AN enthralling encounter between Whitchurch and Ivybridge saw Whitchurch seal a confidence boosting win.

Both sides were using this fixture as their final pre-season warm up game. The game gave both participants an excellent work out for bowlers and batsmen.

Batting first Whitchurch made a scratchy start against tight bowling from Coker (0 for 38) and Veale (1-34). Billy Barriball eventually made a commanding 88 but was dropped twice early in his innings. While Ivybridge bowled well their fielding was unconvincing with several chances going to ground. At the half way stage the home side were on 125 for 2. Tom Cotter anchored the second half with a strong 63; his shot selection showed considerable promise for the season ahead. He and Alford (19) put on 45 and then with McCrae (12) a further 41. The final 10 overs were tight as Ivybridge finally co-ordinated bowling with fielding. Kopparambil (2-45) causing considerable difficulties for the lower order batsmen.

With a short boundary the final score of 245 looked within reach.

Ivybridge openers Kopparambil (48) and Johnson (30) put on 83 without seeming to be in any difficulty. The scoring was quite slow with Poole (0-25) showing good pace on a slow pitch. It was Sambells (1-26) who took the vital wicket of Kopparambil with a fine caught and bowled. Ivybridge were now faced with the daunting task of achieving a run rate of 8.

Webber (2-25) took the pace off the ball and the batsmen found it increasingly difficult to score runs. With 10 overs remaining the rate had climbed to over 12. Solomon (47) looked as though he could do that as he kept finding the short boundary. Northey (3-51) came back to take two wickets in one over which saw the game go away from the visitors.