Buckley Cup

Belstone v Spreyton

WITH the Buckley Cup building to a tense climax Belstone missed a great opportunity to close the gap on the leaders when they played Spreyton last week.

For most of the Spreyton innings they bowled and fielded superbly to restrict the score to 50-7 in the 16th over, but a late burst of scoring took the total to a still modest 98, which then proved too much for a fragile batting display which could only muster 86 runs.

Rob Hall (4-0-15-3) and Henry Holmes (4-1-9-2) were the stand-out bowlers as Belstone took those first seven wickets, but then powerful hitting including two sixes apiece from Steve Wright (28 retired) and Sam Strong (25 not out) transformed the score with 38 runs coming from the last three overs.

Belstone started their reply well enough with Phil Woods (16) hitting the second ball over midwicket for six as 29 were added for the first wicket in six overs. The innings then faltered with a needless run out and a few careless shots across the line to accurate bowling from John Wright (4-0-23-2), James Bentley (4-0-16-2) and Charlie Hancock (3-0-8-2) to leave Spreyton well on top at 65 for eight with four overs to go.

Graham Woods (17no) and Hall (12) kept Belstone hopes alive adding 21 for the ninth wicket but 17 off the last over proved too much.

Buckley Cup

Belstone v

Hatherleigh Colts

Two evenings later Belstone bounced back with a thumping nine wicket win over a young Hatherleigh Colts side which put them back in the running for the Buckley Cup.

The match was as good as decided after just nine balls of the Hatherleigh innings by which time they had lost five wickets two clean bowled apiece to Luke Wonnacott (2-2-0-2) and Harry Bushin (2-0-6-2) plus a Richard Drake effected run-out from mid-off and scored only two runs.

Charlie Nielson and his brother James then added 29 before Charlie shouldered arms to Trevor Oats and was bowled for 21.

They were the only batsmen to reach double figures as the last few wickets also fell cheaply to leave an all-out score of just 52.

Belstone made no mistake in knocking off the runs in ten overs thanks to an undefeated 25 from Wayne Pearce and 16 not out from debutant Leighton Dayman which gave them a maximum 15 points.

North Devon four

Belstone v

North Molton

North Molton gained their first victory over Belstone in four attempts in last Sundays high-scoring match. They began confidently with Adam Crispin scoring a rapid 40 out of an opening partnership of 56 with Dominic Ford and then Ford added the same again with James Geen until the latter miscued a return catch to Richard Drake for 31.

The onslaught really began when skipper Guy Loosemore joined Ford with the score on 133 for three in the 24th over. By the time he was out for 64, 19 overs later, they had amassed 202 runs for the fourth wicket with a formidable display of stroke-play, continually finding gaps in the far-flung field and, with 11 sixes between them, frequently clearing the field altogether. Ford was out soon afterwards for a mammoth 184 which included 23 boundaries and six sixes. Of the Belstone bowlers only Rob Hall emerged with respectable figures, picking up three late wickets to finish with three for 29 from nine overs.

Chasing an unlikely 349 for victory five of the top six Belstone batsmen got a decent start but failed to go on for a big score as Jack Reed (7-1-19-3) and James Tapp (6-4-9-1) bowled well to reduce them to 128 for seven.

Phil Dennis then began to play with the same freedom and power as Ford and Loosemore putting on 61 for the eighth wicket with a dead-batting Gerald Dennis (8).

Eventually the 45 overs ran out with Belstone the small matter of 128 runs short (even though they had scored their second highest total of the season) but by then Dennis had secured them four consolation points with his highest score for the club, 76 not out, which contained three sixes and 11 fours.