Ashburton captain Ashley Berry presents new recruit Steve Edmonds with his club cap

ASHBURTON crept to a five-wicket win over newly promoted Stoke Gabriel, whose decision to bat backfired after they were bowled out for 94.

 

Stoke skipper Jack Tolley (30) started positively and was given a couple of lives when he was caught off a no-ball then a tough leg-side chance was put down by Ashes’ skipper Ash Berry.

Steve Edmonds bowled another fine opening spell (2-18 off 9) and when he dismissed Tolley, Stoke were 42 for two.

Runs completely dried up as Matt Churchill (2- 22) and Will Coon (3-12) bowled with control.

Pressurised by tight Ashes’ fielding, Stoke became frustrated and threw away wickets to a succession of poor shots.

Only Jake Robinson (13) made it into double figures as Stoke were all out for 94 in 35 overs with Jake Pascoe (2-2) finishing off the tail.

Ashburton knew occupying the crease would win them the game on a wicket that had proved challenging to bat on.

In a low-scoring game every little helps. There were stands of 22 between Lloyd White (8) and Pascoe (16), 20 between Pascoe and Dan Coles (19) and a further 27 between Coles and Arun Karthick (11).

Martin Causey (8no) and Edmonds (8no) saw Ashes over the line with 6.3 overs remaining. Tim Withington (-13) was the pick of the Stoke bowlers.

Winning skipper Berry felt the result was an improvement on the previous week’s victory over Cornwood 2nd XI.

"We had a marked improvement in our bowling this week and could apply pressure very early,” said Berry.

“It told on a few of their batsman and we were able to take our time during the chase.

“We still have areas of improvement and our batsman have not been tested properly yet, but the guys are up for the challenge and are really enjoying their cricket."

BABBACOMBE flopped to 61 all out against Dartington & Totnes, who went on to defeat them by seven wickets.

The Walls Hill side were 51 for three D&T skipper Harry Baxendale got stuck in.

Baxendale took five wickets for four runs in 5.1 overs as Babbacombe caved-in. There were more extras (27) than any individual’s runs off the bat.

Darts’ opener Jacobus Snyman (27) was dismissed on 54, which only left bits and pieces to complete the rout.

BRIDESTOWE notched their first victory of the season when they won by seven wickets at Kingsbridge.

The hosts found runs hard to come by against the Bridestowe seamers, but only Tom Boother (1-21) picked up a wicket.

Spin accounted for the rest of the King's batsmen with Alex Jopling (4-22), Eddy Jones (3-20) and Callum Mallett (2-32) all bowling well.

Only Ben Grose (16), Steve Inch (11), and James Ellis (27 no) made double figures as Kings were bowled out for 114.

Bridestowe took just over 20 overs to chase the target, losing three wickets along the way.

Gary Sizmur (33 no) anchored the chase with a composed innings.

Brandon Horn (56 no) smashed four fours and five sixes to seal the win in a hurry.

Neal Peach (1-30) and Bhanu de Silva (1-29) were the wicket takers for the hosts.

RICHARD Goldsby-West made a big impression for Plymouth 2nd XI in the 46-run derby win over Cornwood 2nd XI.

Goldsby-West was unable to travel with the 1st XI to Exeter and stayed behind at Mount Wise.

He top scored with 56 in Plymouth’s total of 247 all out, putting on 78 with John Cummings (16) and 44 with Sam Knapman (44).

Jamie Bailey and Lee Baker had three wickets each for Cornwood.

Bailey, who went in at 82 for four, then top scored with 67 not out as Cornwood chased to 201 for nine.

James Richardson (33) and Luke Richardson (24) chipped in, but Cornwood were one more score short of getting over the line. West’s three for 28 with the ball slowed Cornwood mid innings.

YELVERTON lost by six wickets at Shaldon, where their total of 154 all out always looked on the shy side.

Ben Grove top sored with 53 for Yelverton and batted through to the fall of the second wicket at 102. No one else made more than Arvind Singh (19).

Youngster Will Greenwood (3-18) was the pick of a tidy set of Shaldon bowling stats. Ross Abraham (2-18) and Richie Fisher (1-25) bowled mean spells.

Shaldon had the runs knocked off with nearly seven overs to spare. Skipper Todd Ballman (25) pointed them in the right direction, which left Karl Blackburn (30no) and Carl Woolnough (25) to join up the dots.