A SLOW damp outfield, a dull evening and a pitch that kept low meant that bowlers were once again on top at Rew Meadow for the Buckley Cup clash between Belstone and Tedburn St Mary.

Only seven boundaries were scored out of the evening?s 170 runs and 14 wickets lost as Belstone emerged the winners of a close finish by four wickets with five balls to spare.

Batting first, Tedburn?s middle order of Rowe (15), Wilson (17) and Fathers (16) contributed useful runs to their total of 84 while Aidan Easterbrook was the most successful bowler, clean bowling the last of his four victims with the final delivery of the 20 overs, thus giving Belstone four bowling points.

At 34 for 2, Belstone were behind the asking rate at the halfway (10 over) stage, but Richard Drake then began a responsible skipper?s innings.

Even so, at 68 for six, with 17 runs needed and just 14 balls remaining, the game was still wide open. Eleven were taken from the penultimate over and the last over began with a wide from which two were run, leaving Drake (19 not out) to hit a boundary off the next ball to end proceedings.

Last Sunday Belstone fought a competitive battle with Dawlish and Teignmouth in their penultimate South Devon League division 2 match.

They eventually claimed the maximum 12 points when D&T?s last wicket fell with four balls remaining and the home side just 15 runs short of Belstone?s total of 171 for seven.

Put in to bat, Belstone made a cautious start with a solid opening partnership of 38 in 14 overs between Dennis Edwards (7) and Eddie Jones. Jones went on to reach his fourth half century in this season?s seven league matches, before being unluckily adjudged run out for 52 when the score was 83 in the 27th over.

Pick of the tidy bowlers at this stage was Hewitt, who claimed four wickets in his nine over spell for just 23 runs.

Acceleration was urgently needed and it came with a stand of 63 for the sixth wicket in nine overs between Chris Walpole (six fours in his 51) and skipper Richard Drake, which took the score to 150 and the second batting point.

Drake continued to rattle the fielding side by turning ones into unlikely twos before finishing the 40 overs on 38 not out.

A run rate of 4.3 an over for D&T was always a possibility so Belstone needed to take wickets. The first breakthrough came when Alcock was out for 13, spectacularly caught off a skier one-handed by Drake as he backed away in the covers. This heralded a fine fielding display by Belstone with seven catches taken.

However, having reduced D&T to 46 for five,the lower middle-order of Houghton (27) and Sefton (24) fought back strongly and it took a big lbw shout and another catch in the deep, both by Chris Gomersall, to winkle them out. Even when the ninth wicket went down with 41 still needed Hawkes (37) and Lambert (15 not out) continued to play positively. They forced seven men back onto the boundary while adding 25 for the last wicket until a slight miss-hit by Hawkes in the final over was gratefully accepted by Drake to end a fine game of cricket.

Buckley Cup Table

P Pts

Belstone 7 84

Spreyton 6 61

Yeoford 6 51

Tedburn St Mary 8 51

Sticklepath 5 36