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Sunday 2nd July

Home v Barnstaple & Pilton III NDL

It was a bad day to lose the toss, but that is exactly what Charles managed - what with dropping 2 catches and not making a run it was not one of his best.....
We started with Ted coming down the hill and Will bowling up hill into the wind. Both suffered as the B&P openers started with some big shots. Will got better luck with the first of his wickets gifted to him by batsmen playing on.Yet again Ted bowled well but had almost no luck, he should have had more than 2 from his 6 overs.
Nick and Rob bowled well but the father and son Beer combination batted well for the 6th wicket, until Beer Snr (B&P captain) was stumped by Steve for 61.
Beer Jnr went on to make 65 and held the tail together to post a score of 227 for 9 in their 45 overs.
It was cooler after tea and the ball did not swing as much as it had donefor Will. There was a battle between youth and experience with Mike and Peter (av. age 56) facing two youngsters who could almost have been their grandsons. Age won (as it often does) and they put on 105 for the first wicket when Peter went caught at short mid off for 43. Phil went out to join Mike and they strolled home with 8 overs and one ball to spare.
We gave one chance in 36.5 overs, a majestic batting performance, marred only by the fact I had to spend all afternoon padded up just in case. CS

By way of a change, (I think everybody knows what Mike looks like pulling a shot over the pavilion for 6!), here are some montages of 3 of Cheritons finest in bowling action. Not pretty I know, but kind of interesting. Ted Brigden from the Village End Phil Cutler from the Village End Will Carr from the Cadeleigh End

Tuesday 4th July

Away v Countess Wear ECL

A hot and humid night, and a team missing any member of the Foan dynasty. So it was left to Phil and Darren to open the batting, against CW's big Aussie captain. Probably the quickest bowling he's had to face this season, but fresh from Sundays good innings Phil dispatched the first ball for 4 with a very pleasing hook shot. This was followed by another 4 which came off a similar ball, only a little straighter, and caught the outside edge, flew past Phil's nose and through the keepers gloves. It seems that Phil has settled into life with his new bat and played some good shots, but not to his liking had to do an awful lot of running. Darren slipped early on turning for a second run, and reawokened the injury he sustained during the WLCM, and spent the rest of the match holding his right buttock! Batsmen came and went, Charles looking comfortable until he was surprised by a ball that didn't get up as much as he expected and scooped an easy catch to mid on. Ben was also looking relaxed, helping the board tick over until a mix up and unselfishly gave up his wicket so Phil could continue. He made a few more but was bowled trying to push the score along. Anthony played a very good cameo role, connecting twice in two balls,sending the ball to the square leg boundary for 4 and then 6. Andy felt very hard done by to be given out LBW and we were left perhaps a little short of a desired total. All the same it was defendable.
Ted bowled an excellent spell and was unlucky not to pick up a wicket with his first ball. Had Darren not been clutching that buttock in pain, and been able to move freely he would surely have snapped up a top edge with consumate ease. As it was it fell in no mans land and the batsmen scampered a single. Two more dropped catches, or missed chances perhaps I should say, might, if taken, have swung the game in our favour. But a good partnership saw the CW batsmen nearly home, despite good bowling from all the Cheriton bowlers. They passed our total with a couple of overs to spare and we were able to get some much needed liquid refreshment! PC

Thursday 6th July

Home v Head & Tails

Report to follow?

Sunday 9th July

Away v Black Torrington NDL

With the two sides on 17 points per game, this was a "double pointer", and opposed to overt shows of emotion as your correspondent is, he did punch the air as Ted hit the winning four.
It started badlywith us only able to field 10 players, but when BT won the toss and batted the mood lifted as the pitch was damp and the overhead conditions condusive to swing.
Ben and Ted bowled quick and straight and got some dangerous lift off a length, but it was Rob and Anthony who took the wickets, Rob with 9-0-34-3 in one spell, and Anthony 9-0-34-4 from two spells. With a man down it was hard work, but we stuck at it. Steve made what proved to be a match winning performance behind the stumps with 4 good catches and a series of excellent stops when the ball misbehaved.
We tried to bowl BT out before the 5th bowler was required, but just missed out. Mike and Charles had to fill in and bowled a very creditable 9-0-41-0 between them and were extremely unlucky not to take the last wicket.
Tea was taken with BT on 163 after their 45 overs, given that they routinely make 200+ at home, this was a great effort.
Mike and Peter had a torrid first few overs (Mike has a nice seam mark on his cheek) and we were unlucky to lose Peter, given run out despite the fact that the keeper did not appear to have control of the ball. Ben and Mike then did the majority of the job, each taking some painful blows from the BT quicks.
Anthony was undone by the bounce, and Steve by the pace, and we were falling behind the rate, but a few lusty blows saw us home with 2 overs to spare. CS

Tuesday 11th July

Home v Newton St Cyrs ECL

It's a funny old game, and none more so than last night.
Mike won the toss and batted, sending Ben (Coe) and Darren in to open. Darren never looked comfortable and went quickly, run or more accurately hopped out. Charles and Ben did their best, but were not able to find the boundary. Despite running some very quick singles the run rate was well below par. Charles, Jeremy, Ted and Anthony all went quickly, trying to up the rate and it was only Mike who managed to stay with Ben who ended on 46*, more than half of which were singles.
74 was a small total, but you never can tell....

Poor old Ben had a quick change and was out to open the bowling, and bowled extremely well. Almost all of the 25 runs he conceded coming from edges. Nick bowled as straight as ever, and was unlucky not to claim a hat-track, while Rob was at his best, and although he could not manage a hat-trick either, he did take 3 wickets in 4 balls. With Ted bowling a miserly spell from the other end and some very sharp fielding we had them 8 down going into the 17th over, but they only needed one to win, which they got off the second ball.
A good,close and exciting game, albeit a low scoring one.

Rob is now only 4 wickets away from th emonumental achievement of 650 career wickets!CS

Wednesday 12th July

Home v Pinhoe

Two things are certain when you play Pinhoe. The first being you never know what taem they're going to bring, and secondly that whichever team they do arrive with, they will always be good hearted and pleasant to play against.
Colin won the toss and committed the cardinal sin of putting Pinhoe into bat, much to the chagrin of Mike who envisaged another 50 before being forced to retire. However, Colin was captain and wanted to give some players who have missed out recently the chance of a decent bowl. So with this in mind and having watched Andy and David loosen up he chose these two to open the bowling. Andy's figures speak for themselves and David bowled alot better than his figures show. Andy had the batsmen trapped in their crease as he gave the ball lots of air, and really seems to have found a good rythmn of late - let's hope it lasts! Colin was the only other wicket taker, mixing it up as usual with his slow and heavily disguised even slower deliveries. Mike followed up his unexpected role as bowler from Sundays game with another good spell save for the odd short ball which got duly despatched to the out field! Luke struggled, bowling into the sun and Nick whose mind the whole match was anywhere but on the cricket field got hit around at the end of the Pinhoe innings, which ended on 127 for 4.
Colin now chose his batting order very carefully, giving those who didn't bowl the chance to bat, and putting his senior batsmen down the order for backup should they be required. Robbie is taking wickets by the bucket load at the moment and the gods continued to look kindly on him in his role of batsman. He faced 17 balls, scoring runs off 14 of them, without a defensive shot in sight, and made 44, to give the innings a solid foundation. John, Robbie's opening partner was hitting the ball very well, but managed to pick out the fielders more often than not. He lasted half the innings before being uprooted by Pinhoes top bowler. Anthony, Colin, Nick and Mike all call came and went quickly, so it was Phil who had to play the anchoring role who with the aid of a good six from Darren guided us home in the final over. PC

Saturday 15th July

Home v Old Grammarians

Always a pleasant side to play again