FENITON may have been bowled out for 101 by Topsham St James but that proved enough to win the East Threegame by seven runs.
Jack Tucker (26) had one of only three scores above 10 as Mark Phillips (3-16), Neil Shillabeer (3-22) and Rhys Norman (2-16) had Feniton all out in the 26thover.
St James got to 54 for two on the chase – Jonathan Sapwell (18) digging in for runs – then collapsed to 66 for eight on their way to 94 all out.
Sam Vincent (3-21) did the initial damage then Adam David bagged five for 29 in seven overs to wrap things up.
Feniton are top of the table by 2.3 points from Alphington & Countess Wear, who won at Budleigh Salterton by 48 runs.
Matt Taylor (66) and James Bogue (36) put on 81 for Alphington & CW’s first wicket with Taylor carrying on until the score reached 136 for three.
Jack Mills (32) and Mark Halse (53no) kept the board ticking over as A&CW reached 260 for five.
Budleigh opener Will Oxland (64) took the reply up to 172 for five with the help of bits-and-pieces scores.
Alex Taylor (68) kept going at one end but wickets fell at the other as the chase slowed. Eight, nine and ten all went on 212.
Mark Halse (4-44) hastened Budleigh’s demise in the 35thover.
JOSH Hammett clubbed the last ball of the game for six to earn South Devon II a tie in their South Seven game away to Chelston & Kingskerswell II.
The hosts reached 209 for six in their 35 overs – Mark Faulkner making 90 not out and Chris Stubbs 30.
Mark Andrews, with 65 on his old stamping ground, Morgan Hargreaves (34) and Ian Shepherd (46) got South Devon up to 180 for two and an asking rate of six an over to win.
Then Chelston & Kingskerswell slowed things down to leave South Devon needing 16 to win off the final over from Stubbs.
Hammett and Jack Allen wiped of nine from the first five balls, which meant a six would tie it.
Stubbs bowled, Hammett swung with everything he had and the ball sailed over long-on to leave it all square.
Matt Kitto, the South Devon captain, said it was a see-saw game all the way to the last ball.
“We did well to limit Chelston & Kingskerswell to 209 on a good batting day, on a small ground,” said Kitto.
“With Mark Faulkner and others batting well, our bowlers really stuck to their task.
“Mark Andrews’ stands with Morgan and Ian set us up to win, but a couple of quick wickets put us behind again.
“Josh has shown great, all-round potential in the two games so far and really excelled himself with 12 off the last five balls to grab the tie, the six to tie it.”
South Devon had five under-20s in their line-up, which Kitto says has to be a good thing for the future of the club.
“With five teenagers all contributing with bat or ball we are achieving what we want to this season, despite not quite getting the results we would like,” said Kitto.
There were eight teenagers in the Topsham St James 2ndXI and seven playing for Kentisbeare, all of whom contributed to an entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable game in East East Five.
Tale Miller's ground is some way from the beaten track, but it is well worth the effort of finding it – a pastoral idyll, with a stream to one side and an extensive farm complex to the other. The wicket was perhaps a touch lively, but never dangerous, and the sun shone brightly all afternoon – what more could any cricketer desire?
Topsham St James won the toss and stand-in skipper Maddy Ross, herself still in her teens, had no hesitation in offering Kentisbeare the opportunity to warm themselves with a little gentle bowling. What she probably did not expect was that no fewer than nine of them would do so! For the Topsham batsmen it was primarily a day for nudging and nurdling against some generally accurate bowling, with a slow outfield limiting the number of boundaries. The side's two wicket-keepers, Alex Collins and Jeremy Tojy, batted for longest, but the highest score came from Dave Miles, who does not normally expect his duties to extend beyond acting as chauffeur to his son Reece. On this occasion, however, he hit four fours in an innings of 18 at better than a run a ball. Even quicker was Jasper Rockey, making a welcome return to the side, who hit three fours in a ten-ball 14, while Morgan Maynard was not far behind, finding the boundary three times in eighteen balls for a score of 16. After his fine innings last week, young Morgan had been promoted to number ten, and at this rate he will soon be opening the batting. Alex Collins was the only other batsman in double figures with 13, and the innings closed with one over of the allocated 35 remaining, and 119 on the board.
The star turn for Kentisbeare was undoubtedly Seth Findlay, who thoroughly deserved his 4 for 23 from six good overs. Not far behind was young Tom Kittow, who bowled beautifully to take 3-6 in only four overs, while Jacob Lewis had 2-19 and Joe McQueenie 1 for 17. Kentisbeare also fielded two wicket-keepers, Zara Maynard and Cam Dennis, both of whom bowled tidy spells without reward.
There was some debate over tea as to whether or not the Topsham total was a good one in the conditions, but it soon became clear that Kentisbeare were finding batting no easier. They suffered the early loss of Jacob Lewis, caught behind by Alex Collins off young Reece Miles, who opened the bowling with his leg-spin and proved an inspired choice. Cam Dennis (14) then joined the only non-bowler in the side, Justin Gillett (19) in the largest stand of the day (36), until Katy Baylis got one through Gillett's guard and rattled his middle stump. After that Topsham always felt they had a slight edge, and so it proved. There were brave knocks from Connor Findlay (16) and Zara Maynard (10), while skipper Rory Dennis (positively antediluvian in this company!) also contributed 10. It was not enough, however, and Kentisbeare's ten men were all out for 95, leaving Topsham winners by 24 runs, a much larger margin than had seemed likely for most of the day.
Topsham allowed a mere seven bowlers to exercise themselves, but they did so to good effect. Katy Baylis was the pick of them, ending with 3 for 16, and posing the batsmen quite a few problems. The two openers, Maddy Ross and Reece Miles, deservedly had two apiece, for 15 and 14 respectively. Jasper Rockey took 1 for 10, and the other was a run-out, neatly executed by Reece Miles. Morgan Maynard and Simon Curran both bowled well without reward, and there was a very promising debut performance by Sam Luddington.
