Ashburton travelled to play Plymouth on a showery Saturday, although the pitch looked dry and firm so skipper Steve Edmonds elected to bat first.
However, batting was challenging early on against the new ball and only Ash Berry (13) reached double figures as Azizurahman Rahmanzai (3 for 47) and Dan Rogers (2 for 20) decimated the top order leaving Ashes 37 for 5 in the eighth over. A partnership was needed to avoid total embarrassment and Edmonds duly obliged getting his head down with Dan Coles as the two battled hard against some tight bowling as a further 24 runs were added in the next 13 overs. Runs then started to flow a bit more freely and the two had taken the score to 117 before Edmonds was unfortunate to be bowled for a well made 32 off a combination of bat and foot. Matt Churchill then joined Coles and continued his good recent form with the bat as the pair added a further 61 in good time. Coles reached his half century but was dismissed shortly after for 53 with the score on 178. Churchill's fine knock of 43 also came to an end leaving Will Coon (17no) to bring up a 5th batting point in the final over as Ashburton finished their 45 overs on 206 for 9.
Plymouth also found runs hard to come by against the new ball, as Edmonds (1 for 26) and George Yabsley (1 for 57) reduced them to 18 for 2 and, when Oliver Parsons (18) was dismissed by Aditya More (1 for 19), this became 48 for 3. Harry Stephenson and Tom Hughes (22) added 56 before Chris Yeo dismissed Hughes and then Nathan Birks (24) added a further 38 with Stephenson before also falling victim to Yeo. Sam White then joined Stephenson and seemed to have taken Plymouth to the brink of victory at 171 for 5 before Yeo swung the game back Ashburton's way when he dismissed Stephenson for an excellent 71 and then White to leave Plymouth 172 for 7 needing 35 from the final 29 balls. Rahmanzai (16no) and Jamie Henwood (18no) ensured no further mishaps as the target was passed with 7 balls to spare to leave Plymouth 3 wicket winners of a cracking match that could have gone either way. Yeo finishing with superb figures of 4 for 47 from his 9 overs.
After the game skipper Edmonds said "A really good game that could have gone either way, but considering we were 37 for 5, I was delighted with the turnaround from the boys. Great batting from Colesy and Matt Churchill to get us past 200, which looked a long way off. Bowling improved as a unit and we were right in it until the very end. Good to see YoYo picking up plenty of wickets at key moments again. Looking more like ourselves, which is a big positive despite the defeat.".
Chris Yeo (4 for 47) who did his best to bowl Ashburton to victory on Saturday.
Ashburton second team hosted their Teignmouth and Shaldon counterparts and found run scoring hard on a damp pitch. Only Greg Robinson (35) really got going and there were chip ins from Tom Rush (16), Jack Warren (14) and Toby Pascoe (11) as they were all out for 109 in the 29th over. Alex Aitchison (3 for 7), Gerard Starling (3 for 30) and Jack Saunders (3 for 49) doing the damage for the visitors.
Shaldon lost an early wicket to Robin Lambert (1 for 19), but Will Moore (44no), Will Greenwood and Daniel O'Connell (20) ensured the target was comfortably reached in the 26th over for the loss of 3 wickets. AJ West (1 for 24) and George Marshall (1 for 12) picked up the other wickets to fall.
On Sunday Ashburton welcomed Plympton for a South Devon League match. The visitors won the toss and elected to bat and got off to a good start as Chris Dunstan (52) and James Webb (12) added 62 for the opening wicket. Scott Morrish (1 for 15) broke the stand and wickets tumbled thereafter as Aditya More (4 for 10) got stuck into the middle order. Matt Churchill (1 for 5) and Nat Wood (1 for 13) also picked up wickets and then AJ West (3 for 13) polished off the tail as Plympton were all out for 109 in the 33rd over of their 35 over allocation.
Lloyd White then got the hosts off to a rapid start blasting 54 runs out of the first 56 before sportingly retiring. Dan Coles (28no) and AJ West (23no) then knocked off the remaining 54 runs needed for victory as Ashes ran out 8 wicket winners in the 20th over. Keeley Wilcock picked up the only wicket for the visitors.
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