Devon Cricket League

1st XI C division west

Kingsbridge 197 all out,

Dartington and Totnes 201-7;

Kingsbridge (seven points) lost to D and T (20)

by three wickets

Kingsbridge entertained Totnes at the Butts on a fine but windy day.

Heavy rain on Thurs­day meant the pitch was much wetter than the last few weeks and heavy rolling earlier in the week meant the top was softer than usual. Kingsbridge won the toss and batted.

Kings put on 30 for the first wicket before Julian Bertie joined James Westlake and together they looked in no trouble as they took the total to Nelson (111) before Bertie missed a straight one on 41.

As has been Kings­bridge's wont this year, they then lost quick wickets. Westlake was caught on the boundary for another 50...this time making 54, to leave Kings 120 for 4, with Westlake and Bertie having made the pitch look easier than it was.

As the ball got softer there was a lack of bounce up the hill and the rest of the batsmen struggled.

Shephard and Bridg­ens made 26 and 25 respectively before both missed straight ones when looking set and Kings­bridge eventually totalled 197, not using all their 45 overs.

Dartington and Tot­nes' South African Ben Nan Niekerk was pick of the bowlers with 1 for 22 from his nine overs.

Less than 200 was not ideal at the Butts and Kings knew the fielding needed to be top draw for them to stand a chance. Unfor­tunately it wasn't quite at the standard of the previous few weeks.

Runs came quickly at the start of D and T's innings, but three quick wickets saw the score pegged back to 47 for 3.

Peach was exploiting the low bounce when Cook joined Van Niekerk.

Van Niekerk looked in no trouble, punishing any poor delivery, and Cook was just looking to play Peach out.

The turning point came when Cook was hit in front of the stumps and given lbw. The bowler, Peach, had seen an inside edge before the ball hit the pads and called him back in a show of true sportsmanship.

Cook them went on to make 41 and a partnership of 70 with Van Niekerk (52).

Kingsbridge needed wickets and Will Pike was thrown the ball, obliging with 3 for 31 in eight overs to keep Kingsbridge in the hunt as he immediately re­moved Totnes's overseas player.

Kingsbridge never quite got on top of the Totnes batsmen and gave them 20-plus runs in the field, which ultimately saw D and T win by three wickets with three overs to go. Peach took 2 or 22 from his nine overs after going for 13 in his first over. The match ball was kindly sponsored by Palladium builders.

Last Wednesday Kings travelled to Ip­plepen for a Corinthian Cup match.

They lost the toss and got asked to field, with Neal Peach open­ed the bowling. He got spanked around for 16 off the first over before Shephard replaced him and bowled tightly.

Ipplepen's openers looked to score quickly and did, but in the fifth over Rosewarne took a excellent catch off the bowling of Shephard to disrupt the momentum then in the middle overs De Silva and Peach bogged the batsmen down.

Peach picked up a wicket with a ball that found the edge of the opener, caught by Westlake behind the stumps.

De Silva followed this up with a wicket from a smart stumping by stand-in 'keeper Westlake.

Peach took his final wicket with another smart catch from Alex Browne in the deep, meaning he finished with figures of four overs 2-36.

De Silva picked up his final wicket with a great catch from Will Dorey to end with 2-21 from four overs.

Shephard and Rose­warne bowled out with 2-35 and 2-31 respectively and altogether Kings bowled and fielded well to restrict the hosts to 135-8.

In reply Westlake and Hardy found it a little hard to find the gaps. With the score at 16-0 after three overs, it soon became 17-3 as Hardy was caught for three, Westlake was caught on the boundary with a great backwards catch for 13 and Browne was bowled for 0.

Bertie and Shephard looked to score runs fast and they did, pushing the score to 54.

However, when Shephard was out for 13 no-one really stayed in with Berty to keep him on strike and after that the innings petered out. Wickets fell in regular intervals and Kings were finaly bowled out for 99 with two overs to go.

Despite the result, Kings can take plenty of positives out of the game thanks to a great bowling and fielding performance.

Devon Cricket League 2nd XI B division west

Lewdown 165-5,

Kingsbridge 161-9;

Lewdown (19 points) beat Kingsbridge (five) by five wickets

On a day out at Lewdown Kings won toss and chose to bat on a hard, dry wicket.

Openers James Ellis and Spike Ford did well to stay in with the quick bowlers looking sharp, but runs did come quickly with some great cricket shots from the lads and at drinks the score was 87-0.

However, in the next over two wickets fell, with Ellis caught be­hind for a great knock of 40 and Hammett bowled for 0.

The wickets started to tumble when Spike went, caught off a top edge in the deep for a well-earned 44.

Soon Holland fell for two and Edmonds fell for a golden duck, Willmot smashed a few sixes but fell for 16.

Clark looked like staying in but Chandler fell followed by Clark for 11.

This brought Olly in and he looked in top form, hitting the ball around well before he finally fell for 14, followed by Rhymes for two and Phillips 0 not out.

As a result, from a great start to the innings and looking to score 250-plus, Kings suffered a big collapse to finish on 161-9.

Kings had to bowl and field tightly against one of the top sides in the league, the bowling was great but the fielding was shocking.

Hammett dropped two catches and misfielded twice off the bowling of Edmonds, which set the tone for what happened next.

There were misfields left, right and centre, Hammett the main offender.

Heads dropped but the bowlers carried on, Olly was bowling well and tightly, earning figures of 1-29 from seven overs, while Edmonds bowled well and took 2-44 from his eight, which should have been 4-44 but for dropped catches. Hol­land replaced Olly and Spike replaced Ed­monds, with Spike picking up a wicket in his second over and ending up with 1-14 off three.

More catches were dropped and stumping opportunities were not snuffed up, which is poor seeing as Kings have played a lot better in the last five weeks.

In the end Lewdown went past Kings total of 161, leaving Kings only picking up five points.

Ahead of next week's home game against Abbotskerswell, Hammett said: 'We must field a lot better than this, we have to dust ourselves off and start again and forget about last week.

'We just had an off day, so chin up boys.'