Lewdown v Whitchurch — Tamar League

THE old saying that 'catches win matches' was once again proved true as Whitchurch lost to Lewdown in the Tamar League by 29 runs. Lewdown batted first and their openers got off to a flying start, scoring 40 in the first six overs. Then the game turned in Whitchurch's favour.

Tom Ingram took three quick wickets and Brendan Worth was bowled by Kit Reeve for 39. These two bowlers continued to bowl tightly for the remainder of their spell and after 24 overs the Lewdown score had only progressed to 82 without any further loss.

Charlie Hughes then batted very well supported by Everard and Geering to take Lewdown to a final score of 193 for 8, but it could have been a different story.

Each of these batsmen was dropped from chances that ranged from simple to quite sharp. Reeve, Aggis and Hodge were the guilty fielders; Ian Court (twice) and Whittingham were the unlucky bowlers. Hughes was eventually out for 84, brilliantly stumped by Richie Freedman, standing up to the medium pace of Andy Alford. Roger Whittingham was the other successful bowler.

When Whitchurch batted, James Aggis was out early, bowled by Hughes, but then Ewen Rae and Whittingham put together a useful stand until Rae was unfortunate to be run out for 45 by a direct hit from the deep. Although wickets began to tumble, Whittingham batted confidently through to the end for 54 not out, with useful support from Neil Folley (13), Freedman (13) and Ingram (15 not out).

However Whitchurch were always behind the required run rate and the innings closed at 164 for 7, 29 runs short of the Lewdown total. Hughes was the pick of the Lewdown bowlers with figures of 1 for 19 from 12 overs. Murray also bowled well, taking 3 for 43. A good competitive game, but Whitchurch were left wondering what might have been if only those catches had been held.

Result: Lewdown 18 pts beat Whitchurch 8 pts by 29 runs.