Belstone v Tedburn St Mary

BELSTONE travelled to leaders Tedburn St Mary for their latest Buckley Cup match needing a win to keep their chances of top spot alive.

They got off to a good start when Trevor Oats took a sharp juggled catch at midwicket to send back Dave Rich with only a single on the board. Jonathan Parsons (4-0-19-2) completed a typically economical spell but the Tedburn middle order got the score moving at seven an over thanks to a rash of extras (38 in all) and good stroke-play from Alex Williams (20), Neil Branton (28 retired), Greg Lewis (19) and James Walker (22 not out). Just as the Tedburn total threatened to go through the roof Rob Sandercock (4-0-17-3) and Oats (4-0-34-2) took five wickets in the last three overs to take them from 139 for four to 146 for nine after their twenty.

Belstone got off to the worst possible start when Richard Drake mistimed to Lewis off the first ball of their reply. However by the end of that long first over from Branton – which included nine wides - the score had reached 17 and from then on all the batsmen hit their stride mixing sharp singles with attacking strokes. Sam Ewen, Scott Tremain and skipper Phil Woods all retired on 25 and the match was finished at breakneck speed by Chris Walpole (28 not out) and Harry Bushin (15 not out) to such an extent that the nine wicket win was achieved with more than three overs to spare.

Belstone v Victoria Park

BELSTONE scrambled a two-wicket win after an unexpectedly nail-biting finish to their low-scoring North Devon League Division Four game against Victoria Park at Rew Meadow last Sunday, thus cementing their mid-table position in the division.

Twelve overs passed before the visitors lost their first wicket but by then only 23 runs were on the board and this two-an-over tempo set the tone for the rest of a game where almost a quarter of the overs bowled were maidens. After an effective opening spell from Luke Wonnacott (8-2-18-1), the next four Victoria Park wickets fell to an unplayable Rob Sandercock (9-5-5-4), which left them struggling on 37 for five at the half-way stage. Graham Farmer (25) and Mark Slade (7) then batted very cautiously for 13 overs while adding 21 runs, before Mike Harris upped the rate slightly in the final overs with 19 not out to give a very modest 45-over finish of 96 for nine.

Jimmy Ewen made 22 out of an opening partnership of 30 with Peter Harlow (10) to get Belstone off to a decent reply although Harris kept things tight conceding just nine runs from his eight overs.

Belstone continued sedately enough to 78 for four before the excitement began when Simon Tremain (12) got a thin edge to keeper Adam Oliver off David Gordon (7-1-21-2).

This precipitated a collapse to 92 for eight with the next three batsmen out for ducks to rash strokes against the slow bowling of Kieran Soper (4-0-15-2) although all the while No 4 Trevor Oats was steadily accumulating runs at the other end and it was he who eventually ended the match with his second boundary to finish on 37 not out, by far his highest score for the Club.