Today's date is

Thursday 4th May

Home v Butterleigh

Report and full scorecard to follow

Sunday 7th May

Home v Rackenford

With Peter on duty for Rackenford it was a shame tha Ted and Ben Coe were otherwise engaged. But we would just have to manage.
Charles won the toss again, and once more elected to bat. Mike was accompanied to the middle by the captain, who seemed to be alittle keen to get on with it. A bit too keen for Dave Miles, who had 3 blue fingers and 39 runs taken from his first 4 overs. Mike also notched up his first bruise of the season, hitting a young spectator firmly on the knee cap and forcing her to retreat to the cars.
Mike went immediately after drinks, caught at deep square leg, and Ben Rice went soon after, bowled by Bennet Jr ("a promising youngster who deserved encouraging" Ben said later!). Unfortunately he pulled a muscle during his second over (leaving him figures of 1.5-0-1-1, and that was a wide!).
Charles tried one too many, lost his leg stump and so gave way to John Pitts. John showed himself to be a stylish and fluent bat, but was obviously having trouble with the low, slow pitch, finally going to a very athletic return catch.
Steve and Dave Carr pushed the score on, Steve content to ease the singles and let Dave do the swiping. Bennet Sr finally took both their wickets, leaving Anthony and Eric to make the most of the last 2 overs. This they did, scoring 18 between them to leave us on 211 for 6 from our 35 overs.

Tea by Carol (always an event of note) was accompanied by a change in the weather from warm and sunny to blxxdy cold!

In an attempt to leave early Rowley (for once not keeper) opened with Peter. After a few scares they were going nicely, thanks in part to some (OK 10) wides from Eric and some cafeteria bowling from DC. In the middle of his sweet trolley Dave did string two good balls together, but could not manage the hatrick.
John Pitts loosened his bowling muscles after several years of relative inactivity and claimed his first wicket for the club while Robbie shuffled closer to 650 at the other end - I wonder if the statistician can work out what percentage of Robs wickets are caught (usually Sheldrick or Cutler) at long on/off?
In the end our total was bettered in the 33rd over - we scored more oof the bat, but a total of 28 extras was too many to give away. CS

Tuesday 9th May

We learnt today that sadly two teams have dropped out of the Tuseday evening league. Whimple, who we were looking forward to renewing acquantancies with, and Victorians. I personally hope we can arrange friendly fixtures with Victorians as they were an enjoyable team to play against and will be missed in the league. PC

Tuesday 9th May

Away v Shobrooke Cruisers EECL

Colin guessed correctly to give us a 100% record on winning the toss this season, if only we had a 100% record in matches.
Foan and Sheldrick opened, but it was R not M. Foan on this occasion. First ball was taken by Richard, clipped the shoulder of the bat and was missed at slip. An expensive miss that Shobrooke were to regret.
With Richard content to hit sixes and Charles singles, the score went along nicely until Charles lobbed an attempted drive to mid on. There then followed a mini collapse until Ted joined Richard and order was restored. this pair put on a good partnership until Richard mis-timed a big hit and was dropped on the boundary. He then went into overdrive, hitting the ball with great timing, but was eventually out when he offered up a third chance.
Mike and then Colin joined Ted to push the total up to a very creditable 157.
True to form the Cruisers had taken a long time to bowl their 20 overs, so we began to field in fading light and and rapidly falling dew. With boundaries essential Colin set defensive fields for Eric, Rob and Rohan. They bowled economically and were unlucky to be wicketless, Rob in particular. With 10 overs gone and only 60 on the board the Cruisers needed to take risks if they were to stand any chance.
Colin turned to his two best bowlers to deliver the knockout blow, and this they did, 3 each, though in rather different ways. Ted bowled at a lively pace and knocked over the stumps on all 3 occasions, while Richard's left arm spin accounted for 3 more, all stumped by Anthony, all attempting to charge him.
With 2 run outs added to the six bowlers wickets, Cruisers did well to get to 120, but never looked like making the 158 they needed.
A solid batting performance was followed by a very good fielding display. That the Cruisers hit only 6 boundaries in their 120 is a credit to the whole team. CS

Wednesday 10th May

Home v Pinhoe

Here's the game in pictures!

Before the match	Peter in full swing
Just look at the concentration and determination on Robbie's face.

Scorecard Cheriton 163 for 7 Pinhoe 149 for 5 Cheriton Bowling A.Goddard 3-0-11-1 J.Foan 3-0-37-0 P.Evershed-Martin 3-1-15-1 R.Keight 3-0-16-1 C.Heard 3-0-21-0 D.Lacey 1-0-9-1 N.Guscott 3-0-21-0 B.Rice 1-0-16-0 Cheriton Batting 1 M.Foan   Retired 50   2 B.Rice  Caught 17   3 D.Lacey LBW 2   4 P.Blight C + B 26   5 C.Heard + Caught 1   6 N.Guscott  LBW 15   7 R.Keight Bowled 20   8 A.Mogridge †  Stumped 1   9 J.Foan Not Out 0   10 P.Evershed-Martin Not Out 5   11 A.Goddard - -       Extras 26       TOTAL 163 for 7 Result Won by 14 runs

Ben Rice during his innings of 17.... ...and again Anthony wielding his axe.

Thursday 11th May

Home v St Germans College

A new fixture for us and a very enjoyable one too. St.Germans are a good mix of young enthusiastic cricketers of varying abilities, two or three of whom would walk into our best team with no problem (and show us a thing or two while they're at it!).
There was turmoil to begin with as a couple of late withdrawals from our team left Colin hunting around to get 11 fit players. Due to this situation we batted first and those not yet in (and those already out!) made frantic phone calls to recruit more players.
Batting was made difficult by very low bounce and a setting sun. Phil soon found himself at the crease after extended gardening leave, and to begin with timed the ball like someone who hadn't picked up a bat since early February. He and Ben put on the majority of the runs, most coming off the final 8 overs, as the score at the half way point was a measly 45! Phil finally got into his stride and reminded himself what he's been missing - if only the back didn't hurt so much!!
131 was a reasonable total, but how good would the St G's batting be? Too good as it turned out. Had the captain not retired himself and their number 3, the match would have ended alot quicker than what it did. This pair hit the ball hard; the captain with great style and elegance, whilst the number 3 bat was more akin to the national hero, bludgening the ball, and finding the far hedge on a number of occasions! Two good points from our bowling display were Jim Cutler's first wicket for the club, and Gavin's first 4 balls, all of which took us by surprise by being straight, however he soon found his usual line and length after those 4 gems!!

A good match played in a very friendly spirit. Well done Phil E-M, Gav and Luke for coming to the rescue tonight and giving us a full team. PC

Sunday 14th May

Away v North Molton II NDL

An early season visit to North Molton was a repeat of our first ever NDL match, and given the downpour they had on Saturday the pitch was much the same.
Charles won the toss, and to the surprise of some of the senior members of the team elected to bat first. Peter and Mike saw off the openers, who both bowled their 9 in a single spell. When Peter was caught (off a no ball…), they had made 48 in 17 overs, only 14 of which had come off the bat! Wides had top scored, and were an important factor in the eventual outcome. Blame cannot be attached to the batsmen, it was often so wide that the keeper could not take the ball cleanly and on 8 occasions extra runs could be taken from the wide.
Ben and Mike were looking good and started to up the rate, but both perished before they got going. Mike scooped one to square leg to bring Dave to the wicket. He looked a little out of sorts, particularly when running. Charles kept him going once Ben went, though Dave was getting redder and redder. “Only one” he kept calling, only to be ignored by his captain.
When Charles went he was replaced by Ted, possibly the only person quicker between the wickets –poor old Dave could not keep up, and was finally out bowled to a very tired looking shot.
Jeremy proved he was picked as a bowler to leave Steve only 2 balls to face. He did exactly what was needed and we ended on 226, with extras top score on 69.
It got much colder after tea, with a hint of rain on the wind. Ted and Ben started our attack, but could not find the wicket taking ball. After 12 overs Charles called up Dave and Robbie. Both bowled a very good line, but it was Dave who struck first, bowling a horrid long hop that was sliced to Charles at mid off. Dave followed this up with a caught and bowled and a smart catch behind the stumps by Steve, who did a very good job despite an injured hand.
Robbie continued to wheel away up the hill and was rewarded with a wicket in his 6th over. Had he stopped there he would have had figures of 6-0-15-1. He didn’t and suffered in the run chase at the end.
D.C. went from strength to strength and produced a double wicket maiden in his 8th over to finish with 9-1-25-5.Will is not going to be happy!
Jeremy was picked as a bowler, and proved it with 5 good overs to hold down one end while Ted and Ben thundered in down the hill. Ben took the important wicket of Sherring and produced a great throw to effect a run out during Mike’s solitary over, but it was Steve who finished off their innings with a sharp stumping to give Jeremy a well deserved wicket.
At 178 all out off 41.3 overs North Molton ended up 50 runs behind, and on paper comfortably beaten, but it was a great deal closer than the figures make it look.A generally good display with bat and ball (despite a drop or two, sorry Ted) and a nice way to post our first win of the season in the NDL.
Let’s hope Black Torrington’s recent form continues next weekend! CS