Tamar League

A division

Ordulph 1st XI v

Milton Abbot

WITH only nine men and key bowlers missing, Milton went up against a strong Ordulph line up at Kelly College expecting to be on for a 'hiding to nothing'.

Winning the toss Milton put Ordulph in to bat on a soft track, so far so good. Alas that was the only high point of the game for Milton, things went from bad to worse from that point on.

Melhuish, after a lean couple of matches, regained his form and set about punishing the Milton attack that failed to put enough balls on the right spot. Brief moments of hope for Milton came with the cheap removal of Rotton and Whitfield but these proved only to be 'false dawns'.

Melhuish never looked in danger and the score was racing along thanks to rapid big hits from Witcher (38) and Wellard (47). From this point on it was only a matter of how large the Ordulph score was going to be.

Baxter and Jake Barber toiled away tirelessly with the ball but were not helped by constant erratic fielding and over throws from their team mates, with only nine men this was not a luxury Milton could afford.

Racing past 100 after 15 overs Ordulph were making a mockery of what was to all intents and purposes a good bowling wicket. Even the removal of the classy Melhuish (66 all singles) brought no respite for Milton with Wright (17) and Sutton (27no) continuing to pile on the agony.

With the last over bowled Ordulph had piled on a mammoth 269 for 7, tea could not come quick enough for Milton.

After the break Ordulph took to the field intent on finishing the job off quickly, always with one eye on cloud build up which threatened to spoil the party.

Folley (2 for 3 off 7) back from injury soon had Barber and danger man Jenkins removed whilst the lively Langton (2 for 24) was removing Sherrell and skipper Baxter with some nasty deliveries. With Milton's two potential run makers now in the pavilion it seemed that Milton would just fold. However, this was not the case. Crocker decided to make a stand and frustrated all Ordulph's best attempts to remove him — dour but effective Crocker dug in refusing to budge. However several bowling changes later Ordulph did manage to remove the other Milton batsmen with Rotton taking 2 for 0 off two overs.

Running out of partners Crocker was left stranded 12 not out with Milton all out for 80. Good catching from Whitfield, Witcher and Langton went some way to helping Ordulph close the game down.

Ordulph Taverners beat Milton Abbot by three wickets.

l With other results going Ordulph's way, this victory allowed Ordulph to leapfrog Cornwood and go back to the top of the league — setting up nicely next week's top of table clash with Cornwood at Kelly College.