THE opening of Whitchurch Wayfarers' new pavilion was carried out by Olympic bronze medallist Kate Allenby, of Tavistock.

The special day was celebrated with a match between a club eleven and a team invited by club captain Dean Elliott.

Played in glorious sunshine, a wonderful day was capped by an exciting game. Tight bowling from Mansfield and Alford restricted the visitors scoring options. It was not until the entry of Ian Pocock (unbeaten on 40) that runs came more freely.

Captain Elliott played a typical swashbuckling 25 to take the score to 149.

The home side also found scoring difficult, losing the first three wickets cheaply. Legodi, with 4 for 28, made a significant contribution. Mark Warwick and Darren Chappell rebuilt the innings patiently.

With Pete Freedman (unbeaten on 52) unflustered by the occasion a win looked possible. Ian Pocock made the difference removing the lower order allowing the select XI to win by the margin of 28 runs.

AS part of the celebrations for the opening of the pavilion, the two Whitchurch Under 15 teams played their Palladium League match on bank holiday Monday.

In a fine advertisement for the club's colts section, more than 250 runs were scored in a match that contained some excellent cricket.

On losing the toss the A team were put into bat to face testing opening spells from the Jackson siblings, Tom and Jessica. However, openers Joel Smith and Richard Freedman built the innings steadily to reach 55 after ten overs.

At this stage, the pre-planned acceleration to the scoring rate brought a further 103 runs in the remaining 10 overs. The final score of 158 was reached without the loss of a wicket, with Smith 74 not out and Freedman 53 not out.

Despite the early loss of promising batsman Ian Gray, the B team's innings got off to an excellent start with 81 runs coming at the required rate of eight an over.

However, the dismissal of Graham Waitlin by James Kaminski for an impressive 44, followed by a second wicket in the same over, placed the chasing side under pressure.

Further tight bowling limited the innings to 118 for 4 off the allotted 20 overs, despite a battling 33 not out from Tom Gruitt.

Although victory was claimed by the A team, the B team, made up of players young for the age group, has acquitted itself well throughout the season, gaining a respectable league position.

The experience of playing against older players should help the team next year, when it has every chance of competing for league honours.