Dartington and Totnes First Eleven continued their march towards the C Division West Title with a comfortable 90 run victory over Bridestowe at a breezy Millaton.
Home skipper Eddy Jones won the toss and elected to bowl first on a green wicket which showed signs of variable bounce. D&T opener Phil Snyman missed out for once when he given adjudged to be LBW off Tom Boother for 8. Captain Harry Baxendale joined Chris Cook at the crease and the pair had taken the score to 34 when Baxendale could only chip a return catch to bowler Chris Lavis for 11.
Things went from bad to worse for D&T when Cook could only top-edge a pull shot into his own face leading to a nasty cut, a trip to hospital and three stiches. This meant that D&T had two new men at the crease in Jono Colegate and Joe Parker and were in need of a partnership. Together, they added 38 runs before Parker top-edged a sweep off Callum Mallett to Patrick Ewen for 3.
Colegate, fresh from his unbeaten 91 the weekend before, was beginning to take hold of the innings, rotating the strike well and punishing any loose deliveries. The score was 111 after 23 overs when Kalon Veale, playing his first game of the season, was LBW to Alex Jopling for 8. Fast scoring Tom Chevallier and Colegate added a further 36 runs before the former was bowled by Jones for 16.
Returning James Howrihane was then bowled by Jopling for a duck to leave D&T on 151-6 with 10 overs left. Colegate was still going strong however, and alongside Tyler Walton added 24 before Walton was caught at mid-on by Kieran Lee off Lavis for 1. Eventually Bridestowe had their man when Colegate was caught by Lee off Jones for superb 84.
Nick Dennis and Alex Winch set about taking D&T to 200 and maximum batting points. Needing 15 off the final over, it had been taken down to 6 needed off the final two deliveries when Nick Dennis was caught at long on by Jopling off Lavis for 4. Off the final delivery of the innings, Winch was victim to the same combination to fall for a quickfire 9 and leave D&T 194 all out.
Jono Colegate had been the key performer for D&T with a crucial 84 but he had lacked any substantial support from the rest of the D&T batsmen. Chris Lavis had been the pick of the bowlers picking up 4-33 on his birthday. By missing out on making 200, D&T dropped only their third point of the season so far.
The Bridestowe chase got off to the worst possible start when with the second ball of the innings Snyman bowled James Ewen for 0. Snyman was causing the home batsmen all sorts of trouble with his pace on an unpredictable pitch and had a second wicket soon after when he bowled surviving opener Patrick Ewen for 3.
The hosts found themselves struggling on 30-3 when Phil Hatton was LBW to Baxendale for 3. This became 30-4 with the very next ball when Baxendale diverted a Brandon Horn drive onto the stumps to run out Mark Fogerty for 12. Five runs later, Horn was dismissed for 0 when he edged a Colegate delivery to Snyman at first slip.
The decline continued when Eddy Jones was LBW to Baxendale for 4 to leave the hosts in an awful situation at 39-6 and defeat more than likely. They were grateful for a 32 run partnership between Jopling and Mallett to save them what would have been a crushing loss.
Baxendale was the man to break the partnership and in the process pick up his third wicket when he had Jopling caught by Veale for 5. Chris Cook who had now returned from hospital was introduced into the attack and had an instant impact when he had Chris Lavis caught by a diving Nick Dennis in the covers for 2.
A further 31 runs were added for the ninth wicket between Mallett and Kieran Lee before Cook bowled Lee for 15. Two balls later he ended the match when he had Tom Boother caught by Parker for 0, leaving Mallett stranded on 37 not out.
Bridestowe had been bowled out for 104 to leave D&T the victors by 90 runs. It had been set up by Jono Colegate’s superb innings of 84 and backed up by Baxendale, Cook, Dennis and Snyman with the ball.
The firsts are next in action on Saturday against fifth placed Plymouth Seconds at Foxhole while the second team continue their battle against relegation with a trip to Hatherleigh thirds.