Plymouth IV 173 all out, Dartington & Totnes III 174 for 7.
Dartington & Totnes (19 points) beat Plymouth IV (6 points) by 3 wickets.
Dartington & Totnes’ third XI had a much-needed morale boosting win at Plymouth on Saturday. Gareth Havard was D&T’s batting hero, scoring 53 not out, despite an injury.
D&T Captain Paul Raven won the toss and surprised his team by not electing to bat on what appeared to be a decent batting track. Plymouth’s batsmen were soon feeling the heat thanks to an excellent opening spell by bowlers Gareth Havard and Mick Rusling. Havard caught opener Lewis Edmonds lbw and Rusling bowled Parsons and after five overs Plymouth were 2 for 2. Rusling bowled Jones reducing Plymouth to 8 for 3. Marcus Deane proved harder to shift and soon began scoring freely as D&T’s bowlers struggled for a breakthrough. It finally came when Josh Orrall bowled Cox for 9 with the score on 64. Deane continued to punish any loose delivery, mainly scoring in the’ V’. He found a willing partner in Luke Edmonds and the pair took the score to 106 before Orrall bowled Edmonds for 30. Chris Roud celebrated his second bowling spell of the season with 2 wickets. First he dismissed Plymouth skipper , Hart, whose top edge went vertically, high into the sky. Several fielders were relieved when keeper Paul Taylor put his name on it, taking a fine catch in a swirling wind with the sun in his eyes. Roud then had Hughes very well caught by Cliff Lowe at long off.
With a score of 200 plus looking to be on the cards before Raven trapped danger man Deane lbw for 60. D&T did not help their cause by feeding full tosses to Varcoe who took full advantage hitting 31 not out. Orrall and Rusling (3 for 19) both back for second spells picked up another wicket apiece with Orrall (3 for 57) ending the proceedings by bagging the last man.
Lowe and Taylor got the D&T innings off to a good start with neither man appearing troubled by the bowlers and runs coming at a good a rate. Taylor had hit four boundaries and it came as a surprise when he was bowled by Luke Edmonds for 17. Lowe was finding the boundary regularly and raised a big cheer from his teammates with six over mid- wicket before being undone by new bowler Varcoe’s first delivery- a rank full toss which he hit straight to mid-wicket. 55 for 2. Gareth Havard had suffered a muscle strain whilst fielding which had clearly hampering his movement and batted responsibly to consolidate following the fall of wickets. Chris Roud scratched around for while before being trapped lbw by spinner Hughes (2 for 36). Dan Goord looked in good touch and hit a big six over long off and it was a blow when he was lbw to Hughes for 15. Havard began to find the boundary, batting very well and holding the innings together. Orrall was caught at slip off spinner Hart for 6. Raven and Havard added 31 for the sixth wicket before Raven was bowled by Hagan-Burt for 5. When Nick Carter (6) was bowled D&T needed 24 to win. Any fears of a late order collapse were swiftly dispelled as Sam Tanner continued his recent good form with 15 not out, hitting the winning run much to his delight. Tanner has elected to go partying rather than play cricket next weekend and will be missed.