St Marychurch Old Boys 129 for 7, Dartington & Totnes Second XI 130 for 1
D&T won by 9 wickets
After defeats in their last two Devon League matches by the narrowest of margins the second XI bounced back in emphatic style against third placed St Marychurch at Cockington on Saturday. After restricting the Old Boys to 129 D&T cruised home with six overs to spare, thanks to an excellent 58 from David Carter and 43 not out from Paul Taylor, who carried his bat for the second successive match.
St Marychurch elected to bat and it was soon clear that there was a lot of bounce in the pitch. Alex Perkin, bowling down the hill, soon had the ball whistling past the outside edges of both openers, Jack and Ibertson. DC, bowling up the slope, had a trickier task, particularly against a stiff breeze but also caused the batsman problems, conceding just 16 runs in his six over spell. Nonetheless the batsmen survived the opening bowlers’ salvos, reaching 41 in a dozen overs.
After seeing off the opening bowlers the batsmen might have been hoping to make hay-the outfield was almost long enough. However, following the introduction of a couple of D&T’s own old boys into the attack, Tom and Mick, the Old Boys slumped to 56 for 5.
Mick (3 for 8) relished bowing down the hill and bowled Jack for 11 then followed it up by trapping Chris Mabbutt lbw for 1 in his next over. Tom (2 for 10) appeared to mesmerise the batsmen and bowled Ibertson for 24 in the following over. Mick was enjoying a purple patch and trapped Sharples (1) plum in front of the stumps and Tom elegantly took a catch off his own bowling to dismiss Myers. At the end of their spells the parsimonious pair of Tom and Mick had conceded just 18 runs between them from a total of 16 overs and the Old Boys were in trouble on 59 for 5 with 12 overs remaining.
St Marychurch rallied well scoring 70 off the last 12 overs. Hein who had snaffled four wickets on his last outing went wicketless, as did Phil from his short spell. Bennett enjoyed biffing the ball around before the introduction of Scott Colegate brought about his demise. Scott obtained prodigious movement and bowled him for 35 with a fine delivery. Alex Perkin came back for a second spell and after a bit of an erratic start had Tucker caught for 10.
PT and DC didn’t find batting easy at first, with Prentice and Molyneux both bowling tightly. DC was the more aggressive of the pair and when the opportunity presented he took full advantage of the bowling. His expansive driving was particularly impressive and he was soon finding the boundary, not an easy task with an outfield which would have yielded a good crop of silage. PT is in marvellous form and his stamina is particulary admirable given that he kept wicket for 40 overs prior to batting. PT was untroubled by the bowlers and accumulated runs steadily if not spectacularly.
After the first 14 overs D&T were in an identical position to where St Maychurch had been at the same stage, but the difference between the two sides was that we kept wickets intact after that point. Neither batsman seemed likely to get out except by running themselves out – there were a couple of mix-ups to add a bit of spice for the spectators. It seemed that both openers might both carry their bats, but DC was getting fatigued and it was that which did for him when was bowled after playing a tired shot against Bennett, with the score on 90 in the 26th over. His 58 included 8 boundaries.
Glenn’s long wait to get to the crease was finally over and he played an excellent cameo innings of 20 not out with some good hits past square leg, including two fours and a six.
There were no alarm bells and the rest of the team had a relaxing time enjoying the batting in the picturesque setting at Cockington Court in the sunshine.
It was fitting that PT hit the winning runs to see us home.