Our second XI made it a double championship success by clinching the C Division title in a good competitive match with runners up Ashburton at Foxhole on Saturday.
The ones and twos enjoyed a celebratory evening with some of the younger lads carousing into the early hours.
Daz marked the occasion with firework and the ‘champagne’,which had been on ice, was squirted about like winning drivers at a Grand Prix.
Match Report below:
Ashburton II 135 for 9, Dartington & Totnes II 136 for 6 D&T (18 points) beat Ashburton (5 points) by 4 wickets
Dartington & Totnes 2nd eleven joined the first team in winning their division championship in a title showdown with Ashburton seconds, played before their biggest crowd of the season. D&T were fielding 5 Colegates, with their brother, Darren, umpiring; whilst Ashburton had 3 Churchills in the team, though none were named Winston.
Ashburton surprised the home side by electing to bat on a damp track with low bounce. Ashburton skipper Yeo explained his decision by saying he didn’t fancy Jono smashing the ball all over the place. Things did not go according to script for us as Ashburton’s openers Kevin Cock and George Marshall got off to an excellent start putting on 61 for the first wicket. Scott Colegate and Steve Mudge bowled well without reward. Will came on and managed to get some bounce but this suited the batsman who relieved the pressure with a brief flurry of boundaries. The breakthrough came when Mick Rusling bowled Marshall for 32 in the 20th over. Josh was bowling exceptionally well and it was no surprise when he caught and bowled Cock for 25 in the following over. The bowling duo stifled the run rate. Mick took 1 for 8 in his 9 overs and his last 4 overs were maidens as Ashes largely concentrated on survival.
Surprisingly Jono , a pace bowler carrying an injury, was brought on to bowl spin by brother Gavin before Glenn , a specialist spinner, joined the attack. Glenn finally came into the attack- the seventh bowler to be used. He immediately had an impact as Lacey hit across the line at his second delivery and was clean bowled for 4. Matt Churchill hit Glenn for 3 fours but Glenn had the last laugh when Churchill (25) hit him straight to Jono at mid-wicket. Glenn bowled Jack Churchill for 14 and Josh returned for a three over spell taking a wicket in each over, dismissing Lambert, Crouch and West to finish with 4 for 26. Glenn had Ashes skipper Chris Yeo caught for 15 to finish with 4 for 33, simultaneously becoming the side’s leading wicket taker for the season with 22, overtaking Mick who sportingly congratulated him, (with gritted teeth).
A target of 136, albeit on a difficult track, seemed well within D&Ts capabilities provided they were not complacent and played with discipline. Howeve, Ashes got off to a great start as D&T’s top run scorer Steve Mackinlay went first ball, when Marshall surprised him by bringing a delivery back into his stumps. Jono was looking solid and had reached 13, which was unlucky for him, as he then attempted a big hit off Marshall but got too much elevation and Yeo caught him at long off. Scott was batting well and put on 23 for the third wicket with Will. Matt Churchill was obtaining prodigious turn and moved the ball a long way to bowl Scott for 24. Churchill (2 for 25) bowled Will for 15 and when Marshall caught and bowled Ollie Payne, D&T were in serious trouble at 55 for 5 after 17 overs.
Enter Neil and Gavin: the brothers dug in and battled exceptionally against some excellent Ashburton bowling. Lambert was particularly hard to get away and his first seven overs yielded just 8 runs. Gradually the runs accumulated and the pair added 70 runs in 24 overs, before Neil was bowled by spinner Yeo for 31 invaluable runs, with D&T within 12 runs of victory. D&T finished with a flourish taking 10 off the next over with Gavin playing a captain’s innings of 33 not out and Josh 5 not out. The first and second teams celebrated their joint success well into the night with champagne, fireworks and karaoke.