Devon Cricket League Kingsbridge 219-8, Shaldon 188 all out. Kingsbridge (20 points) beat Shaldon (eight) by 31 runs

Saturday saw Kingsbridge visit the picturesque Shaldon still searching for that first elusive victory of the season. De silva won the the toss and elected to bat on a damp pitch.All appeared to be going smoothly as the two Jameses, Ellis and Westlake put on 54 for the first wicket. However, when Ellis departed for 16, rapidly followed by westlake for 24, a familiar pattern was unfolding. Two more quick wickets followed to Woolnough, who found himself on a hat-trick. 54 for 0 had become 66 for 4. Matt Peach drove the hat-trick ball for four as he joined Will Matthewman to try and repair the damage. The pair played carefully, taking the total to 108 before Peach took a long look at all of two balls before being caught on the boundary for 17. This bought skipper Bhanu de Silva to the crease, looking to celebrate his birthday in style. Neither he nor Matthewman have been blessed with any good luck this season, but he rode his with the bat. The pair put on 47 before Matthewman was run out taking a single Usain Bolt would have struggled to make. This was a shame as he had played himself into form, crafting a well-made 50 and looking set for a big score. With nine overs to go a push was needed to exceed 200. De Silva obliged with some lusty blows to some of the exceedingly short boundaries. Pike kept him on strike where possible and together they passed 200, eventually posting 219 for 8, De Silva finishing with 65 not out. Kingsbridge's bowling and fielding hasn't been great at times the season, but a good performance would make victory a possibility. Shaldon obviously know their pitch and ground and anything remotely pitched up was clubbed. Runs came quickly but Neal Peach made an early breakthrough and de Silva's introduction brought three wickets in an over, with a sharp catch by Westlake in the slips removing the dangerous McKenna and a diving catch at silly mid-off from Neal Peach seeing Shaldon 52 for 4 from being 51 for 1. It was much like watching Kingsbridge bat... Day came to the crease, hitting Peach for six first ball and then edging to Westlake at slip, who couldn't catch the chance but managed to palm it to Ellis in the gully. At 60 for 5 Kingsbridge again were sniffing victory. Woolnough had different ideas, however. After taking 5 for 50 with the ball he proceeded to smash the ball to all parts of the ground as he raced to 50 and Shaldon to 153 fo 6 in the 22nd over. It took a diving attempt for a catch of his own bowling that Westlake diverted on to the stumps, running out Abraham for 10, to break a 60-run partnership. De silva tried all his bowlers to remove Woolnough to no avail until the reintroduction of opening bowler James Rosewarne. His extra pace did the trick, with Alex Brown taking the catch at extra cover to remove Woolnough for 66 with the score on 165. With well over 20 overs to go, victory for Shaldon was still on the cards. The pitch held no demons. De silva finished his spell with four for 31 and Peach his with two for 58, but two wickets were still required. De Silva chucked the ball to 16-year-old Will Dorey whose bowling has been gradually improving with each week. He duly obliged, with Will Matthewman taking a smart diving catch in the covers and then Matt Peach clutching one to his chest as he took two for five in his three overs and gave Kingsbridge victory by 31 runs. With relegation still almost certain, Kings have certainly seen an upturn in form over the past few weeks and look to take this into some difficult matches in the final weeks of the season. The match ball was kindly sponsored by Palladium builders. Meanwhile, Kingsbridge's second XI moved up to fourth in the second XI C division with a convincing win over Yelverton Bohemians. Batting first, Yelverton posted 146 all out, with Hammett taking 3-22 and Gates 2-19 for Kings. In reply, A half-century from Hardy helped Kings to chase down the total for the loss of five wickets to earn Kingsbridge 21 points.