An away fixture against Brixham was on the agenda for Ashburton who looked to continue their winning momentum in week 3, writes George Yabsley.
Brixham by contrast lost their first two games of the season, and Ashburton would do well to expect the home side wanting to bounce back. Ashburton made one change from last week: Toby Pascoe in for Charlie Towers, who was recovering from a side-strain.
Skipper Lloyd White won the toss and elected to bat on a characteristically firm and flat Brixham wicket. Heavy showers were in the forecast and Ashburton looked to put runs on the board early on. Steve Edmonds made 22 before being forced to retire due to a pulled hamstring, but George Yabsley and Ash Berry managed to navigate Ashburton to drinks. Brixham probably deserved a wicket or two before Yabsley was caught at midwicket, and Vaibhav 'Bittu' Sheth soon followed with the ball rapping his pads.
Suddenly, Ashburton found themselves 96-2 with 20 overs to go. However, Lloyd White strode out to the crease hoping to wrest any concerns, and scored quickly, making a well made 40 off just 28 deliveries. Berry went on to make 58, and a useful partnership with Harry Bannister brought Ashburton within sight of the 200 mark. More runs were however in store, with Toby Pascoe (19) and Jack Warren (17*) making tailend batting look easy and Ashburton finished their innings on 236-7.
Chris Yeo (1-25) and Matt Churchill (2-17) opened the bowling after the interval with seam bowler Steve Edmonds still nursing a pulled hamstring. The two spinners performed their duties well, restricting Brixham’s run rate and picking 3 wickets between them. The home side may have thought that rain was on the way and appeared to be playing as such, but the rain never came. At 51-4, anything over 200 was always a big ask, and was even more so when Bittu and Matt Coon came on to bowl. They each picked up 3 wickets relatively straightforwardly, and with their no.11 unable to bat due to injury, Brixham were bowled out for 81.
White reflected on the perfect start; "A great toss to win to make use of the best of the conditions and wicket. A really solid batting display, with the platform set by Edmonds, Yabsley and Berry, meant our middle to lower order had a licence to play with freedom. Our young pups, Bannister, Pascoe and Warren all played great cameos to add another 60 at the end which gave us great momentum at tea.
We bowled and fielded with great discipline and gave very little away, which allowed us to build pressure from the off. Really pleased with the start we have had but we must continue to build on that, and we look forward to hosting Cornwood at the weekend."
A calm, professional performance from Ashburton who return to the Varwell next week to face Cornwood who are sure to be tougher opposition.
Ashburton 2nd XI hosted Hatherleigh 3rd XI at the Varwell Field on a day where the weather
dictated play, writes Jack Warren. Hatherleigh won the toss and elected to bowl, the Ashburton openers Phil Pascoe and AJ West accumulated runs nicely against the opening bowlers, with ex Ashes player John Baglivi the pick of the bunch conceding only 13 runs off 6 overs with one maiden. Play was brought to a halt with the score at 38-0 with only 11 overs gone because of heavy rainfall, with the weather not shifting the game was abandoned leaving Pascoe 19 not out and West 11 not out. Both sides gained 8 points apiece.
Next week, the 2nd XI travel to Stover School to take on Ipplepen CC- 3rd XI.
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