Bridestowe CC vs. Cullompton CC - 02/08/14

We were back at home this week facing Cullompton and after a heavy rain shower in the morning, were able to get the game under way. With Phil and Pat both away and Boother unavailable we welcomed back Dan Fog, Barry Down and Neil Griffiths. The toss went our way and we were back to our favoured bowling first. The Fogerty brothers opened up with both Evenden and Blackmore looking to play their shots. They got off to a good start, driving the ball well but also getting some streaky boundaries. Evenden looked to go after Dan hitting him for two uncontrolled boundaries behind square. Dan soon had his man though, Evenden (19) attempting to hit the ball over mid-off again but mistiming it straight to Sam. Hardy was the next man in and he and Blackmore began pushing the singles and punishing any loose balls. Dan (5-29-1) finished his spell unlucky not to get more than the one wicket. Hardy was riding his luck edging Tom and chipping the ball just short of fielders. Lavis replaced Dan and in his second over he had the big wicket of Blackmore (21). The top run scorer in the league lofted his bat at a ball on a good length and edged it to Mark Fog who took a great instinctive one handed catch behind the stumps. The dangerous Granfield now joined Hardy and the pair continued to push singles and Granfield looked to attack. Tom (8-2-23) finished a good spell without reward and was replaced by Jacko. His first over was punished by Granfield as the score went past 80 from 18. Granfileds attacking style was also his downfall though, he struck a full ball hard and straight but Sam was equal to it taking a solid catch above his head at mid-on. Skipper Rajapakse now joined Hardy, who wasn’t posing much danger. The skipper looked to continue from where Granfield had left off striking Jacko and Lavis to the boundary to take the score past 100 as we headed towards drinks. This is where the game changed as Jacko first picked up the wicket of Hardy (17) who chipped the ball to Butler at cover before a couple of balls later Rajapakse was dismissed in similar fashion, this time a low sliced shot caught well by Butler. A double wicket maiden from Jacko left the score at 108-5 at drinks. With two new men at the crease Lavis picked up his second wicket trapping Paiva in front. The wickets continued to tumble as Lavis got another with a well executed yorker. Jacko (7-3-27-4) did the same to dismiss Paul and Cullompton were now 110-7. Lavis (9-1-42-4) then got one on a length to pop and McManus could only fend it off for Neil to take a simple catch at square leg. Dienes struck Jacko for a 4 and then a 6 over cow to take the score to 120-9. Barry (1-1-1) took over from Lavis and got the final wicket as the number 11 chipped the ball to James at cover. We had bowled Cullompton out for 123 and with a strong batting line up we fancied our chances of chasing it down.

After some debate Sam and Tom headed straight back out to start our chase. It didn’t start the way we wanted it to though with Tom edging Dienes behind in the second over. Sam struck McManus over his head for 4 to relieve some pressure but before we knew it Jacko was also dismissed. He looked to turn Dienes down the leg side but was struck on the pad and to his amazement was given LBW. Barry Down now joined Sam, who was looking in good nick as he struck McManus over his head again. Barry knocked a couple of singles before he also fell victim to Dienes, attempting to drive the ball but being too early on it and serving up an easy catch to extra cover. We were now 28-3 as James took to the crease. James looked solid and along with Sam began to rebuild the innings, punishing the tiring Dienes. Blackmore and Rajapakse took over from McManus (7-20) and Dienes (6.1-2-33-3). They started economically and with the field spread Sam and James sensibly picked the singles. The safely took us to tea with the score at 53-3 from 15 overs. A couple of overs later Blackmore had his reward for some good areas as James was bowled by one that looked to have kept a little low. Sam was gone shortly after having made a solid 42, he went to strike Rajapakse off the back foot but could only pick out mid-off who took a good catch. Jopling was then gone to Blackmore who pushed a ball through and clipped the bails. We had fallen from 63-3 to 65-6 in a couple of overs and Cullompton now sensed the advantage. We were still confident though with the ever reliable Mark Fog and the in-form Butler at the crease. We had plenty of overs left and the pair began sensibly playing each ball on its merit and running well between the wickets. It was only a matter of time before Butler was going to open up and he did so with a huge 6, slapped off the back foot of the bowling of Rajapakse. Mark continued sensibly at the other end knowing that if Butler got hold of a few it would take the game away from Cullompton. Evendon was brought on for an over but got the treatment from Butler who twice swatted him down the ground for 4. It started to go quiet in the field as the score flew towards 100. Blackmore (9-1-21-2) was unlucky, having Butler dropped twice and it was clearly going to be the skippers day as he found the boundary twice more to put the win in sight. Rajapakses (8-2-28-1) best efforts were to no avail as Mark (10 n.o) refused to be tempted by his spin. Butler finished the match in style striking the returning Dienes for 6 to the delight of the pavilion. A brilliant 41 n.o from the skipper after Sam had set the tone early on. Not the most comfortable of chases, but when do we ever make it easy!?

A 21 point win means that we remain at the top of the table with 4 games to play, though none of them will be easy!

Remaining Fixtures -

9th August - Halberton & SP - Home

16th August - Whimple - Away

23rd August - Kilmington - Home

30th August - Countess Wear - Away