Cornwood 2nd XI win thriller against Paignton | Last pair scamper home with three balls to spare

Paignton

CORNWOOD 2nd XI pulled off a thrilling win at Paignton with their last pair of batsmen in the middle and just three balls to go.

Paignton’s middle order of Rory Medlock (25), Connor Bryan (31), Dan Wolf (35) and Sam Woodcock (23) had delivered the goods in a final total of 221 all out.

Each of the seven Cornwood bowlers deployed took a wicket with James Richardson (2-27), Matt Tamsett (2-31) and skipper Robin Dart (2-38) all going one better.

Ben Griffiths (48) and Dart (68) got Cornwood up and running with a stand of 113. At 190 for three with Matt Butterworth (44) still there, it looked like game over.

Losing five wickets for 14 runs scored – Mike Pedley and Jack Harman largely responsible – changed the tone of the game completely.

The man of the moment was Josh Goodliffe, who hit 19 not out and with last man Andy Bees at the other end saw Cornwood over the line.

Skipper Dart questioned his own decision to bat second, but added: “But we battled hard and took wickets at key points to restrict them to a gettable score.”

Looking back on the run chase, Dart said he was pleased to have played a key role in it.

“We've been saying all season we need to bat to a plan and build partnerships and we finally did so,” said Dart.

“Ben and I sharing 100-odd runs for the first wicket set a solid base on which the rest of the guys could come in and play freely

“It got a bit tense towards the end as we lost a few clumps of wickets, but we bat to 11 and showed it.”