"Though shalt not pass" batting from Martin Gill and equally determined batting from Steve Mattock halted what looked like being a huge loss to earn a losing draw.
Having won the toss, Steve inserted the oppo but a very poor spell from Ezra gave Plympton the momentum which they didn't slow.
Ben Robins bowled very well (amongst a few too many no-balls & wides) as he beat the bat more than you would wish for nothing in the wickets column. The two Walters, left and right, compounded the lack of rythymn from the bowlers and reached 78 before Andy was caught by Steve off Gilly.
Gilly's (and PCC's) second wicket came with the score on 140 with 360 looking a fair prospect.
From 199, wickets fell regularly as Plympton tried to rally, Jake bowling with good common sense and clever slower balls to take 3 wickets.
Steve also bowled well for his 3 and the declaration came when Plympton couldn't be bothered to look for a lost ball........
So, on what was seeming like a pretty batsman friendly wicket, PCC began their quest for victory/decent losing draw. Jake and Phil made a super start putting on 51 but with Phil being bowled by Danny Hawker (who had made the comment while we were walking round the boundary, that he could see why the bowlers had struggled earlier in the day), a collapse followed.
George was caught behind, off a swinging delivery from Howarth, Victor went LBW to Hawker, Quiche was bowled first ball by Matt Gregory and Jake, very surprisingly (as he had not looked in trouble at all) was caught by Paul Elsey in the slips off Gregory. Locky went for 3 and PCC were 75-6. Ben Robins went for 1 with the score on 96, with Jon Meredith again batting very well.
Plympton were sprinkling in plenty of wides (they totalled 41 in all...!) but there was a controversial moment when Elsey threw in a quicker ball to have Jon caught, which after much deliberation by the umpires, resulted in a no-ball being called. This then resulted in pitiful behaviour from some of the Plympton players and Jon being given out caught behind, somewhat controversially for a terrific 35.
Steve and Gilly then batted magnificently for a very long time to frustrate the oppo - Steve was out LBW for a gritty 20 to leave Phil to survive an over (in theory....) He met a pretty pumped up Gilly midway and PCC managed to survive............well done lads..........
http://www.plymouthcricketclub.com/article.php/20080723211627400