Tamar League A division

CALSTOCK v ORDULPH

WITH the sun making an all too rare an appearance Ordulph descended into the Tamar Valley to take on Calstock in the knowledge that a good win would all but seal their retention of the Tamar League title.

Ordulph were put in to bat by Calstock on a spongy wicket. Openers Melhuish (29) and Wellard (23) got the visitors off to a steady start and punishing the bad ball.

With the fall of Melhuish to a persistent Lambert and shortly after Wellard to Chalk, Ordulph hopes of a decent total rested with Evans and Sharland. They did not disappoint; Evans weighed in with a timely 34 with Sharland supporting well. With the loss of Evans to a corker of a ball, again from Lambert (3 for 41), the long Ordulph tail was exposed. However the tail wagged with some superb knocks from Wood (23) Poppe (13) and in particular, with his best ever league score, De Caux chipping in a valuable 27. Ordulph finished with a respectable 191 for Calstock to chase.

In reply Calstock's cause was not helped with the early loss of Pomeroy to in form Langton who was bowling with his customary venom. Smith from the other end was making things difficult for Calstock with another fine display of tight bowling.

McLean and Lambert decided to weather the storm and see off the opening attack in the hope of richer pickings later. This they did successfully restricting Langton to the one wicket with Smith (1 for 18) only picking up the wicket of McLean near the end of his spell.

The run rate required was looking daunting for Calstock with only 50 on the board at the halfway stage. Any chance of Calstock chasing down the score all but evaporated when Lambert (33) threw caution to the wind and danced down the wicket to Folley allowing keeper Wood to stump him.

From this point on, with the game in the 'bag', it was just a matter of whether Ordulph could bowl Calstock out to take the maximum points from the game. Ordulph skipper Melhuish got a couple of wickets from Lethbridge and Poppe, but the main damage was being done from the pavilion end where Folley was having an inspired bowling spell.

Only Calstock's Ryder and Trim (celebrating his 61st birthday) were proving to be obstinate but they too eventually fell to the accuracy of Folley.

With two overs left Calstock's innings was brought to an end with 103 on the board. Folley finished up with his season's best figures of 5 for 24 off nine overs. With 20 points secured Ordulph only require six points from their remaining two fixtures to secure the title.

l Next week Ordulph entertain what is certain to be a competitive Lewdown at Kelly College.