the other end, only conceding 15 runs from his nine overs. Sharp Sticklepath fielding also contributed, including two direct-hit run outs, so that Belstone slumped from 102 for four when Gross was out for a valuable 38, to 110 for nine with 16 of the 45 overs still left. Chris Walsh (four not out) then joined Rob Hall (13) to drop a dead bat on the next 13 overs while they scraped together another 23 runs for the last wicket in what turned out to be an important partnership. As a result Belstone used up almost all their overs in reaching 133 all out at tea. With only a lowly run-rate of three an over required Sticklepath could afford to take their time, playing out the opening 13 overs from Jonathan Parsons and Hall for 26 runs and the loss of Boarder, smartly taken in the gully by Chris Walpole for nine. Andrew Paterson clung on to a hard hit pull to dismiss Phil Tyler for 15 at the start of an effective spell from Neil Rowlands (9-2-25-4) which also included the wicket of Sticklepath skipper Julian Baker for 19, just as he began to attack the bowling. In a day of good catches Woods pulled off the best, airborne at midwicket to send back Loram (4) off Walsh (5-0-25-3). Sticklepath kept in contention as the lower order of Mark Tripp (11), Anthony Geering (8 not out) and Davey (11) pulled the total into three figures but the late introduction of pace from captain Paterson (2-0-8-2) ensured that Belstone emerged the winners by 29 runs. l This Sunday there is a car Boot sale at Belstone?s ground, with sellers admitted from 9am and buyers from 10am.
