Back to earth with a jolt

After the sensational win last week, Dartington and Totnes First Eleven suffered a ‘bad day at the office’ when they fell to an 8-wicket defeat to Kingsbridge in a local derby at Foxhole.

 

Kingsbridge captain Bhanu De Silva won the toss and elected to bowl first on a used pitch and his decision looked a good one when overseas opener Matt Sevior could only fend a short ball from Sam Rhymes to De Silva at midwicket for 4. The other opener James Howrihane played some fluent strokes until he was given out LBW for 23 off of the bowling of Neal Peach with the score on 27.

 

A third D&T wicket fell with the score on only 32 when the in-form Chris Cook was caught behind for 1 to become Rhymes’ second wicket. Harry Baxendale, skippering the side in the absence of regular captain Harold Stevenson, set about rebuilding the D&T innings alongside Josh Orrall. The pair worked patiently to add 13 runs in tricky conditions before Orrall was bowled through the gate by Chiraag Appa for 9.

 

Kingsbridge captain De Silva brought himself on to bowl and he had a wicket with his first ball when Baxendale was caught by Ashley Treeby for 2 to leave D&T struggling on 45-5. Just four more runs were added for sixth wicket when Charlie Nicholls was bowled for 1.

 

The two Alexes of Hartridge and Winch set about trying to get D&T to a reasonable total and were able to put on 31 for the seventh wicket. Hartridge, the aggressor of the pair, was eventually caught behind by Freddie Ford for 23 off of the dangerous leg spin of De Silva. The same pair combined 9 runs later for De Silva’s third wicket and Ford’s third catch when new man Ben Hartridge was dismissed for 6 with the score on 89.

 

Last week’s hero Nick Dennis joined Winch at the crease and the pair were able to add 9 runs before Dennis was caught at first slip for 1 to become Rhyme’s third wicket. It was left to Winch and last man Tyler Walton to try and add some much-needed runs to the D&T total but they could only add three before a mix-up led to Winch being run out for 13.

 

D&T had been bowled out for a lacklustre 102 and were grateful for contributions from James Howrihane, Alex Hartridge and 28 extras to get to any sort of respectable total.

 

Early wickets were key for D&T if they wanted to have any hope of winning but the wicket they desired didn’t come. Kingsbridge openers Freddie Ford and James Fletcher put on 30 for the first wicket before Ford was bowled by Ben Hartridge for 10. With the wicket turning, captain Baxendale employed spin from both ends with himself and Hartridge trying to attack the Kings batsman. The bowlers beat the bat with frequency, getting massive turn from the pitch but were unable to find the edge of the bat.

 

Opener Fletcher looked in good touch however and took the game away from D&T with a composed innings. Alongside number three James Ford, he took the score to 85 before Ford was bowled by a sharp turner from Chris Cook for 9. A victory for Kingsbridge was now pretty much a formality and Fletcher and new man Ashley Treeby knocked off the required runs to end up with 51 and 15 not out respectively.

 

It was a disappointing day for D&T with too many batsmen giving their wickets away and nobody able to hang around and get a big score. Credit has to go to Kingsbridge however for a clinical all-round performance. D&T 1stXI are at home again next week to Lewdown while the seconds travel to play Yelverton seconds.

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