D Division East: North Devon beat Sidmouth in last ball thriller

Jimmer Thomas - runs for North Devon in the nail-biting win over Sidmouth

GRAHAM Trude hit a match-winning 58 not out for Clyst Hydon in a one-wicket victory over Chardstock.

Hydon skipper Chris Holmes probably thought it was all over bar the shouting when his side reached 155 for five chasing 188 to win. Alex Watson (3-27) had taken three wickets early on, but a fourth-wicket stand of 88 between Trude and Dom Carswell (55) appeared to end the game as a contest.

Wickets started to tumble to Steve Allsopp (3-39), Gary Larcombe and Rob Hutchings (2-23) as Hydon deteriorated from 155 for five to 174 for eight then 185 for nine.

Trude stayed put and with last man Will Thornton at the other end Hydon scrambled home in the 39th over to stay third in the D East table.

SAMPFORD Peverell & Tiverton won for the first time in three starts when they won by three wickets at Uplyme.

Uplyme started the day on top of the table and were favourites against a team one place clear of the relegation places.

Third-wicket pair Andy Harrison (65) and Tyler Wellman (87) put on exactly 100 for Uplyme in their total of 237 for seven.

Josh Kallway (3-41) was the most effective of the SP&T bowlers.

Openers Lee Hooper (53) and Tom Lock (61) responded with a 129-run stand for SP&T to get the chase up and running. Tim Hill (24) and Jerry Turner (24no) contributed to getting over the line with two overs to spare.

Harvey Brimacombe’s six-wicket haul for Uplyme meant SP&T could not relax until he was bowled out.

ALPHINGTON & Countess Wear captain James Bogue hammered another D Division East century in his side’s 85-run win over Barnstaple & Pilton.

Bogue followed his 109 against Uplyme & Lyme Regis seven days earlier with 107 in A&CW’s 247 for five against the bottom side in the division.

Matthew Taylor made 25 opening up and put on 59 with his captain after Mark Halse was run-out by bowler Giles Bashford without facing a ball. Dave Jarvis (27) put on 90 for the third wicket with his captain.

Bogue said he had only complied back-to-back 100s once before in his sporting career – 'and that was on the golf course!'

Although Joe Hastie (4-57) got Bogue out at 93 for seven, the runs kept coming from Richard Reardon (38no) and Jon Heaver (22no).

Barnstaple & Pilton lost their first three wickets for 25 runs on the board and faced an uphill struggle after that.

James Poole (48) and Charlie Holm (36) put on 71 for the fourth B&P wicket, which was as good as it got in a total of 162 for nine.

Pick of the bowlers with three wickers each were Dylan Spicer (3-27) and Jon Hill (3-29).

Alphington are nine points clear of Uplyme at the top of the table.

Barnstaple & Pilton are winless at the bottom of the table and 32 points adrift of safety.

REUBEN Windley made an unbeaten 98 to steer North Devon 3rdXI to a three-wicket win over their Sidmouth counterparts in a game that went down to the final ball.

Tom Clay (80) was the anchorman for Sidmouth in a total of 254 for nine. David Watkins (38) and Ben Fisher (24) got runs ether side of him.

Will Popham (2-40) was the only North Devon bowler to take more than one wicket. 

Windley was at one end during stands worth 253 for North Devon.  Joe Kelly (44), Jimmer Thomas (34) and Josh Atkinson (34) were the supporting acts.

It came down to six to win from the final over bowled by Sidmouth’s Toby Seldon – and two off last ball. Windley and Jonny Green scuttled through for the winning runs.

KENTISBEARE slid to a sixth straight defeat in the D Division East when they lost by 69-runs at Feniton.

Kents have not won since the opening day of the season when they beat Barnstaple & Pilton by six wickets.

The league season reaches the halfway stage this Saturday when they travel to Chardstock and Kents are one off the bottom of the table with 23 points to find to get out of the relegation places.

Tom Martin, the Kentisbeare captain, said it was difficult to pinpoint what was going wrong this season.

“It is a bit of everything,” said Martin. “When we're bowling we're not taking early wickets or putting any pressure on the opposition top order.

“Too many boundary balls and miss-fields are allowing them to score big totals. 

“When we bat, we're not valuing our wickets. Batsmen are getting starts but we lose wickets so regularly we can't expect to set or chase targets.”

Martin said Kents are in a transitional stage when teenage prospects are maturing into senior players. What they need is a bit more experience around them.

“We have a good mix of guys with great experience playing at this level to help them out, but we are badly missing a core generation of 20-something year olds who you would rely on to make up a first team,” said Martin.

“I have seen a few signs of our confidence coming back at times in the last couple of games; the spirit is still there and I hope we can turn it around and start to pick up some wins over the next few weeks.”

Mark Kingdon battered the Kentisbeare bowling for 167 not out – 19 fours, seven sixes – as Feniton made their way to 310 for six. He put on 78 with Mark Salter (33) for the first wicket and 107 for the second with Marc Russell (36).

Kents lost wickets steadily to Jack Tucker (4-39) as they subsided to 89 for five in reply.

Karl Walton (37) and Martyn Howe (37) put up some resistance, but at 148 for nine it seemed all over bar the shouting.

Last-wicket pair Seth Finlay (78) and Rory Dennis (13) had other ideas and their stand of 93 kept Feniton in the field until the 38thover.