Francis Clark Devon League D division West Lewdown v Bridestowe AGAINST local rivals Bridestowe, Lewdown came out on top in the D Division West derby. Losing the toss and being forced to bat first, remnants of the previous week?s poor displays were a distant memory from the start, with D Ball and E Squires starting confidently. Losing Ball to a quick ball that pitched and rolled from Drayner with the score having already reached 50, a large total was always on the cards. Squires, although troubled by decent bowling from Jones, played beautifully, particularly through the point and gully area, where his main strengths are. He reached his half-century being accompanied by J Skuse, seeing Lewdown past their demon score of 123 all out, scored twice previously this season. Once Squire lost his wicket, Skuse went on to reach his 50 and fell soon after. C Weeks carried on the good work, scoring heavily on the leg side. With most of the middle order adding to the total and finishing with Gibbs glancing down the leg side off the last ball to reach 252 in their 46 overs. Bridestowe came out fighting, with some aggressive shots played from Jones and Hatton, although poor fielding saw both dropped early on. With the score on 172 for 2 Bridestowe looked in a strong position to win the match with G Sizmur still unbeaten on an impressive 50. Clements on the back of a 4-wicket haul the week before for the Tamar side did the same again, finishing with 4 wickets and bowling with accurate flight and turn. Bridestowe finally decided to close up and block out the final 10 overs to gain credibility, and more importantly extra points for the draw. Lewdown 1st XI hosts Woodland Fort at Home this weekend. The Lewdown Tamar side, again missing R Squire, were relying on a depleted bowling attack to gain points from Buckland. Lewdown batted first and put on a total of 177 on a promising batting track. O Brown added an assertive 28, but it was M Martyn who was the pick of the batsmen with an unbeaten 85, carrying his bat for the duration of the 40 overs. On Lewdown?s hard batting track, it was not enough, and even with wickets from B Williams and A Vernon, with S Batstone and J Webber also adding, Buckland reached the total with 3 overs to spare. l Lewdown?s 2nd XI face Bridestowe 2nd?s away this weekend.
