South Brent I 171 all out, Dartington & Totnes II 148 for 9
South Brent (18 points) beat D&T (9 points) by 23 runs.
Our Devon Cricket League season finally got underway at South Brent on Saturday against a team who were fielding seven former D&T players. One of these, Gareth Havard, scored 86 and enabled Brent to post a total which was just beyond us. Gareth featured in a third wicket partnership of 107 with Scott Malpas (37) and they were the only two Brent players to reach double figures, although good old extras chipped in with 22-mostly wides!
D&T skipper Gavin Colegate got a late call up to the first XI and Steve Mudge took on the captaincy duties. Steve did a good job in involving all our players in the game. He put Brent in to bat and we got off to a great start reducing them to 11 for 2 after 7 overs. Scott Colegate and Steve opened the bowling and both bowled well and tied down the Brent openers, Nick Bryant and Chris Roud, both ex-D&T. Will Spackman, making his League debut for D&T, ran out Chris for duck with a terrific direct hit from mid-wicket and Scott (1 for 16) bowled Bryant for 6. We had to wait another 16 overs before we had any more success.
Alex Perkin who had been showing great promise, replaced Steve in the attack. Unfortunately, Alex had an off-day with his radar awry and Gareth took advantage. Will replaced Scott and initially struggled for consistency as Gareth and Malpas accelerated the scoring. He got into a good rhythm and came back strongly, taking two wickets in his fifth over, firstly having Malpas well caught by Steve at slip for 37 and then taking a very good caught and bowled to dismiss Dardis for a duck.
Another debutant, Paul Creed, primarily a batsmen, was given a few overs before Steve finally turned to Mick Rusling who had been warming up for 15 overs and was chomping at the bit to get stuck into the Brent batsmen. Mick trapped Alex Carter lbw for a duck in his first over and then bowled Josh O’Hare for 4 in his next over. Will (3 for 49) picked up his third wicket when Pete Glen took a big swish and missed.
Gareth had been biffing the ball about and had a duel with Mick, at one point advancing down the pitch and dispatching him for three successive fours. Shortly after this keeper Neil Colegate was convinced he’d stumped Gareth but the square leg umpire, Questy, was unmoved. Gareth’s reprieve was short lived as Mick (3 for 24) beat his bat again and Neil whipped off the bails and this time the umpire agreed with Neil. Marco Carlino had a few overs but with the destructive Havard out of the picture Steve brought himself back on and quickly picked up the last two wickets, taking 2 for 10.
171 was a challenging total in the 35 over format, particularly as the pitch wasn’t easy.
Jon Perkin and Neil opened our batting and seemed untroubled and it was a surprise when Jon drove the ball straight to Pete Glen at cover point in the third over. Neil was joined by brother Scott, who despite a lack of practice was soon timing the ball beautifully and crashing the ball to the boundary, with a fine display of clean hitting. He hit one six and seven fours, several of which were just short of being 6. Neil struck five fours and also played some fine shots. The pair had put on 62 and Brent were feeling the match was getting away from them when Scott was caught at long off for 43.
Soon afterwards D&T old boy Pete Glen trapped Neil lbw for 29 and we needed 100 with 16 overs remaining. Paul Creed scored 13 and Will, after showing some deft touches, holed out for 5. Keith Hodgins was bowled for 4; Alex and Marco soon succumbed and the required run rate increased. However, Glenn Colegate enthused his teammates with some stirring shots before he departed for 29 (six fours) in the final over, as we fell short. Steve finished with 13 not out and the Chairman was undefeated on 3 from 2 deliveries!