Ashburton met Stoke Gabriel for the third time this season in the final of the Aaron Printers Cup at South Devon CC on Sunday.
Stoke won the toss and elected to bat and after a passing shower delayed the start by a few minutes the game got underway. Steve Edmonds set the tone for the innings with an excellent opening over and finished a fine spell with figures of 4 overs, 0 for 10. At the other end, Matt Coon ripped through the Stoke top order taking out dangermen Jack Tolley and Seb Ansley on his way to figures of 4 overs, 4 for 31. A superb piece of fielding by Toby Pascoe with a sliding stop on the boundary followed by an excellent throw left Isaac Withington well short of his ground and Stoke were in all sorts of trouble at 35 for 5. Luke Pascoe then picked off two more wickets to leave them 49 for 7. Ant Kanwar got his head down and batted sensibly to make a patient 23 and with some help from the lower order got Stoke up to 100 for 9 off their allocation of 20 overs. Luke Pascoe finishing with figures of 3 for 19 from his 4 overs and brother Toby 1 for 19 from his 4. Matt Churchill also turned out his 4 overs for just 18 runs in an all-round superb display of bowling and fielding.
The Ashburton reply was a steady one, against some tight Stoke bowling and fielding with Jake and Phil Pascoe taking the score to 18 from 6 overs before Phil was dismissed for 10. This brought skipper Lloyd White to the crease and the scoring rate started to creep up with some good running between the wickets and a couple of big sixes from White. The required rate was always around 6 an over as the pair took the score to 80 before Pascoe fell for an excellent 30. There was a brief cameo from Chris Pascoe which included a huge 6 at an important time, before he was unfortunately run out with the scores level which left Ash Berry to hit the winning single as Ashes reached the target at 101 for 3 with 7 balls to spare. White finishing on an excellent unbeaten 45.
White reflected on a superb day for all the Chargers; "I thought we were absolutely clinical with the ball, which set the tone for the day. All of our bowlers were brilliant and our ground fielding was perhaps the best I have ever seen. Matt Coon set the tone with the big wickets up top and the Pascoe brothers, alongside Matt Churchill in the middle and death, were superb. As always, Steve Edmonds showed his control and experience and he lead our attack superbly from ball one. I am absolutely delighted for the club and our members. The result reflects a lot of hard work that goes in by all. To be part of the club's first-ever cup win is an honour and with the direction in which we the club is heading, this won't be our last!"
Matt Coon deservedly took the man of the match award for his 4 for 31.
Photos courtesy of Julian Preston & Chris Deller
Ashburton's 2020 Aaron Printers cup winning side.
Back row - Chris Pascoe, Steve Edmonds, Dan Coles, Toby Pascoe, Phil Pascoe, Luke Pascoe
Front row - Jake Pascoe, Matt Churchill, Matt Coon, Lloyd White, Ash Berry
Skipper Lloyd White and MOTM Matt Coon
The Aaron Printers Cup