This week Ashburton 2nd XI travelled to Cornwood to play their 4th XI. After winning the toss captain Phil Pascoe elected to bowl first.
Opening the bowling up the hill was Westy (0 for 27) with Lambo from the other end. In his 1st over Lambo got the wicket of Charlie Farmer (0) after he left a straight one. Then Charles Knight (67) and Luke Temple-Smith (104) put on a 171-run partnership for the next wicket. By this point the damage was done and Cornwood were away. With the platform set the next few batters just came in to have a slog getting Cornwood to a mammoth total of 282 for 5. The wicket takers from Ashburton were Lambo (1 for 31), Jerry (2 for 50), Jack Lewis (1 for 24) and George Colwill (1 for 41).
Skipper Phil Pascoe and AJ West opened for the Chargers hoping to get off to a good start however this was not to be when AJ got out for a 2-ball duck. Phil and Westy looked like they were beginning to start a partnership when Phil was caught behind for 13. Matt Partridge (7) was next in when he also got caught behind with the 1st 3 wickets all being caught behind. Gordy was next in. He and Westy started to build a pretty good partnership of 57 when Gordy was given by the oppositions umpire for LBW after charging down the track on a massively sloped track in what was a bit of a controversial decision especially after the umpire stood their debating it for a while. After this wickets just continued to fall continuously but Westy kept going. Westy brought up his 100 with only an over to go. Then thanks to Westy (108*) and Steve Reynolds (0*) Ashburton were not bowled out and finished on 167 for 9.
After the game Phil said “Well done guys today, we stuck at it. A cornwood side with only 3 players from the first time we played them >400 runs, 2 century’s and 14 wickets. We were on the ruff end of it but there were wickets for the young guns and valuable batting time supporting Westy for his first ton of the year”
Next week Ashburton Host Paignton 4ths in a top of the table clash.
On Sunday Ashburton hosted South Devon in the SDCL for a 35 over match. On a wet day with more rain forecasted after losing the toss Ashburton were put in to bat.
Jack Tolley and Skipper AJ West opened for Ashburton. The plan for AJ to bat long and everyone else come in and have a go. Knowing the potential for reduced overs a good run rate throughout would be key. After spending the first few overs seeing himself in Jack went for it hitting 10 off S Andrews (0 for 28) 3rd over followed by 12 off his next. After a couple of calmer overs Jack went for it again unfortunately though straight to a fielder. However, the platform had been laid with the hosts 43 for 1 in 10 overs. In came the ton hitter for the day before Westy to the skipper at the crease.
Westy came in and started to hit the ball around the ground and with some smart running between the wickets Westy and AJ started to build a really good partnership of 77. Sportingly when Westy hit his 50 he retired no on 51 to allow the rest of the team to have a go. To join the skipper at the crease was Alex Hayman who along with AJ ran plenty of quick singles to keep the scoreboard ticking over before getting caught for 5. Alex’s wicket was the start of a small collapse for Ashburton with J Pringle (7), AJ West (34) and P Duke (1) all trying to increase the run rate but getting out within 12 runs of when Alex did. Fortunately, K Lardver (31*) and A Courtice steadied the ship with a quick 31 run partnership before A Courtice got out. Ashburton finished on 186 for 7 off their 35 overs.
While 186 was a very good score South Devon had a strong batting line up so Ashburton needed to bowl well to defend the score here. Westy and Lambo opened up the bowling. Both of whom took early wickets with Lambo getting 2 for 12 and Westy taking 1 for 10. Wickets fell regularly with the hosts reducing the visitors to 118 for 7 however J Allen had scored 50 of those 118 and had retired no to come back in at the end and with South devons batting order having been moved about it meant it was anyones game as the visitors only need less than 5 an over. With 2 wickets to K Lardver 1 to Alex (1 for 19) and 1 to Steve (1 for 14). T Goodman and S Andrews put on a 23 runs partnership until A Courtice (1 for 19) made the breakthrough of T Goodman.
The visitors needed 39 runs to win off 9 overs but with only 2 wickets in hand. Needing to find at least 1 over from somewhere and injured AJ came on to bowl and only went for 3 building a bit of pressure. But then K Lardver went for 13 off his next over pretty much knocking Ashburton out the game as J Allen was still to come in so 2 wickets when only defending 22 runs seemed unlikely. With the Skipper (1 for 7) deciding to have a second over a stroke of luck occurred getting the wicket of S Andrews (29) and the visitors needing 18 for the last wicket the chargers still believed. With the team backing K Lardver (3 for 21) after his last over going for a few South Devon wanted to end the game quick. Charging down the track J Kitto swung and missed J Pringle taking the ball and after a dramatic pause taking the bails off and catching them in the air to win the game for the hosts by 17 runs.
After the game Skipper AJ West said “Great win for the Sunday side today came down to runs vs wickets and thanks to us not dropping our heads despite them being on top we managed to pull through and bowl them out 17 runs short. With a wicket for Westy, Alex, Jangles and myself then 2 for Lambo and a good recovery for George after a tough first over meant we managed to pull through and come out on top in the end.”
Comments