Devon D West

Whitchurch firsts v Barton

WINNING only his second toss of the season Whitchurch captain Ben Powell had little hesitation in putting Barton into bat.

The surface was wet after a day of rain. Despite the early loss of Jarman well caught by Hunt off the bowling of Sambells, Barton settled into the steady accumulation of runs. At 59 for 1 the game took a decisive turn when Tom Porter was caught by a rather startled looking Dan Towl in the covers.

Potts (3 for 22) and Hodge (2-20) then took the heart out of the Barton batting, 70-2 becoming 102-6 in no time.

A positive knock of 17 from young Ben Lipton delayed the inevitable while Sambells (4-26) came back to mop up the rest of the wickets.

Jarman juggled his bowling around but the total of 125 was not enough to defend.

Powell for the home side got his 50 before risking one too many airy shots.

Potts (14 not out) and Gibbs (13 not out) saw the home team cruise to a comfortable win helped along by a generous 30 in extras.

Great credit should go to Barton and their young team.

Their three under 15 bowlers bowled with great accuracy managing to send down 14 testing overs between them.