Away at Sidmouth, the 2nds came away with a losing draw.
Sidmouth 231/5 (15 points)- R.Small 6/0/23/2
Plymouth 157/9 (7 points)- S.Mattock 28, V.Kandampully 25, P.Barrow 4*(!)
In beautiful weather at Sidmouth, Tom won the toss and elected to field.
Sidmouth made a solid start against the seam bowling of Phil Barrow and Ben Robins, with an opening partnership of over 50. Phil made the breakthrough eventually, having Patidar easily caught at cover by Andy Ware.
But wickets were hard to come by, and matters were not helped by Ben dropping the other opening batsman off Ezra's very next delivery.
With Steve Mattock bowling tightly, the run-rate slowed in the middle overs, but Sidmouth retained wickets in hand.
The other opener passed 50 before being beaten all ends up by a lovely delivery from Reese Small which cleanly whipped middle stump from the ground whilst leaving the other stumps untouched. Shortly afterwards, Reece picked up another wicket when an uncontrolled flash outside off-stump was neatly taken one-handed by a wrong-footed and relieved looking Keith Barlow.
Andy Ware bowled some useful fill in overs at the end, and picked up a wicket while the Sidmouth slog was on; as did Steve in the last over.
But really, we found it tough to take wickets. Credit for this really has to go to the batsmen; only 2 catches were spurned; and one of those was an excellent diving effort at first slip by Bobby. Sidmouth just batted well.
After tea, Ben Ferrao (21) and Phil Stephenson (10) put on 45 before Ben nicked one to the keeper, a shame, as he looked in good nick. Vic Kandampully came to the crease, and was alarmed to lose Phil almost immediately (caught 2nd slip), then Andy Ware lbw for a duck, and Keith, who whacked it to square-leg and called for a completely non-existent single. Bobby and Vic then put on about 35 before Vic misjudged a turning delivery and was bowled for 25.
There was then another rather silly collapse. Tom, who had a bad hand, decided the best way to protect his hand was to charge Charlie Dibble and waft vaguely. Bobby spooned it to mid-on for 15, and Steve Mattock brutally ran out Ben Robins.
When Steve himself got out, having swept and whacked his way to 28, we thought it was all over. But the last wicket pair of Reece Small (16*) and Phil Barrow (4*) not only held out, but also scored the 18 or so runs needed to ensure we got the points for a losing draw. Reece played some nice shots, working Graham Bess off his legs for 4; but, for rarity value, our favourite shot was Ezra thumping it high over extra-cover and almost forgetting to run, he was so astounded.
So we salvaged a losing draw. Perhaps not entirely deservedly. But we did battle hard, and fought all the way. The bowling was tight (apart from a few too many wides) against a good batting line-up; and the ground fielding probably saved 30 runs; important runs in the context of saving the losing draw. In the batting department, too many batsmen got starts and failed to go on, although to be fair, most of those who got starts weren't playing silly shots when they were out. Hopefully we can rectify this shortcoming in our upcoming matches.
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