Clyst St George II 221 for 6, Dartington & Totnes II 151 all out.
Clyst St George (20 points) beat D&T (6 points) by 70 runs
Well it had to end some time didn’t it?
Our second XI’s fifteen match winning streak came to an end with a disappointing defeat to Clyst St George on Saturday. It was exactly a year since the seconds had tasted defeat in a Devon League match, also against Clyst.
D&T won the toss and inserted Clyst on a firm track. We needed to bowl first or after 6pm we would have been without Andy in the field. The team had a bit of a dad’s army feel and we needed youthful fielders. Andy fielded brilliantly covering lots of ground. Opening bowlers Steve Mudge and Alex Hartridge got D&T off to a good start, bowling a good line and length and regularly beating the bat. Clyst had only managed 16 off the first ten overs and the pressure worked when Coe firmly drove Mudge straight into the hands of Harold Stevenson at mid-off. Mick Rusling, nursing a hamstring injury, replaced Mudge and though his first delivery was a long hop it deceived opener Knight (13) who missed it and it was goodnight for him. Craig O’Dwyer and Dan Takle took the score to 69 before Rusling’s swing trapped O’Dwyer lbw for 21. Rusling (4 for 33) bowled Harry O’Dwyer without him troubling the scorers, though Takle was batting well at the other end. When Rusling bowled Attwater for 17, in his final over, Clyst were 112 for 5 and D&T seemed to be in a strong position. However, Takle proved to be a big stumbling block and he added 93 for the 6th wicket with Ed Middleton, whose contribution was 21.
Skipper Stevenson shuffled his bowlers but they were unable to prise Takle out. Takle was finding the boundary with regularity, though several sharp chances were put down. D&T thought they had got Takle when he smashed Steve Breed to the long off boundary and Mike Jarvis leaped high to catch the ball. Their celebrations stopped abruptly as Jarvis sportingly indicated his foot had crossed the boundary. Following his reprieve Takle took full advantage and proceeded to a deserved maiden century, scoring 107 not out. Alex Hartridge (1 for 23) picked up a wicket when Nicholls stumped Middleton for 21 but by then the damage had been done.
In reply D&T need a solid start but they got the opposite. Though allegedly tired from his batting exploits, Takle opened the bowling for Clyst and was soon in the wickets-in fact he dismissed the first three batsmen for six runs. Jarvis fell to a low fine catch at mid-on, Andy Bligh was promoted up the order as he needed to attend a wedding reception and he was soon on his way after Takle bowled him. When Takle trapped Jon Perkin lbw, D&T were 12 for 3. To D&T’s relief Takle was given a rest after five overs and Stevenson and Nicholls appeared to have got set. Stevenson was caught behind off Rosser for 15 and Nicholls fell lbw for 25 George O’Dwyer, a ball he insisted was going down leg. 73 for 5 after 24 overs.
The weather changed and D&T were batting in persistent drizzle. Alex Hartridge gave D&T hope with some elegant batting. Hartridge looked set for at least fifty but became O’Dwyer’s second victim , bowled for 41, which included two fine sixes. Cliff scored 10 with some decent shots before being bowled, Mudgy was caught behind despite being adamant he had not touched the ball. Breedy took a swish and sent the ball up vertically where the keeper caught ii after it descended. Glenn stood firm at the other end but wickets tumbled around him. Last man, Mick, joined Glenn and the pair fought a good rear guard action, added 24 together for the second week running. Glenn (22) secured another batting point in the final over but was run out, after slipping with two balls remaining. He is gradually rising up the batting order and brother Daz, who kindly umpired, was advocating him opening the batting.