Tamar League A division

Ordulph Taverners v Lewdown seconds

MUCH debate took place at the start of this game, as conditions were 'borderline' whether to play or not.

With puddles on the pitch and rain in the air, the captains agreed to play a reduced over game in an attempt to play some cricket.

The toss was all important and a delighted Lewdown captain asked Ordulph to bat first on the wet wicket.

Ordulph were invited to take to the trenches in what, they thought, at times resembled the mud of the 'Somme'.

Not to be deterred though Melhuish set about the difficult job in the mud with a positive defiant attitude.

Good opening spells from Vernon and Worth restricted the batsmen, but were let down by some poor catching.

The opening bowlers continued to pressurize the Ordulph opening batsmen in to some ill judged runs resulting in the run out of Linford Finnegan and Dhanjal.

Not to be deterred though Melhuish continued to be a thorn in Lewdown's side with a variety of tasty shots keeping things going along nicely for Ordulph. With in form Whitfield now joining Melhuish at the crease the runs continued to flow at a good rate as the pair put on 71 before both eventually perished in the 'final run in thrash'.

With Melhuish finishing on 60 and Whitfield on 47, a respectable target of 152 had been set for Lewdown to chase in the reduced over match of 30.

Bowlers generally struggled with their footing and gripping the wet ball. However, the pick of the Lewdown bowling was David Gribble, who towards the end of the innings grabbed a haul of 4 for 24 .

After tea with the weather now allowing the wicket to dry out, Ordulph knew they had to bowl a good line to keep pressure on Lewdown.

Dhanjal and Folley bowled economically and accounted for openers Brown and M Squire, both caught by Sherrell, who had an exceptional afternoon in the field.

This brought to the crease Weeks and 15 year old Hodgetts who did exactly the same for Lewdown as Melhuish and Whitfield had done for Ordulph by digging in and putting together a vital partnership.

Hodgetts turned the game. He made batting look easily, scoring all around the wicket and went on to produce some mighty sixes in his unbeaten 51.

Ordulph tried to hold Lewdown but gradually they inched towards the finishing line.

A pair of good scoring overs was all it took to make the difference with a couple of six balls from each batsman, allowing Lewdown to get to the target with just two overs to spare.

Carl Weeks helped his side accelerate at the end of the innings to finish on 57 and help ensure that Lewdown were victorious.

Lewdown, 18 points, beat Ordulph six points by eight wickets. Their next game is at home versus top of the league Cornwood.

This was a good hard fought contest in very difficult conditions and no disgrace for Ordulph who had to endure the worst of the batting conditions.

If Lewdown continue their recent good solid form they can be expecting to continue their climb up the table and challenging the top flight.