Post date: Aug 15, 2013 12:40:20 PM
After rain scuppered our chances of a likely victory the previous week, we headed down to the English Riviera to face top of the table Babbacombe. After being the first team to beat them in the home leg, hopes were high, particularly when Mark Fog won the toss and stuck the hosts in to bat on a dry pitch.
The Fogerty Bros started superbly, each getting an early wicket to reduce Babbacombe to 14-2. Andy Kingdon (30) survived some early scares facing Tom Fog but him and skipper Steve Broad (31) managed to rescue Babbacombe from a shaky start. Both played some great strokes and punished anything off-line. Jacko bowled a decent spell for no reward before Cally (2-38) came on and got rid of Broad caught up the slope by James. He also got rid of Kingdon lbw which left the the hosts 81 for 4. There was a good battle between our change bowlers and their middle order, with Thompson (23), Ince (22) and Sutherland (20) compiling some handy runs and James and Butler (2-29) picking up vital wickets to slow the scoring rate. Dan Fog returned to mop up the tail to finish with superb figures of 9 overs, 4 for 35. That left the Walls Hill men 171 all out, which was a great result for us given the strength in their batting.
Unfortunately our chase started in disastrous fashion as Jacko chopped on, followed by a snick behind from Mark Fog and a guide to gully from Ian, all off Kingdon (3-11). That left us 5 for 3, not a great start! James and Woodsy managed to steady the ship before James flashed at a wide ball and was caught brilliantly at point. Pat came in and smashed his first ball for 4 and him and Woodsy were looking solid before another stunning catch by Kindgon (he definitely earned his wages this week!) sent Pat back to the pavilion for 20-odd. Woodsy was then bowled, and with him went any realistic hopes of victory. We were now looking for batting points and Tom Fog got us nearer to 100 with a composed 19 before he was caught in the slips. Butler continued to play his shots, smashing the biggest 6 of the day, followed by a few more boundaries before he was caught on the boundary for 20-odd. New man 'Mad Dog' provided some more entertainment late on and him, Dan and Cally almost got us to the 100 mark before Cally edged one into the gully. That left us 97 all out, and a loss by 74 runs. Another missed opportunity as we probably should have chased that score but the top order crumbled to some tight bowling and excellent catching. Next week home to Kentisbeare is now a must-win with Uppottery winning again, and the last few games are now likely to all be nail-biters!