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Belstone v President’s XI

Belstone won by 60 runs.

PETER Hammond assembled a good team to take on the Belstone club side in the annual President’s Day fixture, the 16th such match since he became president of the club in 2000.

The club got off to a steady start with openers Eddie Jones (12) and Tom Pengelly (24) treating Sam England (8-2-19-1), the promising left arm youngster from Bovey Tracey, with respect. They added 44 for the first wicket in 13 overs but then three wickets fell in successive overs to President’s skipper Cleave Collins (7-0-34-1) and James Fitzsimmons (4.5-1-20-3). Richard Drake (17) began to rebuild but the backbone of the innings was the fifth wicket partnership of 63 in nine overs between James Walker (two sixes in his 31) and Dan Fogerty who batted for an hour while making 59, his first half century for the club, with seven boundaries and a six. The tail added a few more runs until the last wicket fell off the penultimate ball of the 40 overs leaving a target for the President’s XI of 193 for victory.

After two spectacular pieces of fielding – a low one-handed slip catch by Drake and a full-length diving caught and bowled by Mark Whiteside — had set the President’s innings back at nine for two, Simon Fitzsimmons (17) and Darren Harvey began a recovery with a third wicket stand of 42 before Harvey was judged leg before wicket to Fogerty (6-1-17-1) for 28. The middle order fell away cheaply with the next five wickets going for only 37 runs to leave the President’s adrift at 88 for eight with Alex Jopling (5-2-15-2) and Jones (3-0-14-2) causing most trouble. A measure of respectability returned with John Ansley (11), Julian Baker (16) and new Belstone resident Edward Currie (four boundaries in his 28) all adding useful runs but it was too little too late as skipper Drake took the last two wickets to give the club side a 60 run victory and a lead of 11-8 in the overall tally of these games since they began in 1993.