Post date: Jul 5, 2015 11:20:56 AM
Bridestowe remained top of C(West) after a narrow victory at home to fellow moorlanders Whitchurch.
The home side won the toss, and after considering batting on what looked a very flat pitch, decided to chase, as they had done so successfully the previous week. The bowling was opened up by Tom Fogerty and Gary Sizmur, who both got plenty of carry through to keeper Mark Fogerty. Scoring was slow and the pressure eventually told as Jacobs clipped one to the vacant mid-on but Tom swooped around from mid-wicket and threw down the stumps at the bowlers end to bring the first wicket. After a couple of boundaries, Tom had another wicket as Charlie Barriball snicked a cut shot behind, and produced another petulant display before eventually walking off. Billy Barriball and Ed Smith looked to rebuild the innings, and mostly left alone or defended the accurate bowling. An early change saw Nazir Khan introduced, and he immediately found some turn from the surface. After a few attacking shots, Barriball pulled one straight to Tom at square leg to give Khan his first wicket. Tom finished another fine spell and was replaced by Lavis, who again started accurately. Khan (4-25) soon had his second wicket by bowling Smith, and the very next ball he also bowled Sambells. Sherrill and Bone then put together the Church's best partnership, taking advantage of a couple of missed chances. Dan replaced Lavis and had Sherrill caught behind after a couple of lusty blows. Bray clipped a 4 and the picked out Khan at deep square leg to give Dan his second. Bone batted well with the tail, and got to 27 before he was bowled by Dan (3-23). Kerswill was last man out, caught off Lavis with the score on 119. With no demons in the pitch, Bridestowe were confident of getting an easy victory.
The Bridestowe chase, like the week before, got off to a racing start through Fogerty and Sizmur, who smashed Sambells for 22 in just 3 overs. It was to be spin all the way at the other end, with Kerswill taking the new ball as usual. He was more economical, despite a few sixes from Tom over the long boundary. The score raced to 55-0 before Sizmur was given out to Kerswill (2-24) to what would prove the first of many LBW decisions. Barry also fell LBW at the other end to Barriball's off-spin and BCC were in a spot of bother when Tom (32) top-edged a sweep from the same bowler. Things went quickly downhill from there as Khan was caught in the gully, Hatton became another LBW victim, and James Ewen was inexplicably run out off a free-hit. Sam Ewen extended the collapse as he hit a short ball straight back to Barriball and Dan joined the LBW party to complete Barriball's 5-fer. So from 55-0 to 80-8, the hosts had suffered a spectacular collapse, through a combination of poor shots and trigger happy umpiring. Fortunately that brought two men to the crease who were not going to roll over and hand the old rivals a win out of nowhere. Mark Fogerty and Mark Butler both played their usual games, with the former solid in defence and the latter looking to find the fence at every opportunity. The target crept closer as the pair rotated the strike and found the odd boundary. The 100 was brought up with a towering six over midwicket by Butler, and to everyone's surprise, Mark Fogerty followed suit with a massive straight hit over the long boundary. With Lavis in the hutch, the home side were now confident of getting over the line. The 4th and 5th overs of seam bowling of the innings proved costly, as Butler clubbed Towl for 12 in two overs to bring the target within touching distance. The win was sealed as Butler (31*) smashed Charlie Barriball over deep midwicket for a massive 6, and followed it up with a four in the same area to snatch the win. It should have been a much simpler chase for the home side, but the visitors used their bowling resources well on a pitch which did offer plenty of turn. Thanks to Tom 'Trigger' Boother for stepping in as umpire and Geoff for another sterling performance with the score-book. Next week brings a trip to everyone's favourite cricket arena; the cliif face / dog walkers paradise that is Babbacombe.