The third team successfully chased down 221 to win against Bideford, in a feisty and enthalling match.
Bideford II (8 points): 220-8 (46 ov)
(Bradbeer 55, Withecombe 48; Butson 3-42, Small 2-50)
Plymouth III (19 points): 221-7 (45.2 ov)
(Ware 55, Watson 40, K Barlow 33, Hayter 3-25)
Bideford won the toss and decided to bat first on a gorgeous day by the Westward Ho! waterfront.
Their top order got off to a solid start; despite the attentions of the accurate Danuka Kurrupu and of Reece Small, who elicited the breakthrough when he persuaded their opener to mistime a pull shot straight to Al Stewart.
Despite this breakthrough, Bideford continued to make steady progress; only losing one more wicket before reaching drinks at around 90-2, thanks in part to chances being shelled in the field, and to some mishits steadfastly refusing to go to hand.
From the Pavilion End, Paul Butson was extracting bounce and movement; and saw one complete sitter (it looped 20ft up in the air straight to him) dropped by Chris Lock behind the stumps. Finally the breakthrough came from the left-arm spin of John Meredith, who unveiled a kicking, bouncing delivery to have Bradbeer stumped for a well-made 55.
Shortly afterwards, the Bideford batsmen got themselves into a terrible tangle over whether to take a second to Vic Kandampully's arm at third man. One did, and one didn't; and the ball arrived at the bowlers end (via Chris Lock) to effect the run-out. Selfishly, the junior partner failed to sacrifice himself to save Withecombe (only 2 short of his 50), and so we now had both run-getters back in the hutch.
Good death bowling from Paul and Reece (and a great catch by Watson at point [!?]) allowed us to pick up wickets and get amongst the tail- restricting Bideford to 220. Not bad, from where we were; but if we'd held more of our catches it would only have been 150/160.
On the batting front, Dave Watson and the redoubtable Mr Extras got us off to a solid start. 43 were added for the loss of Andy Sewell's wicket, of which 20 were extras, and 18 were Dave's. Vic and Dave batted sensibly up till drinks; which were reached at about 80/1; despite Dave being refused a runner, having injured his knees taking his catch in the field. Dave eventually slashed to extra-cover for a well-made 40, and Vic tried to pull a short of a length ball that seemed to stay low and was LBW for 15, to leave Plymouth at 120/3.
But this brought Andy Ware to the crease to join Keith Barlow, and they set about the Bideford bowling with relish. In particular, Andy kept thumping the bowling through extra-cover, and Keith's ferocious hitting through the leg-side deflated the Bideford mood. By the time Keith was bowled, aiming another smear through the leg-side, it was game on. Chris Lock and Andy ran spectacularly aggressively between the wickets; extracting maximum value from their shots. Chris fashioned a vital, clever 20-odd before departing; but when Andy was eventually bowled for a swashbuckling 51 off 49 deliveries, the tension really mounted. Jon Meredith heightened the said tension by having a waft and being bowled first ball; but Reece Small came in to join Paul Butson, and together they played a blinder; knocking off the dozen or so runs required whilst minimising the risk to their wickets. Paul, in particular, played some quality shots under quite a bit of pressure: an invaluable 9 not out. And then, in the final over, the winning runs were knocked confidently through the covers, to the roars of exhilaration from the pavilion.
A compelling spectacle, then; and a fabulous match- made more dramatic by some confrontations between Dave and their captain, and some fairly unpleasant banter. Some fish and chips and a beer was a great wind-down before we drove back: a good day!
It's always good to win close games, and we should be really proud in chasing down 221. We shouldn't, though, allow that to detract from the issue that we should really have been chasing 160 instead. Not the bowlers fault: they created 13-14 wickets- so we really should be taking the chances and dismissing our opposition more cheaply. And they gave us almost 50 extras to help us- even though their keeper probably saved them about another 30.
Other sides might not give us such gifts; let's be sure not to hand any out ourselves. Brixham at home next week; let's focus on putting a solid performance out against them.
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