Ashburton first team travelled to play Yelverton on Saturday.
Unfortunately skipper Steve Edmonds lost the toss on a baking hot day and Ashburton were asked to field. With five regular players missing, Ashburton fielded a very youthful side and there was a first team debut for one of those as Luke Pascoe took the new ball with Edmonds. He bowled an excellent 7 over spell conceding just 27 runs, as Yelverton made a solid start with the bat through David Ackford (25) and Andy Birkett (25) as 63 was added for the opening wicket inside 15 overs. Edmonds (2 for 37) then dismissed both in quick succession and with George Yabsley (2 for 35) and Aditya More getting stuck into the middle order this became 102 for 6. Robert Grove (37) and Michael Lemmings (21) fought back adding 52 for the seventh wicket, but when Grove was run out coming back for a risky second, More returned to the attack to polish off the tail with the minimum of fuss as Yelverton were all out for 156 in the 40th over. More finishing with incredible figures of 8.1 overs, 5 wickets for just 8 runs.
In reply, Ashburton found runs hard to come by against some tight Yelverton bowling and with a succession of batsman getting starts and then getting out, Ash Berry (17) the best of them, they found themselves 67 for 5. More and Matt Churchill added 33 for the sixth wicket and when More and Tom Higgs (19) took the score to 142 for 7 Ashes looked favourites to win. A mixup resulted in the runout of Higgs and when Charlie Towers went first ball the game had swung back in Yelverton's favour as Ashes still needed 10 runs to win with their last pair at the crease. Luke Pascoe (3no) provided solid resistance at one end as More chipped away at the target and when he brought the scores level Ashes looked to have secured a nail biting victory. Cue one last twist as Birkett (3 for 21) dismissed More for an excellent 39 leaving the match tied.
After the game, skipper Edmonds said "Our best bowling and fielding performance of the year put us in a really strong position after losing the toss. It was great to see the young lads stepping in and putting in some really solid displays with bat and ball. Sadly we just never had a big partnership to put us in control, which meant that Yelverton were always in the game. Really gutting to be so close and not get over the finish line, but given we were 67 for 5 at one point, getting a tie isn't too bad. Just got to build on the positives over the coming weeks.".
Scorecard link - https://devoncl.play-cricket.com/website/results/5117899
Ashburton's overseas player Aditya More who took 5 wickets for 8 runs and scored 39 on Saturday.
Ashburton second team hosted their South Devon counterparts. South Devon won the toss and elected to bat and were all out for 153 in the 38th over. Dan Duke (48), Brian Allen (26no) and Aaron Hammett were the chief run getters for South Devon and Jack Warren (4 for 23), Marcus West (2 for 12) and Robin Lambert (2 for 21) did the damage with the ball for Ashes.
After losing Greg Robinson early West (52) and skipper Phil Pascoe (46) added 101 for the second wicket leaving Martin Causey (10) and Warren (9no) to see Ashburton home for the loss of just 3 wickets in the 35th over.
Scorecard link - https://devoncl.play-cricket.com/website/results/5120546