Ashburton 1st XI continued their momentum by beating South Devon by 93 runs at Varwell Field. Skipper Ash Berry losing the toss and the hosts being asked to bat. It was bits and pieces from the top order as Lloyd White (11), Dan Coles and Ash Berry (both 15) got in and got out. The ship was steadied by Tom Durman and Tristan Wakefield who put on a match changing 78. Durman first to fall for a patient and well-crafted 42, which included 5 fours and two sixes. Wakefield continued however and passed his half century mark in the 37th over. With the last 6 batsmen only making 11 runs between them, Wakefield had a licence to attack. His 73 included 3 huge 6s and six 4s and was vital to the Ashes total of 191 all out.
The South Devon start got off to the worst possible start as Wakefield took a stunning return catch to remove Mark Andrews for 14. The Durman brothers teamed up to remove Dave Knowles – Dom doing the bowling – Tom taking the catch at first slip. Dom then removed Ali Wright, plumb LBW for one and finished with 2-28 from his 9 overs. Ash Harvey then turned the screw in the middle overs and removed the dangerous Dinesh Raheja for 9 – Wakefield with safe hands at first slip. Harvey then removed James Hargreaves and keeper Cameron Fogden, both without troubling the scorers – and finished with an impressive 3 for 21 from his 9 overs. Brothers Will and Matt Coon took 3 wickets between them, and Tom Durman bowled last man Morgan Hargreaves for 7 as Ashes wrapped up an impressive 93 run win.
Berry reflected: “A very satisfying performance where everything went to plan; we batted in partnerships and then the bowling unit being were very disciplined against a side with some talented players. We're taking one game at a time and as I said last week, we'll continue to chip away with these wins"
The grip on leaders Babbacombe tightened as they lost to Bridestowe – meaning the gap is just 6 points at the top of the table – with both teams due to play each other on 19th August. This weekend the 1st XI travel to Kingsbridge whilst the 2nd XI host Brixham.
The 2nd XI fell agonisingly short at Ivybridge. Wickets were shared around by Jerry Crouch (2-26), Rob Lambert (2-46) and then 1 each for young stars Jack Churchill and Tom Higgs. Ivybridge clocking up exactly 200 from their allotted overs.
The reply was based around a patient 34 by Kev Nicholls – well support by Tony Lacey (16), Jack Churchill (12) and George Marshall (13). Jake Pascoe continued his run of fine form with a top innings score of 39 from 56 balls. Along with 25 extras the Chargers got up to 161-8 from their 45 overs falling just 39 short. Positives a plenty though with many of the young guys having prominent roles – building for an exciting future.