Post date: May 25, 2013 9:04:17 PM
The sun was out at the Millaton Ground with Bridestowe looking to get their first win of the season on the board against Topsham SJ..
The home side won the toss and chose to bowl, hoping to make early inrodes on what looked like a decent pitch,. Dan Fog did just that, getting the wicket of Sparkes (who came in to the game on the back of 150 against Whitchurch) caught in the gully by James for a duck. A quiet period followed with Dan (9-28-2) and Lavis (9-17-1) making life hard for the Topsham batsmen. The pressure eventually told, when Dan produced a direct hit with just one stump to aim at. Lavis followed that up with another wicket lbw leaving the Saints struggling at 22-3 with 15 overs already bowled. That brought skipper Trevealen to the crease who immediately seized the initiative with some lusty blows. He and Crew put on a quick-fire 63 before Crew was bowled by off-spinner Mallet (9-33-2) for 35. Jutson then brought himself on, aiming to limit the runs at the end of the innings. He was greeted with a big 6 by Trevealen, but the battle of the captains came to an end the very next ball as he wholed out to Ian at long on. From there on wickets fell at regular intervals with Jutson (9-25-3) going on to take two more before the innings was finished off by a Butler yorker. That left Topsham all out for 158, which looked like a reasonably competitive score.
The reply started shakily as Mark Fog fell early 'caught behind' off Sparkes. That brought the Hatton father-son partnership to the crease with the game in the balance. Jack started in typical fluent style, peppering the leg side boundary. Phil (39no) looked rather more circumspect at the other end, giving Jack the strike well as he continued to find the fence. The pair took Bridestowe past 100 with relative ease, as Jack began clearing the fence. Jack eventually fell caught to a skyer off Trevealen for a superb 85,but by that time the Hattons had put on 136 and the game was all but over. That brought James to the crease who found the boundary three times in quick succession to finish off a fine 20 point win, with nearly 20 over still remaining! Next week Bridestowe head to Yarcombe and Stockland, looking to make it two wins in a row.