Buckley Cup

Tedburn St Mary v Belstone

THE latest Buckley Cup match was a top-of-the-table clash, with the teams going into the game separated by one point having both played five, won five.

Opener Neil Branton got the Tedburn innings off to an explosive start, hitting two sixes in an eight ball cameo before he was out in the third over for 18.

The other opener Dave Rich also hit a six before he was caught for 21 but wickets then fell steadily with only Russell Crang holding the middle order together with 27 not out.

All six Belstone bowlers got among the wickets with Tom Fogerty claiming two clean bowled in the first four balls of his spell.

Tedburn's 20-over total of 115 for nine promised a close finish, but with Belstone's top four all falling to Mike Barlow (4-0-11-4) by the time the score had reached 24 in the sixth over, the home team were struggling.

Alex Williams ensured there was no recovery with three for 18 from his four overs so in the end all Belstone could do was settle for a third batting point as the overs ran out with them still 39 runs adrift.

Ryan Dennis top-scored for Belstone with 18 but this was a disappointing way to end their 11-match unbeaten run.

Buckley Cup P W L Pts

Tedburn St Mary 6 6 0 80

Belstone 6 5 1 76

Spreyton 5 3 2 53

Sticklepath 5 1 4 34

North Tawton 3 1 2 18

Yeoford 4 0 4 18

Hatherleigh 3 0 3 16

North Devon

Lynton and Lynmouth

v Belstone

BELSTONE continued in fine form with an emphatic nine wicket win against Lynton and Lynmouth at the beautiful Valley of the Rocks ground.

The home side batted first and made a steady start with an opening partnership of 20 before Peter Druce was caught on the midwicket boundary by Callum Mallett for 12. With the score on 46, Sam Burgess sent a skier behind bowler Jonathan Parsons (9-3-21-2) which was spectacularly caught at full dive by Richard Drake.

After that the Belstone bowlers were on top and after 23 overs only 30 runs were scored, during which time another six wickets fell.

Tom Fogerty clean bowled four of the middle order while conceding 15 runs in his nine overs, but he was backed up by Mallett's (9-2-15-2) well-flighted spin.

Lynton's tail wagged with the last two wickets adding 50 thanks to Nick Constable (15) and a flurry of extras to give an all-out total of 120.

Belstone's reply almost began in disaster as Phil Woods narrowly avoiding a run-out.

But then, after Scott Tremain had suffered a rare failure, Woods and Drake took complete charge, matching each other boundary for boundary as they raced to the target in 18 overs, both finishing just short of half-centuries.