Ashburton first team entertained Plymouth seconds on Saturday and Plymouth, having won the toss, elected to bat on a decent looking Varwell strip.
Ryan May (1 for 20) struck early, but Peter Evans (30) and Jason Degg (23) rebuilt taking the score to 62 for 1 before Evans was dismissed by a superb direct hit runout from Chris Yeo. Jon Malan (1 for 21) then dismissed Degg. John Kerridge (19) was given a life but when he was dismissed by Greg Robinson (1 for 25) and when Yeo clean bowled Knapman, Plymouth were in a spot of bother at 90 for 5.
Nathan Birks (51) and Sam White (29) both played positively and rode their luck as they combined in a sixth wicket stand of 71 before Matt Coon (1 for 43) broke the stand by pinning Birks LBW. Yeo picked up a couple more wickets to finish with figures of 3 for 37 as White and the tail managed to get Plymouth up to a final 45 over total of 201 for 9, which was probably around par.
In reply Ashes lost regular wickets at one end as only Dan Coles, with a patient 26, hung around for any length of time. When he went at 69 for 4, Ashes looked up against it. Matt Churchill had other ideas as first he added 39 with Greg Robinson (19) and then a further 38 with Ryan May to take the total to 146 before being sixth out, caught behind for an excellent 53. Tom Rush (17) joined May and took the score to 177, but the required rate was climbing. Some good hitting from May took them in to the final over needing 10 to win with one wicket in hand, but he could not find the boundary and was dismissed off the final ball for 38 as Ashes lost by 9 runs.
Ashburton seconds went down by 72 runs away to Stokeinteignhead.
Kirkby West (3 for 11), Alex Hayman (2 for 17) and Luke Pascoe (2 for 24) were the pick of the Ashes bowlers as Stoke racked up an imposing 215 for 9.
In reply Ashes were 10 for 3 and 33 for 4 before AJ West (17) and Steve Reynolds (13) added 37 for the fifth wicket. When both fell in quick succession this brought Toby Pascoe (43no) and Matt Partridge (25no) together and the pair added an unbroken 73 in the remaining overs as the Ashes innings finished on 143 for 6.
On Sunday a youthful Ashburton travelled to Plympton for a South Devon League clash.
Plympton won the toss and batted and a huge total looked on the cards as they raced out of the traps with Surya Suresh (42) and Jack Martin putting on 107 in a little over 10 overs. Suresh then fell to an excellent catch from George Yabsley which allowed Ashes to get the brakes on a bit. Martin reached his century and sportingly retired and Ashes controlled the second half of the innings as Plympton got up to 242 for 6 in their 40 overs. Jon Malan (2 for 33) and Marcus West (2 for 11) picked up wickets and there was an excellent spell from Alex Hayman (4 overs for just 13 runs).
Ashburton's reply was based on a fine century from Dan Coles, his first for the club. He was chiefly responsible for getting Ashes to 102 for 4 before he was joined by Marcus West. Together the two produced a fine century partnership bringing victory into sight. With 40 needed to win, Coles reached his century and also sportingly retired. Young Ben Cann (0no) then held an end up as West proceeded to despatch the ball to all parts of the ground as he single handedly scored all of the 40 needed for the victory with 20 balls to spare.
Dan Coles, who scored his maiden century for Ashburton versus Plympton in the South Devon League.
Comments