Sunday 6th March

Well, one can only assume that there are a lot of very happy mothers out there.

It was a select group of cricketers that gathered for nets on Sunday. Nice to see Andy Hartley had come down for Mother's Day and then decided to play cricket. The boy has his heart in the right place.

The Chairman and Treasurer opened up the batting and showed us why they have such similar career figures. Unaccountably the Chairman seems to have adopted the Treasurer's bowling style, a retrograde step even for him.
Mike was unable to work up his full pace due to a back injury, but bowled his usual nagging line and length and encouraged from the sidelines.
Phil was able to pepper the toes of all the batsmen, many of whom struggled with the change of pace between Phil and the rest (Charles, Andy, Brent etc.).
Of the others, Jack did well once again and it was nice to see Colin playing some attacking shots that actually connected with the ball. He also perfected a slower ball, well, it was perfect for me to hit
anyway!

Still no sign of the fixtures list from Mike, but we are expecting it any moment.........

Don't forget the first match (if the frost lifts) will be on The Captain's XI vs Chairman's & President's XI on the 17th of April.

Can you let the Captain know your availability.......C.S.

Sunday 13th March

BAICL Cup v East Devon Youth

A very good game saw Cheriton fall at the final fence having looked totally out of the reckoning for much of the game. Some perfectly straight batting and good running saw EDY get off to an excellent start, with both openers reaching their 25's by the halfway point. Colin and Phil made the most of this by taking the wickets, Phil bowling two and along with Robbie picking up a smart catches. 115 is very gettable, however Mike and Phil found life very difficult with some excellent bowling from the youngsters, one ball in particular cutting Phil almost in half. It wasn't until the 9th over that Mike passed 25 and only then did Phil really get a grip and helped push the score passed the 80 mark. It left an exciting finish with the EDY players suddenly looking worried that the game could slip away from them. Sadly it wasn't to be as we fell just 5 runs short of victory. Good luck to EDY in the next round.
We can now hang our pumps up and clean the grass off our spikes ready for the summer. Proper cricket starts again in 5 weeks! P.C.

Result Lost by 4 runs

Thursday 7th April

Well apologies for being offline for the past two weeks! I hope you've all survived without us! The web site is now 2 years old beleive it or not, thanks to the continued support from our very own Giles Lyon and John Wilson who have both agreed to sponsor the site for another year.

Nets have been increasing in pace with the anticipated start of the new season. There was an excellent turn out last Sunday and this weeks final session should hopefully be equally well supported. There is always room for more so if you haven't yet made it and would like to join us, then please do so - 9.30am -10.30am at Lords Meadow Leisure Centre in Crediton.

I am still waiting for the definitive fixtures list and as soon as I get it I will put them up on the website and hopefully we will have the fixtures booklet ready for distribution before the first match proper - Away to North Molton II in the North Devon League on Sunday 24th April.

In the meantime because of the problems in the change over of the website from one provider to another, if you come across any broken links or errors can you please let me know through the usual channels - thescorer@cf-cc.co.uk. PC

Thursday 14th April

It's here! The first class season has begun, and there is just over 3 days to go to our first match, which sees the Chairman and Captain choose their best XI from the motley crew of hopefuls and no hopers who turn up willing to give it another go! I don't want to put a dampener on things but the forecast at the moment does not look good. Heavy rain is forecast, but they're usually wrong so pack your sun block and skis and see you on the Hayne slopes ready for a 2.00pm start. PC

Sunday 17th April

Chairmen's Men v Captain's XI

A foul day suited more for sitting inside by an open fire drinking cocoa than playing cricket, saw the opening event in the calendar washed out. Both Captain and Chairman will probably claim they would have won. Ah well, we'll never know now!
So we now start with an away fixture in the North Devon League at North Molton next Sunday (24th). Let's hope it's stopped raining by then! PC

Sunday 24th April

Away v North Molton II NDL

For once the weather was kind to us and we were able to get the season off to a start. Not the start we might had hoped for, but a start none the less. The pitch was understandably "puddingy", but considering there was standing water on it on Saturday, it was pretty good. Charles actually won the toss (not a bad start there then!), and decided to let NM II have a bat. So Phil was given the choice of ends and sensibly chose to come up the hill - most found coming down it a bit tricky. He soon slotted into the form of last year, ie economic but never looking like taking a wicket. Ted from the other end struggled with wides and took longer to get into his stride. Scoring was slow but the 50 came up without any loss of wickets and the NM openers were biginning to get accustomed to the conditions. Then Ted produced the first chance of the afternoon, but Colin was unable to hold on to a hard hit shot, a missed opportunity which proved costly in the end. Robbie came on first change and although was hit around, also caused the batsmen plenty of problems, and inevitably it was he who got Cheriton's first wicket thanks to a smart stumping by Steve, to remove their opener for 53 (he was on about 8 when he was dropped). From there on their scoring went back to a snails pace as wickets began to fall at regular intervals. Everyone chipped in with wickets and catches, but it was Colin who was the pick of the bunch, taking four wickets for 25 runs from his allotted 9 overs. When the last man was run out with the score on 148 we felt we had done a reasonable job and knocking the runs off would be a formality. How wrong can you be? Mike and Peter Blight, making his first appearence for the club he captained in the 60's since defecting to Witheridge and Rackenford - welcome back Peter! - opened the batting and found the going tough. Again the scoring was slow. Peter was first out with the score not much past 20. Phil entered the fray and after hitting two good fours through cover was soon heading back to the pavilion. North Molton then brought on their demon bowler. One of those bowlers who look so easy to hit (especially by those who have already been out!) - two paces and a lob and...........surely that should go for 6! But no, more often than not it went straight to the fielders hands, if it was hit at all. He took 5 wickets and we limped our way to 6 batting points thanks mainly to Steve who held things together, but was unable to get us near to the 149 needed.
So a disappointing if not frustrating start to life in the North Devon League, but we know the standard now, and can surely look forward to better luck in the future. PC

Thursday 28th April

Home v Plymouth Inn

A combination of rain and half the PI players preferring to play football put paid to this fixture! PC