North Devon division four
Victoria Park v Belstone
FOR the second Sunday running an impressive bowling display set up a comprehensive victory for Belstone in their latest North Devon League division four match against Victoria Park at Bideford.
Winning the toss and batting the home team found runs hard to get even on a fast outfield as David Binns (9-2-34-2) and Harry Bushin (9-4-14-2) bowled with venom to leave them struggling on 50 for four at the end of their spells.
The pressure was maintained by Jimmy Ewen who followed his four wickets for zero runs last week with another four wicket bag, this time at a cost of 14 runs, which included two stumpings from Simon Tremain in quick succession. Only number three batsman Stewart Russell stood firm, holding the innings together until he was ninth out for a patient 29, bowled by a shooter from Jonathan Parsons (8-2-18-1).
A last wicket stand of 24 between youngsters Paul Schiller and Josh Johnstone took Victoria Park to three figures but they were all out for 102 with ten overs remaining.
Sam Ewen pulled the first ball of Belstone's reply to the midwicket boundary and this set the tone for a sparkling opening partnership of 97 with skipper Scott Tremain. They hit 13 boundaries and a six between them and were only out caught in the deep for 49 and 39 respectively as they tried to finish the match with a flourish. As it was four byes brought up the eight wicket win and 20 points for Belstone.