Ashburton first team travelled to play Hatherleigh seconds on a gorgeous summer's day. Unfortunately skipper Ash Berry lost the toss and the hosts had little hesitation in opting to bat first.
On a very flat pitch, Steve Edmonds produced a remarkable opening spell bowling 9 overs straight through and taking 4 wickets for 11 runs. Matt Churchill (1 for 46) also picked up a wicket as the hosts slumped to 44 for 5. Sam Clark was then put down on 0 off the bowling of Edmonds to deny him a well deserved 5-fer. Clark made Ashburton pay for this mistake as he smashed the bowling to all parts in a brutal innings of 84 from 57 balls as Hatherleigh reached 150 for 5 with 20 overs still remaining. Jack Warren, promoted from the second team for the day, was then introduced into the attack and immediately dismissed Clark. Morgan Reynolds (64) and Tom Carroll (33) batted sensibly to keep the board moving before Chris Yeo (1 for 72) dismissed Carroll and Warren (4 for 46) picked up a further 3 wickets in the late dash for runs as Hatherleigh were all out for 248 with one ball remaining.
Openers Jake Pascoe and Lloyd White started the reply positively adding 51 in good time before White was dismissed for 20. Skipper Berry joined Pascoe and was happy to take a back seat role as Pascoe smashed the bowling to all parts of the ground on his way to an imperious century. The score had advanced to 174 as the two added 123 for the second wicket before Pascoe eventually fell for 109. Dan Coles then joined his skipper and the two knocked off the remaining 75 needed with the minimum of fuss as the target was comfortably reached with more than 7 overs remaining. Berry finishing unbeaten on 50 whilst Coles was unbeaten on 45.
After the game skipper Berry said "We let them get a few too many after our start from Steve, but a special mention to Jack Warren stepping up and bowling superbly to get 4 wickets. Then the batsmen learned their lessons from previous weeks to comfortably knock off a decent total, led by Jake's maiden ton for the club. I was fortunate enough to be down the other end to watch it up close and I'm sure it will be the first of many. Next week I have 5 players returning for selection so I have some good problems to solve.".
Link to scorecard - https://www.play-cricket.com/website/results/4137363
Pictured is Jake Pascoe who made his maiden club Century on Saturday (credit Julian Preston)
Ashburton second team hosted their Babbacombe counterparts. After asking the visitors to bat first they restricted Babbacombe to 162 for 9 in their 40 overs. Toby Pascoe (3 for 25), Nial Kemp (2 for 32) and Greg Robinson (2 for 44) were the main wicket takers.
The reply was dominated by a fine innings from Tom Rush. He added 84 with skipper Phil Pascoe (30) and a further 55 with Toby Pasco (19). Marcus West (14no) then joined Rush as the target was passed in the 30th over for the loss of just two wickets. Rush finishing unbeaten on a magnificent 91.
Link to scorecard - https://www.play-cricket.com/website/results/4138149
Link to match photos (credit Julian Preston) - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=julian.preston.14&set=a.10159270935987357