Bideford 2nd 11 v Brixham 2nd 11

Devon League

Saturday 12 May

It was a great day weather wise to play cricket but turned out not to be a great day for us. For the second week in a row I won the toss and decided to bowl first. Ian Haytor opened the bowling with Josh Atkinson. Both did an ok job but were only able to take one early wicket. Their top order was pretty good and scored at a good rate. Paul Shepherd, Mike Lemmings and Tom Farnell did ok too but were unable to take any wickets. Me and Fergie bowled a couple of overs near the end which again were ok but we could only take a couple more wickets and their run rate continued through the whole innings at about 5.5. They ended up 251-4. Our fielding wasn't great either, except for the efforts of Charlie Lemmings who showed us all how to field with some great stops and a fantastic effort, which was great to see. Oh I almost forgot to mention Pete McMillans Bowling. He was reluctant to bowled but I persuaded him to give it a go. Probably should have listened to him as he only lasted one over which contained quite a mixture of deliveries. A wide, a no ball then he decided to bowl off spin which actually wasn't to bad. Still an entertaining over. Finally the highlight of the fielding was the male streaker who ran onto the wicket, high fived the batsman before teabagging the stumps. An hilarious moment which everyone in the ground will remember for a long time. It was one more thing that I can add to the list of amazing things I have seen whilst playing cricket. It was one of the only things that made me smile today.

Well after our always great tea I opened again with Fergie. Once again we got off to a good start and I was feeling quite comfortable before I got a good one which I snicked behind. We put on 45 for the first wicket though off 10 which I thought wasn't to bad. After that we struggled to score and several tried to hit big shots when sticking around was the order of the day. Fergie, as last week did all the hard work getting into the thirties before hitting one straight at mid off. Pete McMillan had done the same, but after only facing a couple of balls. Ian was given out LBW and then Mike missed a straight one. Next ball Giles also missed a straight one and was out LBW also. Charlie survived the hatrick ball, but was bowled a few balls later. Tom Farnell was doing well and batted for a while but had a mad moment and cross batted a straight one which bowled him. Josh was given out to an a ridiculous decision which should have been a no ball. Paul supported Martin Stanbury for a bit before Martin was last man out. We managed 120 all out. Not a great effort really and again we had 12 overs still to bat. Its all been said before and still we don't seem to learn from our previous performances. Anyway we have to pick ourselves up and try again next week. There weren't many great efforts this week, but Charlie fielded brilliantly and made a great effort. He just fell into the same trap as the rest of us whilst batting. One man that didn't and for the second week in a row played a great innings was Maten Stanbury who is Man of the Match this week. He batted for around 20 overs again. If others could do similar then we would have put up a better performance. Must also mention Fergie who again did well just getting out after doing all the hard work getting himself in. Finally must thank Nathan Bradley who scored for us today and did a great job. I hope he enjoyed it enough to do it again in the future. Its one less job for me to worry about and I appreciate it alot and hope all the other players do to. Thanks to all who played and I hope some remember to bring their brains next week. It's gonna be another tough one against Alphington.

Brixham win by 131 runs

South Devon 2nd 11 V Bideford 2nd 11

Devon League

Saturday 5th May

Well what a day. It was an overcast chilly day and the occasional spot of rain, but not enough to stop us play. The trip down was nice and easy and fairly quick. We arrived in plenty of time and realised that bowling first was the way to go. So when i guessed heads and it was I didn't hesitate to say we will have a bowl thank you. Their captain had a smile on his face and said  jokingly are you sure about that. I said I'm quite sure thanks. He obviously had the same idea as me. I hoped we could learn some lesson from our match last season. Winning the toss was a massive stroke of luck for us and thanks to last seasons experience I was able to make the right decision. Josh Atkinson opened up and bowled through his 7 over for 27 runs and two good wicket. Their two openers are very capable batsmen and my good catch at point accounted for Blackmore who scored two centuries last season. averaging 50+. I made the call to let Mike Lemmings open the bowling with his offspinners. It worked quite well with him going for just 24 off 8 overs. Tom Farnell took over from Josh. After a tough start he brought it back and bowled a great 7 over spell taking 1-22. Paul Shephard took over from Mike and continued the good work. They had made it to 73-3 when Paul started to work his magic and Josh came back for his second spell. Josh took 2 brilliant catches in the deep off Pauls bowling and he finished up with 4 wickets in total. Then Josh mopped up the tail brilliantly and finished with his first Devon league 5 wicket haul taking 5-37.It was a great bowling effort which was well backed up by everyone in the field. Giles , Marten Stanbury, Josh Stephenson all gave 100% and saved us several runs. Paul and Aki were the stand out performers but the whole team were great and South Devon finished up 122-all out and 10 overs still to bowl.

After a reasonable tea I opened up with Fergie. Both of us were indebted to some suspect attempts in the catching department. We rode our luck and managed to get us of to a good start putting on 47 for the first wicket. After us Matthew,Pete McMillan and Mike didn't score many runs but still all batted for a while and all dug in when the going got tough. Inbetween them Marten Stanbury played a match winning innings. He batted for 20 overs digging in and doing just the job that was needed. He only scored 15 runs but saw us home not getting out. Giles played a great cameo at the end smashing a couple of brilliant fours to get us over the line. It was very hard work today, but we all dug in and with one or two stepping up to the plate we pulled off a cracking win which will hopefully set us up for a good season. All were awesome today but thanks to all his hard work and extra training during the winter Josh Atkinson has hit the ground running and is currently in great form. 10 overs 5-37 and two massively important catches wins him Man of the Match this week. He has bowled great so far and hopefully he can keep it up. All his work during the winter is definitely paying off. His quality is starting to show though in the second team and I'm sure he can go even higher. Well done today Josh, brilliant buddy. Thanks to everyone else for playing, giving 100% and also to all who drove. Mustn't forget to thank Mr Argyle for umpiring. Great effort guys.CRACKING

Bideford win by 5 wickets

North Devon V Bideford

Friendly

Saturday 7th April

Well here we go then, the start of another long season. We start with a friendly at Instow. We had a very young side which was good to see and this was the perfect game for them to start off in. It was overcast and windy but dry and ok to play. We started at 1:30. Winning the toss I decided to have a bat, especially after seeing Dan Bowser turn up to play. Didn't fancy chasing a massive score. I opened with Dan Barratt. We were helped early by some wayward bowling which resulted in plenty of extras. Unfortunately we struggled to hit any runs. I hit one straight at square leg and was out early along with Dan who was also out caught. Martin Stewart looked ok but didn't take advantage of being caught off a no ball, getting out the same way two balls later. Elliot was going along nicely getting to mid twenties before getting probably the best ball of the day and was caught behind. Michael Lemmings didn't trouble the scorer getting caught having played his shot half an hour to early and lobbing up a simple catch. Matthew Shepherd definitely left his brain at home, taking a suicidal run and was run out without scoring. The two Charlie's Webb and Lemmings did ok hitting a couple good shots each but were both eventually bowled for around 10. Josh Atkinson didn't make the most of his life after being dropped. He did a Martin Stewart and played exactly the same shot a couple of balls later and the fielder made no mistake second time around. That left Fred and Daddy Shepherd Paul. Fred rode his luck a bit at the start being dropped twice, but he took great advantage and played some great shots. He blocked really well and struck the bad balls for several boundaries. Paul hit three or four lusty blows at the end to give us something to bowl at, but finally fell to a really good catch on the boundary. That left Fred stranded on 37no, a really great effort and one I hope he can replicate in future games. The final total of 144 all out included 40 extras, most of which were wides. I hoped that when we bowled we would have more control.

Tea was very good and so off out to field we went. Fred opened up with Josh. Between them they took three wickets and bowled really well considering it was the first game of the season. Fred bowled no wides and only a couple of no balls which was great and could have had another wicket but for a dropped catch. Josh bowled well hitting the stumps twice but did concede several wides. Overall both did ok. Charlie Webb bowled his first overs in senior cricket and did really well. Just unfortunately had to bowl at Bowser, which meant anything slightly of line was punished. Don't think he bowled any wides and looked like with a bit more experience could be a useful player for the club. Paul bowled a few overs and did ok as did Michael Lemmings who got the fourth wicket stumped by Matthew. They got home comfortably in the end with around twelve overs remaining. Not a great game result wise but being a friendly that didn't matter. Hopefully we can get better with each game and learn from the early season mistakes that we made. Getting our heads down and just batting sensibly for a few overs before we try smashing the ball out the ground seems to be the main thing. Because once again we didn't bat all our overs. That is our biggest problem at the moment. Rarely do we get anything from games when we don't bat all the overs. Still there were some positives to take from the game. The bowling looked good and against second team players I'm sure we will be fine as we generally are. Batting wasn't great but Fred took his chance and did really well. With a little more concentration and experience for the younger guys I'm confident we can have a great season. I really hope so. Man of the match can only go one way and once again its Fred King who batted great, bowled a reasonable spell and gave 100% as he always does. Everyone gave their all to and I think one or two were just a bit rusty. I certainly was and hope we can get better with each game we play. Thanks to all who played and hope to see a better performance next week.

North Devon won by 6 wickets

Bideford CC 2^nd 11

B Division Devon League

Season Review 2011