Buckley Cup

Okehampton v Belstone

WITH the sun shining Belstone made the short trip into Okehampton for a Buckley Cup fixture. Belstone got off to a good start, despite the early loss of Nazir Khan; with the ball coming onto the bat they reached 38 in the first four overs.

Jack Hatton retired soon for a powerful 30 including four boundaries. This brought captain Richard Drake to the crease and with it the first bowling change with home skipper Rob Sandercock bringing himself into the attack to stem the flow of runs.

Looking to make an instant impact Drake flailed wildly at his first ball which found the edge and carried well to keeper Stuart Lord giving Sandercock the immediate bragging rights. At the other end J Turner used the added pace and bounce of the track to dismiss three more batsmen as the run rate slowed drastically leaving the visitors on 67 at the halfway stage. Alex Jopling and Mark Whiteside steadied the ship and accelerated the score once more adding 51 runs between them. The last three added a further 20 runs to leave the visitors on 142 for six after the 20 overs.

Okehampton needed a good start with the bat but opening bowlers Whiteside and Matt Dennis bowled few loose balls, using the surprisingly hard wicket and various mounds of straw strewn across it, to their advantage.

With the ball swinging around both picked up a couple of early wickets leaving Oke on nine for four after four overs. Sandercock entered bat in hand and in the spirit of entertainment, Drake returned the favour bringing himself onto bowl and had his revenge dismissing Sandercock via Jack Hatton’s stumping for ten as he looked to go for the big one.

Lord rebuilt well for a confident 18 before holing out to James Walker off the leg spin of Jopling making the score 47-7. Doug Little and Dave Smallacombe also bowled well as Oke found it hard to get the ball away. The game was finished off as Belstone colt Tom Pike had J Turner caught in the deep for his very first Belstone wicket leaving Oke all out for 80.

Buckley Cup

Belstone v Hatherleigh

HATHERLEIGH arrived at Rew Meadow for an evening T20 Buckley Cup match against Belstone with a team of ten promising teenagers plus their overseas star, Kiwi Matt Thomas, all of which led to an entertaining closely fought game. The youngsters got off to a superb start as opener Niall Leahy raced to 26, including two huge sixes before retiring as the Hatherleigh score rocketed to 46 after five overs.

Tom Pearce (4-0-16-2) put the brakes on but it was the introduction of left-armer Doug Little that really brought Belstone back into the match. His first ball accounted for Thomas, clean bowled as he played an extravagant shot to leg, this just four days after he had plundered 96 off the Belstone attack in the North Devon League division one match at Hatherleigh.

Little followed up next ball by bowling Josh Parsons for a golden duck, clean bowled two more in his third over and, thanks to a superb running catch by Dan Fogerty to dismiss Declan Grimshaw for a single, finished his four overs with career-best figures of 5-20. It meant Leahy could return to the crease to strike a few more blows to finish on 33 not out, leaving Belstone requiring 109 from their 20 overs for victory.

After Matt Dennis and Pearce were out cheaply Eddy Jones (25 retired) and Jamie Walker (9) took the score to 60 but with the overs ticking away the home side still needed 49 off eight.

Thomas’s day did not improve when he injured his shoulder bowling the second ball of his spell – which went for six – and he could not finish the over. Fogerty hit 14 quick runs and Belstone’s cause was also helped by a rash of wides – 26 in all – but it was left to Mark Whiteside (16 not out) and Chris Walpole (7 not out) to see Belstone to a four wicket win with just four balls to spare.