Ashburton v Belstone

BELSTONE visited Ashburton on Sunday for their second Partnership Publishing League game of the season. In a low scoring match the visitors were victorious by 31 runs.

Belstone won the toss and elected to bat first on a damp wicket. Ashburton's Gordon Colwill (9-2-13-1) used the conditions to his advantage in a fine spell of bowling. The first four batsmen for Belstone fought hard in the trying conditions but none went on to post a big score.

At 52/4 in the 20th over the visitors looked like they would struggle to register a competitive total. Richard Drake (29) and Greg Cornish (31) then combined in an aggressive partnership of 60 in just 9 overs to take the score well past 100.

Ashburton fought back with Dean Topping (8.1-2-17-6) dismissing Cornish and Drake with the last two balls of his fourth over. With the first ball of his next over he bowled Chris Gomersall to complete a hat-trick leaving Belstone on 124/7 in the 31st over. Sensible batting by Dave Langsford (18) and the lower order ensured Belstone secured maximum batting points, eventually being bowled out for 157.

Ashburton started off slowly in their reply to Belstone's total due to some fine bowling by Cornish (8-1-22-1) and Rob Hall (6-1-17-2). Hall dismissed both openers to leave the home team on 19/2 after 8 overs.

After Cornish had removed Broughton, Pete Gross (8-3-17-4) produced a superb delivery to remove the dangerous Colwill, well caught at slip by Dennis Edwards for 27.

Ashburton's bowling hero Topping was also dismissed by Gross with Rob Hall holding onto an astonishing one-handed catch to his left at cover. With the home team now on 53/5 after 18 overs Matt Pascoe (29) and captain Bryan Wright (35) batted well to add 60 runs for the sixth wicket.

With 8 overs remaining Ashburton were left needing 45 runs to win. Gross returned to dismiss Wright and in the next over Gomersall (9-0-30-2) had Pascoe well caught in the deep by Colin Wyatt. Gomersall then took an outstanding catch off his own bowling to dismiss Farr with Ashburton eventually finishing on 126-9, a deserved victory for Belstone.

Belstone have a busy week ahead as they travel to Shaldon on Saturday for a friendly. This is followed by their first home league game against Chudleigh at Rew Meadow on Sunday and a Buckley Cup match against Sticklepath, also at home, on Wednesday evening.

Belstone v Hatherleigh

Hatherleigh visited Rew Meadow for a Lancaster Cup game last Thursday with Belstone winning a tense, exciting game by 8 runs. Belstone won the toss and elected to bat first. Some fine bowling by Robert Fishleigh (4-0-11-1) and Rob Holland (4-0-18-3) reduced the home team to 30/4 after 8 overs. Eddie Jones (18) and Phil Woods (25) played confidently in the middle order to bring Belstone back into the match.

After Woods was dismissed, the lower order contributed some valuable runs for Belstone. Mark Lake (4-0-8-2) and Mark Brock (3.5-0-24-3) both bowled well at the end for Hatherleigh to restrict the home team to 91 after their allotted 20 overs.

The visitors got off to a slow start in reply to Belstone's total with their opening batsmen finding run scoring difficult. This was due, in no small part, to some superb bowling by Pete Gross (4-3-5-1) and Rob Sandercock (4-0-14-1). Gross, in particular, was impressive and was unlucky to finish his spell with only one wicket.

After 8 overs Hatherleigh were struggling on 23/2 requiring almost six runs an over to win the game. Eddie Jones (4-0-11-0) kept the pressure on by bowling quickly and accurately from one end as the visitors attempted to increase their scoring rate.

Chris Walsh (2-0-11-1) chipped in with the vital wicket of Lake (15) and with four overs to go Hatherleigh still required 30 runs for victory. This was reduced to 19 off 2 and 14 off 1 but Eddie Jones and Colin Wyatt (2-0-9-3) held their nerve as Hatherleigh finished 8 runs short on 83/7.

The win takes Belstone into the second round where they will meet Bridestowe.