Ton for Macker: good day for firsts and seconds with double over Ashburton

Second XI report:

Ashburton II 256 for 8, Dartington & Totnes II 258 for 4

D&T (19 points) beat Ashburton (7 points) by 6 wickets.

Ashburton skipper, Chris Pascoe, led from the front with a phenomenal innings of 186, believed to be the highest ever score recorded at Ashburton.  It wasn’t enough though since Dartington &Totnes came back strongly  with a fine innings of 129 from Steve Mackinlay setting up their victory.

It was a good day for D&T to play unbeaten league leaders Ashburton, since the latter had several regulars unavailable.  Skipper Stevenson won the toss and inserted Ashes, oblivious to the carnage from Pascoe which was about to follow.  D&T were short of pace bowling and Stevenson opted for Mick Rusling to complement the pacier Steve Mudge in opening the attack.   However, Rusling had a disappointing off-day.

Pascoe has enjoyed a lot of success with the Ashburton first team over many years and he quickly showed his quality, dispatching any delivery , which was not on the spot, to the boundary.  His opening partner Matt Churchill wasn’t afraid to be aggressive and the score was rattling along before Churchill was caught at midwicket off Rusling for 15.  Amazingly his 15 was to be the second highest score out of a total of 256, as the Chris Pascoe show got underway.  Pascoe was dropped at short mid- off off Mudge before Mudge was forced to drop out of the attack due to a torn back muscle, though he gamely carried on in the field.  His replacement Steve Breed started strongly and was unlucky when Pascoe was dropped again. With Josh Thomas on at the other end the pair brought back some control for D&T, but it remained hard going on a batsman friendly pitch.

Kevin Cock had looked out of sorts and it was no surprise when Thomas had him caught behind by Neil Colegate for 8.  Thomas (2 for 38) then bowled  Josh Churchill for a duck but Pascoe was making the most of his reprieves, frequently finding the boundary- he had reached his fifty out of a total of seventy  and after Breed had Yabsley (6) caught Pascoe and Mitchell added 88 for the fifth wicket with Mitchell’s contribution being 11.  A score in excess of 300 seemed to be on the cards at 199 for 5 with plenty of overs remaining.   Some of D&T’s bowlers were guilty of over-generosity in feeding Pascoe some tasty deliveries. He was dropped a couple more times before Gavin Colegate had him stumped by Neil , just short of his double hundred.  The game changed abruptly with the field now clustering around the inexperienced Ashburton tailenders. Stevenson (2 for 5) brought himself on at the end and bowled well, striking twice in the final over, to give his side an additional bowling point.

D&T had had an arduous spell in the field and some heads were down at tea, which was a sober affair.  It seemed that D&T would need a centurian of their own were they to win the match.  Cometh the hour cometh the man.  Steve Mackinlay relishes a challenge and was soon swatting boundaries.  He put on 72 with Jon Perkin before Wilson bowled Perkin for 23.  Tom Petherick joined Mackinlay and was soon playing some positive shots in his cultured manner.  Petherick was run out for 13 taking a suicidal single.   Steve Harvey was delighted to trap his old adversary Stevenson lbw for 7 and with 20 overs remaining D&T were 130 for 3, with the match evenly poised.  Neil Colegate started positively and gave Mackinlay good support as they added an invaluable 95 for the fourth wicket.  The pair put D&T within sight of the finish line before Mackinlay succumbed to a fine catch on the square leg boundary, his masterful inning containing 15 fours and 3 sixes.    Gavin Colegate (19 not out) joined Neil (47 not out) and the brothers saw D&T home to an excellent win.

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