Sandford v Belstone

BELSTONE plunged straight into league action away at Sandford without any friendlies or warm-up matches and found themselves in a strong position towards the end of the game, needing just 26 runs to win with six wickets left.

Earlier they had bowled well to reduce Sandford to 94-5 and then 120-7 with Dan Fogerty taking three for 40 from his eight overs. Neil Bettiss held the top of the innings together scoring 53 in an hour before he was fifth out to Arden Frew-Smith. Unfortunately the visitors could not push home their advantage as the Sandford lower order of Richard Foan (27), young 15 year-old Adam Small (48 not out) and Liam Gardner (34) took the score on to a more respectable 205 for nine at the end of the 40 overs.

Belstone struggled to 29-3 after nine overs but then a partnership of 111 in 19 overs for the fourth wicket between Ryan Dennis (eight fours and three sixes in 98 minutes) and Phil Hatton (a more cautious 43 scored in 88 minutes) put them back in the hunt. After Dennis was caught on the boundary by Gardner off Pete Steer, Dan Fogerty joined Hatton to add another 40 runs to take Belstone to 180-4.

Sandford struck back strongly as skipper Richard Drake was run out for a duck without facing a ball, precipitating a lower order collapse which saw Chris Simpson take the last three wickets in eight balls to give the home side an 11-run victory.

Buckley Cup

Belstone v Spreyton

BELSTONE’s first 20-over midweek evening game of the season in the cup was a closely fought low-scoring affair where the ball dominated the bat with only four boundaries and one six hit out of the total 120 runs scored.

They started reasonably with openers Ryan Dennis (11) and Richard Drake (17) helping the score to 37-2 in the eighth over but after that no-one else reached double figures, except for the top-scoring extras with 22 wides.

Spreyton’s bowlers put such a brake on proceedings that just eight runs came from the final eight overs, James Sharman (3-2-1-2), Ben Hancock (4-0-15-2) and Jake Griffith (2-0-2-1) being most effective.

The final total of 68-8 looked hard to defend but within five overs of the Spreyton reply they were struggling at 9-4 thanks to a hostile opening spell from Dennis who clean bowled three while conceding just eight runs.

Opener Richie Wilkinson held firm at one end, eventually carrying his bat for 23 not out, but wickets continued to fall at the other end with Alex Jopling taking two in his only over and Arden Frew-Smith (3.2-0-13-3) rounding things off by bowling last man Charles Hedley-Dent to give Belstone a 16-run win.

Sticklepath v Bel stone

BELSTONE and Sticklepath produced another low-scoring game where extras were top scorer in one innings (29 out of 68) and second top scorer (12 out of 67) in the other.

Sticklepath were soon in trouble at 20-5 after seven overs, with all the top order clean bowled as they swung hopefully across the line of good length balls, most of which came from Ryan Dennis in a penetrating spell of four overs in which he took four wickets for seven runs.

Nigel Letheren (10) responded with a big six onto the roof of the stable in the next field but it was only Jim Mawle who looked settled as he batted calmly through the rest of the innings for 30 not out.

Late drama came in Jack Barkwell’s first over when he bowled Hannant and Foreman for ducks with consecutive balls then saw Richard Drake, normally the safest of catchers, drop a straightforward slip catch given by last man Tim Butler, which denied Barkwell a hat-trick.

Chasing 68 to win Belstone gained five wides off the first over of their reply and reached 40 before the first wicket fell in the fifth over.

Brandon Horn (16) surpassed Letheren’s six with one that sailed clean over the stable roof.

A good spell by Letheren, which claimed three wickets for 17 runs, held up Belstone for a while but they eventually ran out five wicket winners with more than eight overs to spare.