Despite numerous players being unavailable the first XI travelled to Yelverton with some confidence, particularly as Brad Mitchell had been sensational with the bat, averaging over 125 for the three warm up matches. Brad’s luck ran out as he was dismissed without scoring when a Yelverton fielder with a bionic arm took an outstanding catch.. Scott Colegate hit a thirty and the others chipped in but the total of 158 (just a guess-ed)proved to be just too few despite David Carter taking 4 wickets as Yelverton scraped home by 2 wickets.
It was a similar state of affairs for the seconds at home to Bovey Tracey thirds. Bovey’s early bowlers bowled excellently and runs were extremely difficult to come by, on a fast bouncy pitch at Foxhole. They bowled with good pace just short of a length and pegged back openers Cliff Lowe and Darren Colegate. Cliff was caught trying to up the tempo. and Paul Raven followed and Paul Taylor was given out caught behind after the fielders heard “a noise”. Daz was clearly out of touch but battled away to stop the rot and found a willing ally in Mike Syms. The run rate was around 2.5 per over with extras the top scorer. After numerous attempts Daz finally managed to get an edge and was caught behind. 46 for 2. Mike looked good until a ballooning delivery took his bails on the full. The square leg umpire thought it was a no-ball. Matt Hartridge was bowled next ball and at 59 for 6 things looked very bleak indeed. Gareth Havard came to the rescue with a skillful and very timely innings. He adeptly hit the bad balls, defended well and farmed the strike beautifully before being ninth out for 51. Skipper Pete Glen wasn’t ready to take strike but was too polite to say and was bowled first ball. Ted Waller and Glenn Colegate were undefeated.barnacle Barlow forwit ha direct hit
The 2s had staged a remarkable recovery and had given themselves a chance. Bovey lost 3 early wickets with Gareth striking twice and Jack Allen once. once. However, Simons and Bishop put on 74 for the third wicket. The adage ‘catches win matches’ was never more apt as at least 7 went down. Bovey were in the driving seat now despite Ted Waller’s spin slowing things down. Bovey reached 131 before the fifth wicket went down when Jack ran out the barnacle Barlow who had scored 2 in a partnership of 43 with Starling. Bovey had a bit of a scare as D&T made them work hard for victory with Allen (4 for 16) bowling Whitlock, Roberts and Starling leaving Bovey needing 13 with 2 wickets left. Cultured batting by Bovey’s youngsters took them home.