Devon D West

Whitchurch Wayfarers 1sts vs South Devon 1sts

AFTER winning the toss, South Devon elected to bat first. On their home ground they had done the same and gone on to score an unbeatable 273 for six. With a short boundary and a hot and unforgiving afternoon they could have been forgiven for hoping for a repeat. It was not to be as an outstanding team bowling performance resulted in an entirely different outcome.

It started quietly enough with just the loss of one of the openers. Darren Sambells (1 for 42) started the floodgates snaring the impressive Raheja for an uncharacteristic 16 when he gloved a ball to the keeper. After that Josh Vernon (5-31) tore the heart out of the South Devon batting with a blistering spell of accurate bowling.

Kerr (19) was as good as it got for the visitors at this time. When Vernon finished his spell he was replaced by Josh Towl (3-35) who kept South Devon on the rack. The late batsmen managed to eke out a few runs with edges that flew to the boundary taking South Devon to 128 which didn’t seem anything like enough.

Finishing early meant there was no tea break. The Whitchurch reply started badly with captain Powell in and out for one. Towl (43) and Potts (13) steadied the ship and took score to 49 before Potts was bowled.

The tea interval brought welcome sustenance to both teams. The accuracy of the bowling and niggling doubts about the bounce meant that the game was not won. Allen in particular made life difficult with two wickets for just 23 runs off his nine over spell. South Devon were defending too low a total and the Whitchurch batsmen managed to match their bowlers.

Gibbs (44 not out) showed the way with an accomplished innings of raw determination coupled with some commanding boundaries. Whitchurch crossed the finish line with 15 overs to spare snaring a valuable 20 points and keeping them out of the relegation zone.

Future fixtures: Saturday 1st XI away Yelverton, 2nd XI home Hatherleigh III, Sunday friendly PCOs.