By CONRAD SUTCLIFFE
MATT Taylor clubbed his third league ton for Alphington & Countess Wear and the best so far to help set up a 91-run win over Uplyme & Lyme Regis in the D Division East.
Taylor, the Exeter City manager, rejoined A&CW in 2016 and already had tons against Budleigh (101) and Sidmouth (127) to his name.
Uplyme were on the receiving twice over as Taylor hammered their attack for 145 out and shared in a stand of 186 for the second wicket with skipper James Bogue, who lagged a little way behind on 109.
Andy Fairbairn was Taylor’s running mate in a stand of 90 for the third wicket that took A&CW close to their final tally of 308 for four.
“It was a nice day to win the toss then set a strong platform to kick on in the last 20 overs,” said Bogue.
Uplyme responded with 217 for six, which earned them maximum batting points to take home.
Steve Batey top scored with 39 and others to chip in were Joe Elsworth (33), Sam Farrow (33) and Tyler Wellman (28).
“Chasing 300 was always a tough ask for them and taking pace off the ball worked well and our ground fielding was top notch,” said Bogue. “We lacked a bit of bite to get 10 wickets, but overall very happy.”
“Delighted to get a decent win against a good team.”
Bogue’s men are second in the latest table, two points behind Uplyme.
SIDMOUTH 3rdXI were given a run for their money by Kentisbeare before claiming a two-wicket win in a low-scoring affair.
Sidmouth’s Charlie Dibble has been bowling sides out for years and his four-wicket haul contributed to Kents being bowled out for 123.
Miles Lewis (4-19) also had a four-wicket return that accounted for most of the Kentisbeare middle order.
Best of a modest set of scores for Kents was Richard Norman’s 22.
Sidmouth seemed to be cruising at 91 for two with runs in the book from Charlie Gaywood (24) and Tom Moore (36).
Then Moore got out to Kents’ captain Tom Martin and wickets tumbled to him (2-31), Jed Finlay (3-24) and Jacob Lewis (2-13).
Ninth-wicket pair Reece Hext and Will Goodall got Sidmouth over the line after three wickets fell with two runs needed on 122!
CLYST Hydon came up short by just nine runs in a run-spree game against Feniton.
Feniton got a move on after a solid if unspectacular start to reach 299 for five in their 45 overs.
Marc Russell (39) had runs at the top but it was Jack Tucker (55) and Jonny Pyle (49) who stepped on the gas. They added 118 for the fifth wicket, which took the running total to 208 for five.
Bits and pieces in support of Kevin Brandom (34no) made up the rest of the Feniton total.
James Billington (2-50) and Jamie Edwards (2-15) were the only Hydon bowlers to take more than one wicket.
Clyst Hydon replied with 291 for seven, which was nine runs short of a winning total.
Ian Sutton made 87 and shared stands of 71 with Edwards (33) and 105 with Keith Herselman (61).
Having got to 221 for three with Herselman still there, Hydon started to lose wickets, mostly to Mark Kingdon (3-35).
Sinthuran Thevaraj (22no) and Jeff Sanders (22no) chipped and ran to put in 42 but that wasn’t quite enough.
SKIPPER Lee Cole believes his Barnstaple & Pilton side is showing signs of improving despite yet another defeat.
Barnstaple & Pilton remain bottom of the D Division East after a 44-run reversal by Chardstock, but Cole is optimistic his side will soon be on the up.
“It is always disappointing to lose a game, but we are slightly improving and hopefully a win is just around the corner,” said Cole.
“When we are bowling we are bowing too many four balls and when we bat we need to protect our wicket better.
“Players getting in need to go on and score big runs as 30 and 40 is not good enough.”
Rob Hutchings (88) and Alex Watson (52) were Chardstock’s primary run scorers in a total of 243 for seven.
Joe Hastie (4-62) was B&P’s leading wicket taker.
Matt Newton top scored for B& with 35 in their reply of 200 for nine. Fifty extras – 48 of them wides – boosted the B&P total.
Hutchings, Watson and James Rockett took two wickets each for Chardstock.
“Fair play to Chardstock they deserved their win and it was a good game played in very good spirit,” said Cole.
WHAT a finish! North Devon 2nd XI were one-wicket winners against Sampford PevereIl & Tiverton in a game that could not have been much closer.
Tom Lock top scored on 91 for SP&T, who made 256 for five in 45 overs.
An opening stand of 110 between Lock and Lee Hooper (45) was topped up by Sammy Broomhead (25), Tom Hatton (30) and Tim Hill (20no).
Jonny Green (3-65) and David Hartley (2-36) were North Devon’s main wicket takers.
North Devon were always close to the asking rate of around six an over thanks to Jay Rothery (44), Ruben Windlay (31), Ed Yeo (39), Jimmer Thomas (34) and Richard Screech (30).
Wickets kept falling though with Joe Parkinson (2-43) and Jeremy Turner (3-57) keeping the game in the balance.
North Devon needed 30 to win from the last six overs with three wickets in hand. Thomas got them almost there – he was out in the penultimate over – and it was Green (22no) who won it with one ball to spare and the last pair in the middle.
Parkinson, the losing captain, said in spite of the result it was an ‘enjoyable’ game to play in. He added: “I thought we were 15-20 short as 270 was par.
“Also we dropped a couple of chances in crucial parts at the end.”
