Bideford 2nd XI
Devon League F Division
2023
Bideford 2nd XI v Cullompton 2nd XI
02/09/23
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Andy Webbe
3. Matt Clarke
4. Darren Willcocks
5. Keith Berry
6. Sam Beckley
7. Aakash Nehra
8. Fionn Toland
9. Dean Whitehead
10. Ian Hayter
11. Pete Stevens
Scorer. Tim Lane
Umpire. Dave Staddon
Meet 10:30-11:00ish for Breakfast Club for those that wish. 🥓🫘🍳Once a season can all be there for 12ish since it’s an important one.😀😂💪 Let’s be ready and raring to go. BBQ after the game whatever the result. Should be enough food, I will get rolls but if anyone wants to bring something else to throw on the bbq, that would be great cheers💪💪😀😀
2. Andy Webbe
3. Matt Clarke
4. Darren Willcocks
5. Keith Berry
6. Sam Beckley
7. Aakash Nehra
8. Fionn Toland
9. Dean Whitehead
10. Ian Hayter
11. Pete Stevens
Scorer. Tim Lane
Umpire. Dave Staddon
Meet 10:30-11:00ish for Breakfast Club for those that wish. 🥓🫘🍳Once a season can all be there for 12ish since it’s an important one.😀😂💪 Let’s be ready and raring to go. BBQ after the game whatever the result. Should be enough food, I will get rolls but if anyone wants to bring something else to throw on the bbq, that would be great cheers💪💪😀😀
Match Report
Sorry for the delay. Let’s see if I can remember. So the final game of the season was a home game against already promoted, league leaders Cullompton. I managed to win the toss and decided to bowl first. Believing that was the best way of winning. Sam and Aakash opened up. Unfortunately they both picked this game to have an off day. 50 off the first 6 overs wasn’t the best of starts. Aakash did pick up a wicket. Matt and Keith took over and both did well. Both bowled through their overs taking 5 wickets between them. Keith was particularly good with figures of 3-19 off 8. Unfortunately their captain and best player was still there and was ticking the score along. We tried but failed to remove him. Fionn, Dean and Darren all bowled okay but the final total was 224-8. We weren’t great in the field, several dropped catches. Had we been better we could have bowled them out for under 200. Still 224 was a total we could definitely chase down. Bat the overs and play sensible and I thought we could do it. Alas though that’s not what we did. Webbe was out first ball. Not the start we needed. Aakash, Pete, me and Ian all perished cheaply. At 35-5 we were in big trouble. Fionn and Matt gave us a sniff of a chance, putting on 90. But 2 wickets on 129 snuffed out our chances. We scratched our way to 162 before we were put out of our misery. Fionn batted exceptionally for 57, but that was it. Everyone else struggled. In the end we weren’t quite good enough on the day. 8 points wasn’t enough, so another F division season beckons next year. Had we all played to the best of our abilities we could have won. We weren’t far off. But like most of the season, consistency cost us. Man of the match goes to Fionn for a decent spell of bowling, but mainly for his brilliant 57 runs. He made a great effort. Had anybody else in the top order been able to stick with him we could have got closer. Well done to him. Well done to Cullompton on promotion. Probably the best team. Thanks to Tim and Dave for umpiring and scoring. Thanks to all for the effort. Unfortunately consistency cost us but at least we gave our all. End of season review coming soon. Thanks and good night 😀
John Weeks
John Weeks
Culmstock 1st XI v Bideford 2nd XI
26/08/23
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Matt Clarke
3. Chris Luxton
4. Ian Hayter
5. Riley Hornby
6. Darren Willcocks
7. Fionn Toland
8. Sam Beckley
9. Aakash Nehra
10. Dean Whitehead
11. Keith Berry
2. Matt Clarke
3. Chris Luxton
4. Ian Hayter
5. Riley Hornby
6. Darren Willcocks
7. Fionn Toland
8. Sam Beckley
9. Aakash Nehra
10. Dean Whitehead
11. Keith Berry
Match Report
So to the penultimate game and our final away trip. With it being one of the shorter ones we arrived in plenty of time around 12ish. New ground for me. One more to tick off. Nice setting and a decent pavilion. Plus probably the best showers of the season 😂. Due to a very damp Friday the outfield was soft but with the sun out we should be able to start on time. Back to normal though with no scorers or umpires. On calling tails I won the toss. Heads is my norm but something told me to change. I had no hesitation in bowling. It was wet, we had a decent set of bowlers and we had won our four previous games chasing. Culmstock were only four points behind us. So it was going to be a shootout as to who would go into the last game with things in their own hands for the second promotion spot. Sam and Chris opened up for us. Sam did ok but dropped short several times and conceded several runs. He did though manage to snick off one of their openers for the first wicket. Chris was his economical self, bowling through his eight overs for just ten runs. Amazing. Unfortunately though no wickets. Sam was replaced by Matt who started off really well and picked up a wicket too, caught and bowled, only just though😂 Aakash took over from Chris and also did well. He picked up a wicket well caught by Matt. This brought a big hitter to the crease. From ball one it was six attempt after six attempt. Literally no attempt at anything else. Unfortunately for us he had a decent eye and connected several times. Out of 24 balls he connected ten times. 6 sixes and 4 fours. 79-3 became 162-3 in no time at all. Matt and Aakash both taking punishment. I then turned to Keith who unbelievably knocked him over first ball. An entertaining innings vitally stopped from causing major carnage 😂 Even after this assault the run rate was still only five an over. The other batsmen had Ben kept fairly quite by some good bowling. Luxton’s spell particularly. Due to Keith amazing pace, he managed to get another wicket also bowled. Both batsmen had played their shots before the ball had gotten halfway down. Probably had time to try a second shot😂 Fortunately both deliveries were straight and hit the stumps. At this point dark clouds were rolling in and things looked ominous. With rain about to send us running for cover, Aakash in his final over took a vital wicket LBW. So 162-3 was now 166-6. We’d fought back well and had given ourselves a fighting chance. The weather though had other ideas. A heavy downpour meant at least a couple hours off. Then with the rain also getting under the covers, it didn’t look promising. More rain an hour or so later put paid to any chance of continuing. Had we been able to get back things would have been interesting. Culmstock wouldn’t have gone out to bat so a five an over chase would have been on. Would like to have had that opportunity but alas the weather gods weren’t playing ball. So 11 points for us and 12 for them. Probably about right. But now we were reliant on other results. We bowled well I thought. One guy came off. Had he gone cheaply we could have been really in with a shout. One thing we didn’t do well though was the fielding. Apart from Fionn we could all probably of done better. I reckon we gifted 20 runs away. That’s probably a conservative estimate though. So we will have to do a lot better this week and definitely going into next season. So in the end we did well in the first half. Just a shame we didn’t get to see the outcome. Culmstock provided us with a surprise and superb tea. Our first and only one of the season. So thanks to them for that. So 11 points for us and 12 for them meant they cut the gap to 3points. After an agonising wait we found out that Upottery were also washed out halfway. So they gained 13 points. This all means it’s currently in our hands, 17 points required. Anything less will almost certainly not be enough. So we all know what we need to do. One last big effort. Let’s leave everything out on the field and have no regrets. Great effort from all, thanks from me for that. Thanks to all the drivers, appreciated as always. Thanks to Culmstock for the teas. Decent club there and not to far away😀😀 The first team also have half a chance of going up so it’s a massive day for the club in general. The final call to arms, one last effort. Hopefully we have good availability again 😀😀Up the Bide💪💪💪😀😀
BBQ after the game next week. Let’s celebrate a decent season . Thanks and goodnight 😀😀
John Weeks
BBQ after the game next week. Let’s celebrate a decent season . Thanks and goodnight 😀😀
John Weeks
Bideford 2nd XI v North Devon 3rd XI
19/08/23
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Andy Webbe
3. Aakash Nehra
4. Steve Bond
5. Sam Beckley
6. Riley Hornby
7. Damon Berry
8. Dean Whitehead
9. Pete Stevens
10. Keith Berry
11. Darren Willcocks
Umpire. Ike Aviston
Scorer. Tim Lane
1pm start at the Ho!
Breakfast club available for those who choose to partake 10:30-11 ish on me. Said that quietly, hopefully nobody heard😂😂
Massive, Awesome and Amazing BBQ after the game. All and everyone invited. Anyone who doesn’t come won’t be spoken to by me ever again 😂😂 Talking to myself for ever then it is. 😀😀 if you haven’t been invited personally I’m inviting you now😀😀😀
2. Andy Webbe
3. Aakash Nehra
4. Steve Bond
5. Sam Beckley
6. Riley Hornby
7. Damon Berry
8. Dean Whitehead
9. Pete Stevens
10. Keith Berry
11. Darren Willcocks
Umpire. Ike Aviston
Scorer. Tim Lane
1pm start at the Ho!
Breakfast club available for those who choose to partake 10:30-11 ish on me. Said that quietly, hopefully nobody heard😂😂
Massive, Awesome and Amazing BBQ after the game. All and everyone invited. Anyone who doesn’t come won’t be spoken to by me ever again 😂😂 Talking to myself for ever then it is. 😀😀 if you haven’t been invited personally I’m inviting you now😀😀😀
Match Report
16th match of the season was at home to North Devon. Three of last weeks team were called up to the first XI. Two were unavailable and Ian injured himself playing squash would you believe. All other sports should be banned during the cricket season😂 This meant six changes to the team. Currently we have a decent squad with healthy depth. This meant several came in and we still had a decent team. An early heavy shower made everything wet but fortunately left enough time for it to dry up nicely. After winning three in a row bowling first, I decided to do the same again when winning the toss. Steve Bond was playing his first second team game in a while. He bowled well but mixed in several full tosses which were punished for fours. Sam continued his good form. Very economical again. Just ten off five. Alas though we couldn’t make a breakthrough. Early wickets has been an issue all season long. Dean took over from Sam. He finally got the first wicket caught by Webbe at slip. Aakash snapped up the second one at gully. So two for Dean in his six overs. Aakash was bowling well. Regularly beating the bat. No wickets but just 23 runs off 8 overs. During this time Pete gave us some entertainment. In almost taking a decent catch he managed to spill it, cut his forehead and then watched as the ball rolled onto his cap which had fallen off. This resulted in 5 penalty runs, Pete reluctantly going off to see to his cut😂 but most importantly no wicket. Keith and Riley both came on and did well keeping the runs down. At 128-2 the game could have gotten away from us. Most of the fielding was good but there were a few lapses. Keith did well though picking up 3 wickets in his spell. Damon, Steve and Keith himself taking the catches. Riley didn’t trouble the wicket column but did well. Steve and Sam finished off the bowling. Sam finally got his wicket with the last ball bowled. A run out in between gave us 7 wickets. The final total of 157-7. Brilliantly economical but a few lapses cost us maximum bowling points. As we know every point is vital. So at tea I was very confident we could chase their total down. Bat sensibly and we should be fine. With Jack in the firsts Webbe had a new partner. This week Steve. Unfortunately only 35 was on the board when Steve was bowled for 8. Dean and Damon were given a go at 3 and 4. That plan didn’t work unfortunately, so 35-1 became 52-3. Pete next. He was caught and bowled for just 3. Now 56-4. All out to the same bowler who apparently was swinging it miles. Making excuses for getting out to a girl😂 She was obviously bowling well though. A little concern now but with Webbe still there we were still in the box seat. Darren was next. He supported Webbe well. They put on 40 together. Darren nicking behind sent Aakash out to join Webbe. He like Darren supported Webbe well. Another 40ish partnership got us within 25 runs of victory. I decided to join Webbe and try and get us home. Webbe had passed fifty again and it was fittingly he who hit the two that saw us home. I made 16 in between. Just 6 wickets down meant maximum batting points again. So 18 points in victory was great and the main aim. Though slight disappointment not getting the full 20 shows how well we’ve been doing lately. In the end it was a good all round effort and performance. Everyone contributed. Man of the match can really only go one way. And that’s the way of Andy Webbe. His new bat serving him well😀 He held us together when wickets were falling and this time saw us all the way home. He gets out cheaply and we could have struggled. Get effort mate. Out best batsman by far and a match wing effort today. Brilliant. Everyone else helped out in someway though so well done to all. I thought Aakash did well on his Devon League debut. Hopefully a bit more availability next season😀 Must thank Tim and Ike for their invaluable contributions, umpiring and scoring. Makes the the day run smoothly, so thanks. Mustn’t forget Dave Staddon who umpired also as opposition didn’t have one. Thanks again. So with this win we have now won four in a row. Not sure I can believe it so I’ll say it again. We’ve won four in a row😀 this has made things interesting for us, in a positive way. With other results going our way we are now in control of our own destiny. The simple equation of two wins and we will finish second. I wont mention what that means we all know. So with everything to play for we have two massive and hopefully exciting games to go. I’m sure I’ll get it but putting out the call to arms to all. Every effort required for potentially an epic end to the season. The first XI are in nearly the same position after their epic win at Barton, so the whole club have plenty to play and look forward to. Let’s leave it all on the pitch and have no regrets. COME ON BIDEFORD 💪💪💪
Must also thank all that joined me for my annual Birthday BBQ. I had a great time and I hope all did too. Thanks to Keith Shapland and Heard’s for the food, think it went down ok. There was though one slight down point when the first XI turned up with pizzas in hand after I’d invited and catered for them😭 might forgive them one day😂 The upside to this though is there should be plenty left for another Q after our last game of the season. With Liverpool winning then UTD losing I had quite an epic day. Started well, continued throughout the day and then ended well. Thanks again all. Another awesomely epic day to be beside the sea. Up the Bide.
Thanks and goodnight
John Weeks
Must also thank all that joined me for my annual Birthday BBQ. I had a great time and I hope all did too. Thanks to Keith Shapland and Heard’s for the food, think it went down ok. There was though one slight down point when the first XI turned up with pizzas in hand after I’d invited and catered for them😭 might forgive them one day😂 The upside to this though is there should be plenty left for another Q after our last game of the season. With Liverpool winning then UTD losing I had quite an epic day. Started well, continued throughout the day and then ended well. Thanks again all. Another awesomely epic day to be beside the sea. Up the Bide.
Thanks and goodnight
John Weeks
Bideford 2nd XI v Kilmington 2nd XI
12/08/23
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Andy Webbe
3. Matt Clarke
4. Ian Hayter
5. Fionn Toland
6. James Greenleaf
7. Jack Ancill
8. Darren Willcocks
9. Sam Beckley
10. Eliot Currie
11. Dean Whitehead
Umpire. Ike Aviston
Scorer. Tim Lane
After 7 weeks away we are back 😀😀 So Breakfast club at 10:30-11:00 ish for those that fancy it. By 12:15 if not. Let’s try and keep the good run going, weather permitting💪💪💪😀😀😀
Apologies again to those who didn’t make it. Competition for places is as high as I’ve ever known.
2. Andy Webbe
3. Matt Clarke
4. Ian Hayter
5. Fionn Toland
6. James Greenleaf
7. Jack Ancill
8. Darren Willcocks
9. Sam Beckley
10. Eliot Currie
11. Dean Whitehead
Umpire. Ike Aviston
Scorer. Tim Lane
After 7 weeks away we are back 😀😀 So Breakfast club at 10:30-11:00 ish for those that fancy it. By 12:15 if not. Let’s try and keep the good run going, weather permitting💪💪💪😀😀😀
Apologies again to those who didn’t make it. Competition for places is as high as I’ve ever known.
Match Report
Hooray first home game in 7 weeks. The weather wasn’t looking great but the Ho! Did it’s usual. A couple little showers that were blown away by the wind. The first breakfast wrap in a while went down well. Two Umpires and two scorers😀 Thought my birthday had come a week early 😀 Somehow I managed to win the toss. With the weather looking ominous and two recent great bowling performances. It was a no brainer to bowl first. Matt and Dean opened up. Matt was very economical but couldn’t make a breakthrough. Dean managed that hitting the stumps. We didn’t field overly great and dropped a couple catches. Sam and Darren took over the bowling. The run rate was 4 or 5 pretty much all the way. We managed to keep it in check. Darren struck twice. Eliot also struck twice. After drinks we fielded a bit better and they never really got away from us. Had we been a bit more clinical we could have restricted them to a lot less runs. Jack and Fionn bowled the last eight overs. Both did a great job. Picking up a few wickets. Unfortunately we couldn’t bowl them out, but we did restrict them to 182-8. Should have been a lot less but not a bad effort in the end. With the line up we had I fully expected us to make a decent effort chasing. And thankfully that was the case. Ideally the run rate would have been slightly higher. Until the last 10 overs we were always slightly below the rate required. But no wickets lost, so no issue. Both Jack and Webbe were going well, slowly knocking the runs off. Webbe got to 30 odd before chopping on. Jack continued his great form making 46. Will he ever see the job home. I’m convinced I’ll see it one day, but not today. That was left to Fionn and Matt who did a professional job of seeing us home with 8 balls to spare. Ideally I’d have liked it done a couple overs earlier but no complaints in the end. A Pretty comfortable 8 wicket win. Everyone did well. Nothing spectacular. Just a decent effort from all. The fielding could have been better. But the bowling was decent and their total was probably 50 short of giving us an issue. Keeping wickets in hand was key. Each batsman got themselves in. So in conclusion a solid performance all round. Everyone contributing. Man of the match is very tough. Where to go? Well for me there where several decent efforts. Jack did his usual. 40 runs and a couple late wickets. Matt bowled very well and made 30 seeing us home. The other bowlers Dean, Darren, Sam, Eliot all did a good job. But for the second game in a row Fionn has batted well and seen us home. Take note Jack😂😂😂 so today he’s Man of the the Match. Bowled four decent overs and 46 not out. The steady Eddy we’ve needed. And after James’s comical run out effort, our best fielder also😂 Great effort mate well done. Must thank everyone for the effort. 3 wins in a row is a rare thing so it’s been great. I haven’t done much and haven’t needed to which suits me fine😀😀 Hopefully I’ll be a spectator for the rest of the season. Not bowling them out the only downside today. Better fielding and we would have. Must thank Ike and Tim for their efforts. Massive contribution to our victory. Was a relief to finally be back at the Ho! after 6 weeks away. It didn’t disappoint. Never does. 19 more points. The table is unbelievably tight. We are smack bang in the middle. Probably where we deserve to be. Looking back things could and should’ve been so much better. Hopefully though we have learned from our mistakes in the past. Great effort, great win , well done all. Just want to remind everyone that there is currently lots of competition for places so if you’re in the spot you will need to perform to keep it. This week everyone did. Next week is North Devon home. Hopefully another awesome day at the Ho! Message for Eliot, don’t forget to bring at least one five pound note. Your definitely overstepping again haha😂😂😂 Somebody I know has a birthday so there is probably gonna be a bbq and celebratory beer after the game. Everyone is invited as always. Hope to see you all there. Another great day to be beside the sea, up the Bide😀😀😀💪💪💪💪
Thanks and Goodnight
John Weeks
Thanks and Goodnight
John Weeks
Bradninch and Kentisbeare 3rd XI v Bideford 2nd XI
05/08/23
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Andy Webbe
3. Matt Clarke
4. Fionn Toland
5. James Greenleaf
6. Sam Beckley
7. Jack Ancill
8. Eliot Curry
9. Dean Whitehead
10. Pete Stevens
11. Darren Willcocks
Scorer Tim Lane
1pm start
2. Andy Webbe
3. Matt Clarke
4. Fionn Toland
5. James Greenleaf
6. Sam Beckley
7. Jack Ancill
8. Eliot Curry
9. Dean Whitehead
10. Pete Stevens
11. Darren Willcocks
Scorer Tim Lane
1pm start
Match Report
Game 15 was the away trip to Bradninch and Kentisbeare. After last weeks cracking performance, I was hopeful we could replicate it again this week. With lots of availability unfortunately a few didn’t make the cut. This meant the ones that did would have to perform well to keep their place. Strong winds and rain forced us to start one hour late. This meant a 31 over a side game. I had lost the toss, but was delighted to be asked to bowl first. Sam and Dean opened up. Both did well. Sam especially as he bowled his 6 over spell for just 6 runs. His economical spell put massive pressure on the batsmen. He didn’t pick up a wicket but his efforts meant others reaped the rewards. Dean was a little expensive compared to Sam😂 But did pick up the first wicket bowled. Matt and Eliot took over and continued the great work. Eliot’s 6 overs for 22 was decent and rewarded with a wicket, well caught by James. In this period Webbe inflicted a blow running out their number seven for a duck. Matt though was showing his class and experience at the other end. 3 early wickets bowled and caught behind by Pete. Then after a short rain break, 4 and 5 followed. Bowled and well caught by Fionn. Darren and Jack finished off the bowling. Thankfully in the final over we were able to bowl them out. Jack taking two wickets. Both well caught by me and James. 91 all out was another brilliant performance. The fielding was excellent and again the field could be set and pretty much stay the same throughout. A captains dream. So a great first half. I was hoping for a solid professional effort with the bat. Webbe was back so he partnered Jack. They did well till Webbe got caught behind trying to finish things quickly. 50 was on the board though so a decent start. Fionn and Jack got us to 70. Then Jack was bowled. James was caught with the score on 87. A scramble for pads as some had gone for a shower😂 This gave Eliot the opportunity to take a 1 not out in helping Fionn see us home. So in 15 overs we were able to knock the runs off and a comfortable victory. I was delighted to not have to contribute much this week. We did a great job all round and secured 20 valuable points. Now we are in the comfort of mid table. Still 80 points to play for though and obviously the aim is to take them all. If we can repeat the last two performances, we won’t be far away. Man of the match is easy. Matt took our first five wickets haul of the season. Consistent straight bowling was the key. A brilliant effort, well done. Must also mention Sam who continues his great form. Getting us off to great starts. If he continues his economical spells, he will soon be rewarded with the wickets he deserves. Today Matt reaped the benefits. Jack batted well again and one day I’m convinced he will kick on and see us home. Only a matter of time. Eliot and Dean bowled well and everyone fielded decent. And finally Fionn has quietly gone about the business of knocking off the runs. He has stuck around long enough to see most or all the runs knocked off. Previously we lose wickets in clumps. Fionn has put a stop to that by hanging in. Great effort greatly appreciated. Two brilliant performances and 40 valuable points. With plenty available selection is very tough. Currently everyone is putting in great efforts making it tough to leave them out. Again with lots available next week I’ll apologise now for those that may miss out. It’s great to have competition for place. Hopefully it will force people to make more efforts. So thanks to all who drove, everyone for the effort. Let’s fight right to the end of the season. You never know where it might take us. Mustn’t forget to thank Bradninch for the chicken and chips😂 kilmington next week. Let’s right the wrong for the away performance. Up the bide. Thanks and goodnight
John weeks😀
John weeks😀
Alphington 2nd XI v Bideford 2nd XI
29/07/23
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Jack Ancill
3. James Greenleaf
4. Fionn Toland
5. Sam Beckley
6. Ollie Keates
7. Ian Hayter
8. Dan Smith
9. Dean Whitehead
10. Damon Berry
11. Keith Berry
1pm start at Alphington
2. Jack Ancill
3. James Greenleaf
4. Fionn Toland
5. Sam Beckley
6. Ollie Keates
7. Ian Hayter
8. Dan Smith
9. Dean Whitehead
10. Damon Berry
11. Keith Berry
1pm start at Alphington
Match Report
So finally we got back to playing cricket after last weeks washout. With at least 7 people missing we were a changed side but still a decent side. Weather was looking ok and the journey down was fairly straight forward. A big relief after our last trip to Exeter 😂 So on winning the toss I decided to bowl first. Sam and Dean were given the task of opening up. A good start was required and amazingly that’s what we got. Sam must have been practising because he was unrecognisable from the previous few games. Every other ball beat the bat. His spell included a couple loose deliveries but that was it. He bowled the perfect delivery to get the first wicket. Pitch middle then took out off stump. For a moment I thought Chris Luxton was playing. A cracking spell that gave us the start we needed. He was backed up by Dean who also bowled an excellent spell. He bowled there number 3. Just 30 off 10 was a great start. Jack and Keith kept up the good work. A brilliant Bairstow esque catch running backwards by Ian gave Jack his first wicket. Then a massive moment in the game. A great piece of fielding by Greeners ran out their captain and probably best bat for just 15. 57-4 now. Dan replaced Jack and picked up a wicket soon after. Another decent catch by Ollie. 80-5. Keith was in the middle of an excellent spell. Another who must have been practising. Very few loose deliveries. He got his first wicket bowled. The batsman decided to leave the ball very early on. He definitely regretted doing so when his off stump rocked back. 84-6 became 88-7 when Keith picked up an lbw. Dan was bowling well and got a second wicket bowled. A little help from an inconsistent wicket.. that made it 101-8. Damon took over from his dad and got the ninth wicket well stumped by Ian. It was then left to Ollie to finish things off. 120 all out gave us a real good chance of victory. But we would have to bat very well. The wicket wasn’t easy to bat on. Very inconsistent. But a very decent season best performance had done the first half of the job brilliantly. So with Webbe missing and me out of form Greeners partnered in form jack. Unfortunately James was caught at first slip in the first over. That partnered Fionn and Jack. They both did an excellent job seeing out the overs and slowly ticking the scoreboard along. They were looking good and I thought for a moment they might take us all the way home. Typically though as soon as that crossed my mind the pitch intervened and jack was bowled by a short one not bouncing as it should. Ian didn’t last long out lbw for 1. Fionn had done a great job but was out lbw also. 63-1 became 76 for 4. A little concern creeping in. I joined Sam. The run rate was about 3 so no issue there just wickets in hand. We ticked off some overs and slowly the runs also. I had some luck. Three of my four boundaries narrowly evading fielder. But fortunately crossing the rope. Between us we got 110 before Sam was given out lbw. That left 11 for me and Keith to knock off with around 8 overs to go. In the 36th over I hit two consecutive boundaries and we had done it. A brilliant win. Was very hard work with literally everyone contributing. We all showed what we are capable of. Man of the match is ridiculously tough. As I said everyone literally did great. James inflicting the run out was a massive moment. Jack batted well for 34 runs and picked up a wicket also. Fionn helped massively sticking around and got us to 74. Ian took an excellent catch, kept well and also a stumping. I captained magnificently obviously😂 I was very happy though to see us home with 30 not out. Had I got out it could have been very interesting. Keith bowled a quite brilliant spell. 2-20 off 8. Tim wasn’t missed this week. The three d’s Dean, Dan and Damon all bowled very well. Each getting a wicket. Ollie didn’t get a lot to do, but still took the final wicket along with an excellent catch. Everyone field well also. But for me Man of the Match goes to Sam. Some effort in the nets seems to have paid off. On another day he’d have taken 4 or five wickets. The start he gave us made it so much easier for others to carry it on. The pressure was applied early. He also score 14 valuable runs. Great effort from him. I look forward to many more repeat performances. As I said everyone was excellent. A real team performance. Thanks from me for that. It was almost the perfect game for me as captain. Winning the toss. Due to the consistent bowling I was able to set a field and then pretty much keep it the same throughout. The back of the total was broken by Jack and Fionn. I was then able to Finnish the job. So in the end the day went almost perfectly. It was a very much needed win. It’s becoming very tight. Everyone is beating each other. Next week is Bradninch away. Another big game. If we play like this again we will be fine. I hope this is the start of a decent run of performances. At Exeter we hit rock bottom. I hope this is the beginning of our rise back up. The two games almost complete opposites. Selection is going to be extremely tough. I’ll apologise now if some don’t make the cut. As I said at the start 7 or 8 were unavailable this week. Some may not get back in due to performances this week. A nightmare for me but its great to have a little competition for places. So thanks again to all for the effort. Thanks to those who drove. Great game, great day. Same again next week please.
Cheers and Goodnight
John Weeks😀💪
Cheers and Goodnight
John Weeks😀💪
Bideford 2nd XI v Upottery 2nd XI
22/07/23
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Andy Webbe
3. Ian Hayter
4. Pete Stevens
5. Keith Berry
6. Sam Beckley
7. Riley Hornby
8. Jack Ancill
9. Dean Whitehead
10. Eliot Currie
11. Steve Bond
Scorer. Tim Lane
1pm Start at the Ho!
Meet 12ish
Match Report
💦☔️☔️💦💧💧💧 Washed Away
2. Andy Webbe
3. Ian Hayter
4. Pete Stevens
5. Keith Berry
6. Sam Beckley
7. Riley Hornby
8. Jack Ancill
9. Dean Whitehead
10. Eliot Currie
11. Steve Bond
Scorer. Tim Lane
1pm Start at the Ho!
Meet 12ish
Match Report
💦☔️☔️💦💧💧💧 Washed Away
Exeter 3rd XI v Bideford 2nd XI
15/07/23
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Andy Webbe
3. Eliot Currie
4. Sam Beckley
5. Ian Hayter
6. Riley Hornby
7. Matt Clarke
8. Jack Ancill
9. Keith Berry
10. Dean Whitehead
11. Damon Berry
13:00 Start at Winslade Park
Weather ain’t looking great so please all keep an eye out for a message. Cheers
2. Andy Webbe
3. Eliot Currie
4. Sam Beckley
5. Ian Hayter
6. Riley Hornby
7. Matt Clarke
8. Jack Ancill
9. Keith Berry
10. Dean Whitehead
11. Damon Berry
13:00 Start at Winslade Park
Weather ain’t looking great so please all keep an eye out for a message. Cheers
Match Report
Sorry no report this week 😀
Ipplepen 1st v Bideford 1st XI
08/07/23
Team Sheet
1. James For
2. Tom Brend
3. Ollie Hannam
4. Alex Hannam
5. Steve Bond
6. Jody Brown
7. Martin Stewart
8. Ewan Williams
9. James Hayter
10. James Greenleaf
11. Sam Beckley
2. Tom Brend
3. Ollie Hannam
4. Alex Hannam
5. Steve Bond
6. Jody Brown
7. Martin Stewart
8. Ewan Williams
9. James Hayter
10. James Greenleaf
11. Sam Beckley
A view from the score box
Match Report
Every couple of years I get the absolute pleasure of witnessing a first eleven game😂 The last two have been the away trips to Ipplepen 😀 Won’t bring up again what happened the previous time I was there. Just say that I was disappointed that, that effort didn’t get me the call up this time round😂 So due to no 2nd team game, it was the score box for me. Not the biggest fan of leaving at 8:30, but a witherspoons fry up helped. Gotta mention Martin Stewart who had enough food to feed the rest of us. A three course fry up😂 The trip down was long and windy. Luckily we arrived just in time. My fry up nearly came back up😂🤢🤢🤢. Rain was in the air and nearly delayed the game. But eased off enough so we could start on time. My first act must be to thank Ipplepen for the constant supply of the old English cuppa. Very much appreciated 😀. So the game started on time. With Bideford losing the toss and asked to bat. The Two James’s Ford and Hayter wondered out to open the batting. Both struggled a little with some decent bowling and constant drizzle. James Hayter was bowled for 8. A heavier shower brought proceedings to a halt for 35 minutes. 5 overs were lost so it became a 40 over game. James Ford and Tom Brend continued after the break. Tom unfortunately didn’t last long also bowled for 3. Fordy helped see off the openers but then perished caught for 18. Ollie was joined by Ewan. A partnership began to form. Some good running and some decent boundaries kept the scoreboard ticking along nicely. Ewan hit one six in a run a ball 36. Just as he was about to kick on he was caught out. A partnership of 94 around a run a ball was exactly what was needed though. Ollie was still there and was continuing his good form. He passed fifty and just kept on going. Joined by brother Alex they upped the rate nicely. Alex only added 17 but off just 11 balls, 3 fours. Ollie also struck several boundaries and was closing in on another century. Greenleaf bowled for a golden and Steve made just 3. With a little slack fielding the scoreboard ticked over 200 and Ollie hit a big six to go to yet another hundred. Not chance less but still an excellent innings. Jodie helped Ollie make around 30 off the last four overs to give a final total of 233-7. After a slow start a decent total was amassed. Ollie and Ewan the stars. The locals suggested that this total maybe a few to many for the home side. Some comical and slack fielding in the second half contributed but the inform batters batted well. My first and probably only tea of the season was excellent and enjoyed by all. Thanks again to Ipplepen for that. After the damp start the sun was now out drying things up. Possible making batting slightly easier. Ewan and Steve opened up the bowling. Ewan started with a maiden. Unfortunately Steve couldn’t follow suit. His four overs going for 38. Some attacking batting got them off to a lightening start. Ewan was bowling well but couldn’t break through. Alex took over from Steve but the runs kept flowing. Ewan was then given a break. The pace was taken off with Jody and Martin both coming on. Jody took some early punishment but pulled it back well in his later overs. Still no wicket though. 100 was passed. Just before drinks finally Martin struck with a caught and bowled. Their opener out for 60. The other opener was still there. 115-1 with 21 overs remaining. Something needed to change. A bollocking from Father Ford😂 was what they got. Did it help? Not straight away. Their number three came in and continued the attack. Several more boundaries came. The score passed 150 quickly and things looked ominous. They were up with or just above the rate most of the way. Fordy changed ends and managed to have their batsmen stumped well by James Hayter. This was the start of a decent period. Ewan came back and picked up two big wickets both bowled. Tom took an excellent catch at cow corner off Fordy. Alex had taken over from Ewan. He picked up two wickets. Good catches from Greenleaf and Williams. 156-1 had now become202-8 with just two overs remaining. A six off Alex’s final ball left 21 off Fordy’s final over. Surely no issue. Their number nine had other ideas. A single brought him on strike. 20 off five. Six, six, wide😲😲 Shock, head in hands and disbelief. Loud cheers from the local crowd. 7 off 3 now. Surely not. A drop from Ollie on the boundary so they ran a two. Five now off 2. Going for a second run their number ten was run out by the combination of Alex and James Hayter. One to the score and another wicket. 9 down, four to win off one ball. The whole game down to one ball. Fordy bowled it the batsman hit out to Ewan who winged it back in to James Hayter who completed the run out. Just one scored, 231 all out. A quite extraordinary 2 run win. 20 miraculous points. The players went berserk, the crowd fell silent and the game was done. The game swung from one team to the other then back again. They were on top, then we were, then back to them. Then finally and crucially back to us. Somehow we dragged ourselves over the line. A quite extraordinary game. Cricket never ceases to amaze. Several decent performance. Not really for me to give a Man of the Match (captains job really) but I’ll give my opinion. Fairly straight forward really. Ewan was excellent batting and bowling. Supported Ollie brilliant and then took two big wickets near the death. I thought Martin bowled decently getting the vital first wicket. Somehow Fordy went from hero to villain and then back to hero with that final over😂 But the top spot has to go to Ollie. Rode his luck but made them pay. The hitting in the last 3 overs proving vital in the end. Also holding the innings together with Ewan. Brilliant and excellent from him, well played. Winning is a habit and one that seems hard to get out of. If only the seconds could replicate the firsts. 20 points keeps them in second closing in on Bridestowe who lost. So on they roll. Can they keep it going? Hopefully so. Just want to finally mention that I hope all first team players realise how privileged they are to make an appearance on the second teams page😂😂 I decided to make an allowance just this once😂😂😂 Thanks to all for another excellent and exciting day at the cricket. Up the Bide💪💪
Cheers and Goodnight
Your guest scorer
John Weeks
Cheers and Goodnight
Your guest scorer
John Weeks
Cullompton 2nd XI v Bideford 2nd XI
01/07/23
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Andy Webbe
3. Jack Ancill
4. Matt Clarke
5. James Greenleaf
6. Pete Stevens
7. Eliot Currie
8. Sam Beckley
9. Darren Willcocks
10. Keith Berry
11. Tim Cooke
Umpire. Dave Smale
Scorer. None
Meet 12ish at Cullompton
Possibly teas will confirm as soon as I can😀
2. Andy Webbe
3. Jack Ancill
4. Matt Clarke
5. James Greenleaf
6. Pete Stevens
7. Eliot Currie
8. Sam Beckley
9. Darren Willcocks
10. Keith Berry
11. Tim Cooke
Umpire. Dave Smale
Scorer. None
Meet 12ish at Cullompton
Possibly teas will confirm as soon as I can😀
Match Report
So the halfway point of the season arrived and we had a trip to Cullumpton. They were top of the league. We were having an indifferent one. Good one week, not so the next. With a reasonable side out I thought we’d be able to give them a decent game. So after last week’s poor bowling where we had 330 to chase. I made the decision to bat first, having batted decently most weeks previously. And not having another 300 run chase. This though back fired massively. Webbe, then me and Matt all out for ducks inside 4 overs. Shocking start but have to say again they didn’t bowl any loose deliveries. All of us out to straight deliveries that would have or did hit the stumps. Bowlers take note! James joined Jack at the crease and both did well stopping the continuous fall of wickets. Jack couldn’t carry on his recent run of form though. Given out lbw for 13. James was doing well and going along nicely. Pete and Keith maybe need to engage their brains a little. Sorry to be harsh but both out tamely caught at mid off trying to hit over the top of a fielder who’s 10 yards off the boundary. To easy and plenty overs remaining. Pete injuring himself in the process. James though was doing well and struck several fours and a six on his way to a fifty. He perished caught for a well made 68. Eliot and Sam batted for a long time but both struggled to score. Eliot managed a couple fours in his 20 runs but again we struggled to score quickly at the end of our innings. Darren came and went for 8 and Tim unfortunately was bowled off the last ball of the 40th over. Agonisingly with score on 159. So after an horrendous start we did well to get to some sort of a score, mainly thanks to James. Still as always we could have done a little better. The bowling was good though. Not many loose ones. To have any chance we would have to bowl exceptionally. Darren was back so he opened with Matt. Unfortunately after 2 balls 10 runs were scored. It took us probably about 10 overs to get that many. Matt though bowled a really great spell. 3 wickets for 28 off 8 overs. Everyone else tried but unfortunately there were loose deliveries every over. Their batsmen knew this, waited for them and then dispatched them. Other than Matt we couldn’t stem the tide and they cruised past our total comfortably with 11 overs to spare. Just 4 points and to be honest a bit of a hammering. They were obviously better than us, but we could have been a lot better. Maybe I should have bowled first. Would we have been any better? Going by the previous week, probably not. Our economy rates aren’t great reading. Most are above six or seven which isn’t great. This is something that needs working on. Tim and Matt are around 4. The rest are 6s and 7s. Matt has bowled 7 of our 14 maidens this season. Another telling stat. Setting fields is a struggle when no two deliveries are the same. We are now finding ourselves looking down the table at what’s below us , rather than positively looking up. Maybe some changes are needed? I think we are good enough, we just need to be more consistent. Concentrating is a big thing. Every ball! Little things are costing us every week. Injuries haven’t helped all season. Chris, Ian, James and Martin Stewart have all missed games. Today Sam and Pete picked up injuries which cost us a little. Somethings we can’t do anything about but some we can. I’m sure all will continue with giving the effort required. We just need more guys stepping up and performing more regularly. Apologies for the moan and if any one has any ideas please let me know. Maybe we should have a proper warm before we field? Things like that. Anyway back to the game and Man of The Match. James Greenleaf is an easy one, although must mention Matt who bowled exceptionally. James in his first game batted well and with a bit more help could have got us close to 200. He fielded decently also. And as I said an asset we have missed this season so far. Hopefully he can help us in the second half. Well done to him. Thanks again to all the drivers , appreciated. This week with no scorer or umpire it was a bit of a struggle, highlighting how helpful they are when we have them. So unfortunately another poor day at the office. We’re now looking over our shoulders. Next week Barnstaple have pulled out so no game at all for us. Maybe a chance for some of us to practice. If I’m about I certainly will be. Then it’s another away trip to Exeter 3rds. A game we really need to win. Try and get some momentum going. At the very least put in a good performance and put up a decent fight.
Finally mustn’t finish without mentioning the epic party at the club. Brilliant it was and great to see so many club member there having a great time. I left around 12:30 and I believe it carried on quite a lot longer. Beth and Ollie did a great job putting it on. Hope they enjoyed it as much as everyone else seemed to.
Up the Bide. Thanks and goodnight
Cheers
John Weeks
Finally mustn’t finish without mentioning the epic party at the club. Brilliant it was and great to see so many club member there having a great time. I left around 12:30 and I believe it carried on quite a lot longer. Beth and Ollie did a great job putting it on. Hope they enjoyed it as much as everyone else seemed to.
Up the Bide. Thanks and goodnight
Cheers
John Weeks
Bideford 2nd XI v Culmstock 1st XI
24/06/23
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Andy Webbe
3. Fionn Toland
4. Ian Hayter
5. Jack Ancill
6. Martin Stewart
7. Pete Stevens
8. Sam Beckley
9. Keith Berry
10. Dean Whitehead
11. Riley Hornby
Umpire. Dave Smale
Scorer. Tim Lane
No Teas as usual. Breakfast club 11ish for those that wish to partake. If not meet 12ish for a 1pm start.😀😀
2. Andy Webbe
3. Fionn Toland
4. Ian Hayter
5. Jack Ancill
6. Martin Stewart
7. Pete Stevens
8. Sam Beckley
9. Keith Berry
10. Dean Whitehead
11. Riley Hornby
Umpire. Dave Smale
Scorer. Tim Lane
No Teas as usual. Breakfast club 11ish for those that wish to partake. If not meet 12ish for a 1pm start.😀😀
Match Report
So after the longest away trip to Kilmington and then the shortest one to Westleigh we were back at home against a new side for us in Culmstock. Another hot sunny day greeted us. Gotta mention selection again briefly. For the sixth time in a row a late pull out meant another last minute call up, this time Ollie Keates stepping in. On losing the toss we were asked to field. No Chris or Darren gave Sam and Jack the opportunity to open the bowling. Unfortunately a few early loose deliveries meant their two openers got off to a lightening start without too much risk. Both went for around 8 an over. A Change was needed so Keith and Martin Stewart took over. Martin did a decent job but for some reason is unable to take many wickets when he plays for us. Economy was ok though. Keith did ok but again every loose delivery was punished. So the rate continued along around 8 an over. 150 was on the board at halfway for no wickets. A regular issue for us is taking early wickets. Again we failed. Martin finally picked up the first wicket with his final delivery, a caught and bowled. I hoped this would stem the tide. Unfortunately it didn’t. The next batsman was promoted up the order to do some pinch hitting. This he did very well. Fionn, Dean, Ollie and Keith all coped it. He hit 80 off 30 balls. I managed to catch him out eventually but they were on a mammoth score of 280 by then with still 5 or 6 overs to go. Their young lad who opened up was still there. He fell for 85 but had done an excellent job supporting his team mates. Jack managed to pick up 3 late wickets. Keith got one and a run out gave us six wickets but unfortunately 334 was posted. Odd miss fields but they didn’t really affect anything. There were a few wides but not heaps. Unfortunately it was the consistency of the bowling combined with the batsman punishing virtually every loose ball we served up. Early control is vital and today it wasn’t there. Martin was the only who had any control. He went at 3.5. Everyone else went around 8. The first three batsmen batted well so fair play but I felt we could and should have been so much better. We have been batting well recently so anything around 250 or so and I’d have been happy and thought we have a chance here. At the break though I thought that 334 is probably a bit to many😂 But you never know. Webbe and Pete get going, we may have a sniff. So out to bat I went, opening this time with Pete, to give him every opportunity. Unfortunately for us they did what we couldn’t. Have good control from the start. I snicked off in the first over. Webbe joined Pete and although they both did ok they didn’t have hardly any easy balls to hit. Pete had a couple which he dispatched on his way to 22. Webbe came off after getting 19 saying he didn’t face a loose delivery in the 10 overs he was out there. Others came and went regularly for not many. Jack though was able to hang around and another 200 plus total looked on the cards for us. With good batsman all the way down the order I expected us to bat out the overs and pass 200. But alas we couldn’t. Some decent bowling and a couple rash shots and we were 160 all out. Jack left stranded on 62. Not our greatest performance but Culmstock did all the basics well and punished us when we were loose. So well played to them. Hopefully we can learn from what they did and be better next time. Man of the Match is fairly straightforward. Jack batted really well again, hopefully a huge match winning score isn’t far away. Yet to get out😀 Bowled ok in his second spell also picking up 3 late wickets. Well done to him. We seem to be decent one week and poor the next. Let’s try and be more consistent. Hopefully though we’re due a good one next week away a Cullompton. Thanks as always to the hero’s that are Tim Lane and Dave Smale, who umpired and scored again. Appreciated 😀 Also Dave Staddon who did a stint. As I said next week is Cullompton away. A tough one I’m sure as there top. Availability seems decent this week as you’ll see from the new Spond app. There are two guys not on it also which needs sorting 😬It’s probably meaning a couple will have to miss out. Apologies if anyone does. But as always there is nearly always late changes so it might not end up happening. Let’s forget this one and move on. We have the ability so let’s show it. Thanks to all for the effort. Don’t forget it’s Ollie Keates Half century next week, so let’s also celebrate a great game. Hopefully a win. Thanks and Good night 😀😀
John Weeks
John Weeks
North Devon 3rd XI v Bideford 2nd XI
17/06/23
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Andy Webbe
3. Matt Clarke
4. Jack Ancill
5. Ian Hayter
6. Pete Stevens
7. Chris Luxton
8. Keith Berry
9. Sam Beckley
10. Riley Hornby
11. Tim Cooke
Umpire. Dave Smale
Scorer. Tim Lane
1pm Start at Westleigh
2. Andy Webbe
3. Matt Clarke
4. Jack Ancill
5. Ian Hayter
6. Pete Stevens
7. Chris Luxton
8. Keith Berry
9. Sam Beckley
10. Riley Hornby
11. Tim Cooke
Umpire. Dave Smale
Scorer. Tim Lane
1pm Start at Westleigh
Match Report
Game 7 was the epic away trip to play North Devon 3rds at Westleigh. Another week, another decent team and another week where I’m messaging Dean to see if he can step in last minute. Which lucky enough he was able to. Five weeks in a row now. Still it was another hot decent day. I lost the toss and was asked to bat. I probably would have batted anyway so was ok. Webbe and I opened again . The first ten overs went by. Not a great deal happening. The odd single, the odd wide, the odd boundary and a mighty six from Webbe. This took us to fifty without loss. We both had realised there was some uneven bounce so we would have to be watchful. Fortunately for us they bowled a little too short which gave us the time to judge the bounce. And with a short boundary one side, both were able to cash in. Webbe dealt mainly in sixes on his way to his fifty. I managed to hit 27 off one over to take me beyond fifty also. The one hundred partnership arrived in the 17th over. 148-0 at drinks was an excellent start. One I hoped we could make the most of. On 181 Webbe chipped one to cover and was caught. With 16 overs left though it was set nicely for others to cash in. Matt came in but was dubiously given out caught behind. He was adamant it wasn’t but the umpire thought otherwise. I was unsure. That brought Jack to the crease. He batted sensibly and built an innings. I was managing to tick the score on nicely, punishing the loose deliveries. Amazingly I managed to get to a three figure score. I was caught behind on 114 with 9 overs still remaining. Ian, Pete and Sam fell cheaply which slowed the rate a little. Chris and Jack though hit some late big blows and we finished on 286-6. Jack with a well made 48 not out. Was a very decent effort but as always would like to have got to 300. Still we were in a great position.
After the break jack and Chris opened up. Jack didn’t like bowling downhill so Sam took over. Chris did what he always does. 6 decent overs, few runs conceded and nipped a couple out along the way. He was helped out by Webbe though who took two sharp chances at first slip. Sorry Keith but Webbe has made the position his for now. Sam bowled a great spell also. Didn’t manage a wicket but only went for 3 an over. Riley took over from Chris and bowled an amazing spell. Six overs for just 14 runs. Also nabbing himself 3 wickets. Two bowled and one a good catch from Jack. Brilliant from him the best I’ve seen. Matt won the economical prize. Four overs for just three runs. He also took a wicket. A great effort from Sam. I thought the spectacular dive was a little unnecessary but it did look good. Dean and Tim took over and it was Dean who did the mopping up 3-20, all bowled. He finished it off in the 30th over. Tim only got to bowl three overs but only conceded one run. He like everyone made great efforts in the field. No drops this week either. All round it was great team effort. Lots contributed to a decent win. They weren’t the strongest but we did a professional job of getting the 20 points. This week several put there hands up for man of the match. Me, Webbe and Jack had the best opportunity to bat and made the most of it. All the bowlers did great. Chris was Chris. Sam bowled an excellent spell and fielded well. Tim and Matt both were decent. Dean did an excellent job mopping up. But today I’m going for Riley who bowled a brilliant spell. He hasn’t had a great chance in the previous couple games, but he was ready to go when required and Did an exceptional job. Fielded well also so well done to him. Great effort. Was great from everyone as always. Thanks for that. Also must thank the two Dave’s, Staddon and Smale for umpiring. And Tim Lane for scoring. Very much appreciated and as I said before. It’s makes such a difference as players can relax and concentrate on their game more. Was a great day, a great win and hopefully gives us confidence going forward. Next week is Culmstock. A. Team I’ve never played before. I’m sure its gonna be tough so we will have to be at our best. Transfer this week to next and we will have a great chance. Thanks again to all for the effort, great win. See you all next week. Cheers and good night
John Weeks
After the break jack and Chris opened up. Jack didn’t like bowling downhill so Sam took over. Chris did what he always does. 6 decent overs, few runs conceded and nipped a couple out along the way. He was helped out by Webbe though who took two sharp chances at first slip. Sorry Keith but Webbe has made the position his for now. Sam bowled a great spell also. Didn’t manage a wicket but only went for 3 an over. Riley took over from Chris and bowled an amazing spell. Six overs for just 14 runs. Also nabbing himself 3 wickets. Two bowled and one a good catch from Jack. Brilliant from him the best I’ve seen. Matt won the economical prize. Four overs for just three runs. He also took a wicket. A great effort from Sam. I thought the spectacular dive was a little unnecessary but it did look good. Dean and Tim took over and it was Dean who did the mopping up 3-20, all bowled. He finished it off in the 30th over. Tim only got to bowl three overs but only conceded one run. He like everyone made great efforts in the field. No drops this week either. All round it was great team effort. Lots contributed to a decent win. They weren’t the strongest but we did a professional job of getting the 20 points. This week several put there hands up for man of the match. Me, Webbe and Jack had the best opportunity to bat and made the most of it. All the bowlers did great. Chris was Chris. Sam bowled an excellent spell and fielded well. Tim and Matt both were decent. Dean did an excellent job mopping up. But today I’m going for Riley who bowled a brilliant spell. He hasn’t had a great chance in the previous couple games, but he was ready to go when required and Did an exceptional job. Fielded well also so well done to him. Great effort. Was great from everyone as always. Thanks for that. Also must thank the two Dave’s, Staddon and Smale for umpiring. And Tim Lane for scoring. Very much appreciated and as I said before. It’s makes such a difference as players can relax and concentrate on their game more. Was a great day, a great win and hopefully gives us confidence going forward. Next week is Culmstock. A. Team I’ve never played before. I’m sure its gonna be tough so we will have to be at our best. Transfer this week to next and we will have a great chance. Thanks again to all for the effort, great win. See you all next week. Cheers and good night
John Weeks
Kilmington 2nd XI v Bideford 2nd XI
10/06/23
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Andy Webbe
3. Matt Clarke
4. Jack Ancill
5. Ian Hayter
6. Pete Stevens
7. Keith Berry
8. Sam Beckley
9. Darren Willcocks
10. Riley Hornby
11. Tim Cook
Umpire. None
Scorer. Steve Beckley
1pm Start at Kilmington
2. Andy Webbe
3. Matt Clarke
4. Jack Ancill
5. Ian Hayter
6. Pete Stevens
7. Keith Berry
8. Sam Beckley
9. Darren Willcocks
10. Riley Hornby
11. Tim Cook
Umpire. None
Scorer. Steve Beckley
1pm Start at Kilmington
Match Report
Decided to wait a couple of days before writing this. Needed to calm myself a bit😂. We never seem to do thing nice and simple. Selection issues reared their ugly head again. Not so much of a issue though this week as plenty were available. thanks to Dean for stepping in. Still one of our better batsmen was going to be missing. As we left Bideford the rain was falling. It was on and off all the way down. The long drive was about as ok as it could have been, not much traffic about. On arriving it was very lightly raining but both teams agreed to start. I managed to win the toss and decided to bat first. Several people had advised me this was the way to go. So that’s what I did. I wondered out with my newly purchased bat. One of three or four purchased on the day from Matt Clarke’s mobile cricket store. A roaring trade😀 Even Webbe tested one out. But he didn’t have the muscle to lift it though, so after a few overs he swapped back. A failed sale there for Matt haha. So, I struggled to get going at the start. The bowling was decent. Not a lot of pace and fairly accurate. Webbe did hit some nice shots, starting to build his innings. I finally found the middle of my new bat. Striking a couple fours and a six. As with me though I was just getting going and then got out for 18. The same every week. A little more concentration required. This did send Matt out to join Webbe. Both batted well and sensibly. Waiting for the openers to finish and then helping themselves to the offerings from the change bowlers. Now I’m probably gonna feel their wrath with my next comments, but hopefully they’ll understand where I’m coming from. Both had done great. The rain came and washed out two overs. Webbe was going great hitting a couple into the hedge for 6. He perished though going for another. Yes it was the right shot to a short ball but frustratingly he hit it straight to their only boundary fielder that side. He didn't need to move. He’d done so well as always. But after getting himself in and batting for 24 overs and with his abilities I was hoping he could have pushed on. Matt was doing great also. Ticking the score along nicely. But alas with 5 overs left he got himself out on 49 bowled. Both had done well and we got a good total in the end. But for me one of them needed to take it deep. Jack did well as did Keith but for me we were 20/30 short of where we should have been. The last few overs I admit Kilmington bowled decently. That’s where a set batsmen would have helped. Also we only lost four wickets. Still 222 was a good total. One that I still expected us to defend. Darren opened up with Jack. Amazingly their opener nicked off first ball from Darren. Caught behind by Pete. Brilliant start. Darren bowled a good six over spell and Jack did well but unfortunately leaked a few runs. He did though manage to pick up a wicket. Tim took over from Jack and Matt from Darren. Both also did well. But the runs kept ticking over around six an over. Finally Tim pulled things back slightly in our favour by taking two wickets in the same over. Both bowled. Unfortunately though a hard hitting batsman came in and hit several boundaries. Matt copping a big over. Dean and Sam both had a go. Both bowled a little short and the runs continued to flow. To be fair to kilmington all their batters came in and were positive. Along with a few to many short ones, our fielding was particularly poor. I’ll include myself in this. My groin injury isn’t an excuse. But it was basics. A couple drops. But more importantly several extremely poor efforts. Cost us in the region of 20 runs. The 20 more we should probably have added with the bat. Everyone is making the effort I know that, but at some point we have to be better. Darren and Matt picked up late wickets along with a run out. But it was all to late and in vain. They got home one over to spare. I’ve explained already where we lost the game. So no need to repeat myself, but for me the fielding definitely needs to be a lot better. We struggle also to bowl sides out, which is costing us. Everyone needs to work hard, think about things a little more but most importantly concentrate every ball. It’s tough but unfortunately its costing us. 200 runs again is a decent effort again though. So we are at least giving ourselves a chance with the bat. A bit more in the field is what’s required. Sorry for the moan, I know all give there best. It’s just so frustrating when we drop slightly below the standards I know we have in us. Man of the match. Well not sure where to go with this. Matt and Webbe batted well. Jack did ok all round and Darren and Tim both bowled decent spells. I gonna though be controversial in our defeat and give it to Steve for his immaculate scoring. Travelling to a long away trip to score is definitely worthy of a reward. So thanks for that. Appreciated as always. Even though we didn’t perform to the standards we’d have liked, I must say Kilmington did well also. There bowling near the end was better than us. And they chased down our total well, albeit with a little help from us. Well done to them. We take our 8 points and move on, to the epic away trip to Westleigh. Hopefully we can perform well and get a much needed win. Thanks must go to the drivers and to the Ancill’s for the support. Been asked to mention Pete Stevens and Riley trying to open Pete Ancill’s beers. Wasn’t witness to this so can’t comment, but assured it would get a laugh. Thanks for the effort guys. We go again next week.
Thanks and goodnight
John Weeks
Thanks and goodnight
John Weeks
Bideford 2nd XI v Bradninch and Kentisbeare 3rd XI
03/06/23
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Andy Webbe
3. Ian Hayter
4. Matt Clarke
5. Tim Cooke
6. Darren Willcocks
7. Ollie Keates
8. Riley Hornby
9. Sam Beckley
10. Keith Berry
11. Dean Whitehead
Umpire. Dave Smale
Scorer. Tim Lane
Meet 12ish for 1pm start at the Ho!
Breakfast Club meeting 10:30 if you fancy, all welcome 😀😀😀😀
2. Andy Webbe
3. Ian Hayter
4. Matt Clarke
5. Tim Cooke
6. Darren Willcocks
7. Ollie Keates
8. Riley Hornby
9. Sam Beckley
10. Keith Berry
11. Dean Whitehead
Umpire. Dave Smale
Scorer. Tim Lane
Meet 12ish for 1pm start at the Ho!
Breakfast Club meeting 10:30 if you fancy, all welcome 😀😀😀😀
Match Report
Selection. What to say, well it was the usual weekly nightmare. Thanks for that Martin Stewart😂 seriously though get well soon😀 I’ve gone beyond getting frustrated by it. Now I just laugh it off and move on😂 So as always we were able to put out a team thanks to people stepping in last minute. And It was still a decent one. Must thank Sam Beckley for making the trip with the first XI at short notice and Alex Stevens for helping us out at the Ho! So finally the tranquility of the actual game. On another glorious day, this week I was able to win the toss and made the no brainer decision to bat first. Me and Webbe opened up. It was a little more tricky this week. Some decent bowling and the odd demon unfortunately accounted for Webbe early for just five. A hammer blow for us. Riley came to the wicket at three. Did ok but was caught in front LBW for 6. A partnership was required and just the man for the job walked to the crease. Matt played sensible and didn’t take any risks. He left that to me. In between the odd play and miss or silly shot, I managed to hit a few boundaries including one six. Matt calmly knocked it around giving me the strike. We got to drinks with the score on 81-2. Not bad after losing to wickets early. I had moved on to fifty a ball or two before the break. 2 balls after though I took one risk to many and perished for exactly fifty. That brought Ian out and he cashed in where I couldn’t. Smashing several fours, he raced past Matt’s score and was making sure not too much running was required. Matt simply supported him and when the right ball came along he dispatched it to the boundary rope. When Ian and Matt both past fifty, a very decent score was on the cards. Unfortunately though Ian fell for 56. They had taken the score onto 199. With only about four or five overs remaining I hoped we could push for 250. But two wickets on 215 put paid to that. Keith and Darren both out. Matt finally fell on 220 for a very well put together innings of 72. Dean and Ollie scurried a handful more. Finishing on 226-7. A decent total but would have liked 20 more. Especially when looking back at how tight last weeks game ended up. Thanks to Matt we put up probably a par score and gave ourselves a very good chance of a positive result. We’d have to bowl and field well though.
So after the break Darren and Dean opened up the bowling. Both did decent jobs. Unable to make the breakthrough, but the economy rates rarely went above three. Darren decided after six overs that a change was required so Matt took on bowling down the hill. Several drops meant Matt was only able to take one wicket with him, rather than the four or five he deserved. Just 60 at drinks meant they were way behind the rate, requiring over 8 an over. But with 10 wickets in hand they could have a go. Dean had done well bowling his 8 overs for just 24. Matt finally grabbed a wicket and finished a brilliant spell. 1-22 off 8. Tim took over from Dean and did his usual 2-32 off 8. These four economical spells meant the rate climbed to around 10 an over. Kieth, Ollie and Alex combined for the final 10 overs. Some big late hitting had us a little rattled at points but in the end it was fairly comfortable. Ollie and Keith took a wicket each. The final total was 192-5. They got a few more than I’d have liked but I think we were always in control. A few more wickets too would have been nice. We played well and we were definitely the better team. A good win but still room for improvement. Particularly the catching. A few taken would have made our two recent wins a lot more comfortable than they were. Still we won, taking 17 points and in the end that’s the main aim. Several decent performances today. I batted ok for a while. Ian put in his usual good effort making 56 and keeping well. Darren and Dean bowled good spells. Just lacked something in the wicket column. Tim did what he always does. Bowled a decent 8 over spell for under four an over and took two wickets 😀 Everyone else gave there all as always. But Man of The Match this week is easy. A classy batting performance preceded an equally classy bowling performance. With some help in the field from his team mates he’d probably have had a 5fer. I’ll apologise now for my part in that. A cracking performance and great effort, which was most definitely a match winning one. Well played to him. Hopefully more to come as the season ticks along. It has been great to see different guy’s performing each week. We have our consistent ones like Ian and Tim. But also Webbe, Jody, Matt, Keith, Sam and Darren have all stepped up. If we can continue like this a great season looms. With the bat we are averaging around 220 which is great. A few more wickets though is what we need. Still yet to bowl a side out. But today was a great day. 17 more points. Next week we make the long trip to Kilmington. Somewhere the seconds have never been, in my time at least. Another tough game ahead I’m sure. But one I’m sure we can do well in if we continue putting in big efforts. Thanks to everybody for that. Thanks again to Tim Lane and Dave Smale for scoring and Umpiring. Appreciated as always. Let’s keep the roll going. Another excellent day to be beside the see😀😀 Thanks and good night
John Weeks
So after the break Darren and Dean opened up the bowling. Both did decent jobs. Unable to make the breakthrough, but the economy rates rarely went above three. Darren decided after six overs that a change was required so Matt took on bowling down the hill. Several drops meant Matt was only able to take one wicket with him, rather than the four or five he deserved. Just 60 at drinks meant they were way behind the rate, requiring over 8 an over. But with 10 wickets in hand they could have a go. Dean had done well bowling his 8 overs for just 24. Matt finally grabbed a wicket and finished a brilliant spell. 1-22 off 8. Tim took over from Dean and did his usual 2-32 off 8. These four economical spells meant the rate climbed to around 10 an over. Kieth, Ollie and Alex combined for the final 10 overs. Some big late hitting had us a little rattled at points but in the end it was fairly comfortable. Ollie and Keith took a wicket each. The final total was 192-5. They got a few more than I’d have liked but I think we were always in control. A few more wickets too would have been nice. We played well and we were definitely the better team. A good win but still room for improvement. Particularly the catching. A few taken would have made our two recent wins a lot more comfortable than they were. Still we won, taking 17 points and in the end that’s the main aim. Several decent performances today. I batted ok for a while. Ian put in his usual good effort making 56 and keeping well. Darren and Dean bowled good spells. Just lacked something in the wicket column. Tim did what he always does. Bowled a decent 8 over spell for under four an over and took two wickets 😀 Everyone else gave there all as always. But Man of The Match this week is easy. A classy batting performance preceded an equally classy bowling performance. With some help in the field from his team mates he’d probably have had a 5fer. I’ll apologise now for my part in that. A cracking performance and great effort, which was most definitely a match winning one. Well played to him. Hopefully more to come as the season ticks along. It has been great to see different guy’s performing each week. We have our consistent ones like Ian and Tim. But also Webbe, Jody, Matt, Keith, Sam and Darren have all stepped up. If we can continue like this a great season looms. With the bat we are averaging around 220 which is great. A few more wickets though is what we need. Still yet to bowl a side out. But today was a great day. 17 more points. Next week we make the long trip to Kilmington. Somewhere the seconds have never been, in my time at least. Another tough game ahead I’m sure. But one I’m sure we can do well in if we continue putting in big efforts. Thanks to everybody for that. Thanks again to Tim Lane and Dave Smale for scoring and Umpiring. Appreciated as always. Let’s keep the roll going. Another excellent day to be beside the see😀😀 Thanks and good night
John Weeks
Bideford 2nd XI v Alphington 2nd XI
27/05/23
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Darren Willcocks
3. Riley Hornby
4. Pete Stevens
5. Tim Cooke
6. Ollie Keates
7. Dean Whitehead
8. Sam Beckley
9. Keith Berry
10. Joe Stevens
11. Steve Beckley
Umpire. Dave Smale
Scorer. Time Lane
12ish meet for a 1pm start at the Ho!
2. Darren Willcocks
3. Riley Hornby
4. Pete Stevens
5. Tim Cooke
6. Ollie Keates
7. Dean Whitehead
8. Sam Beckley
9. Keith Berry
10. Joe Stevens
11. Steve Beckley
Umpire. Dave Smale
Scorer. Time Lane
12ish meet for a 1pm start at the Ho!
Match Report
Last week we had lost our four main bowlers who could all bat a bit also. This week none of them were back. Combine that with our two best batsman missing, we were in a bit of bother even before we got onto the field. With a few lads stepping up we did though manage to put out a side. It was another glorious hot sunny day at the Ho! And one that suggested batting first would be the way to go. So my heart sunk when losing the toss. But to my delight they said they had better have a bowl. So we got to bat but without our superstars, others would have to step up. So I asked Pete to open up with me. This risk payed off as after 6 overs we had 50 on the board. He struck half a dozen boundaries for 30. I hit 3 getting to 19. Then our usual curse struck. I inside edged one onto the stumps. Pete did similar a few balls later. Darren was caught at slip and Steve was caught behind. 50-0 had become 70-4. Typical of us. This partnered Sam and Keith together. Due to our quick start both had plenty of time to get in and build innings. This they did really well. Waited for the bad balls and punished them accordingly. They ticked along at around 5 an over. Unfortunately just before they got to a 100 partnership Sam miss timed one and was caught for a very well made 45. Keith was joined by Riley who struck a few decent shots making 12. With 4 overs to go he got out but Keith was still there. Alphington had I think run out of main bowling options. Dean came in and along with Keith took advantage of this. Getting around 40 off the last four overs. Both finished not out. Dean made 18, Keith a brilliant 67. So a final total of 234-6 was an excellent effort. Most batsmen chipping in. If I’m honest it was 100 runs more than I thought we’d get. So I along the others were delighted with our efforts. They gave us a real opportunity. We’d still have to bowl and field well.
Dean and Darren opened up the bowling. Darren struck early, an excellent take one handed by Pete behind the stumps. Dean was doing a decent job and struck also hitting the stumps. Darren then took over, Steve took an excellent catch, Pete took another one behind the wicket and his fourth wicket was clean bowled. When Tim had another caught by Pete we were in an unbelievable position. 43-6 wow. I’ll say it again 43-6. Darren had rolled back the years with an awesome spell. This though had brought two experienced heads to the crease. They decided to bat time and get themselves in. This they did really well. We didn’t have anyone keen to bowl down hill. So I had to insist they did. Tim was being Tim up the hill(excellent as always) so Sam, Ollie and Riley had to step up. They all struggled a bit and we leaked quite a few runs. Ollie changed ends after Tim’s 1-20 off 8 spell. He fared a lot better. No wickets but his economy fell rapidly. Still Alphington were edging closer all the time. They gave a couple chances that we failed to take. But were putting up a great fight 43-6 had become 187-6. The run rate was always above 10 though so things still just in our favour. Finally though Keith took a caught and bowled which probably ended their hopes. Sam took a late 8th wicket and was able to defend the 20plus runs required off the last over. Alphington had done an amazing job to get within 16 runs in the end. Great effort from them. We could obviously have been a bit better. The bowling after Darren and Tim wasn’t the best and a couple catches missed. We could and probably should have been a lot more comfortable than we were. Credit must go to Alphington for their efforts though. Never have I seen a field like we had at the end. Literally every out fielder was standing on the boundary rope as the ball was being bowled. Quite a sight😂 But it’s within the laws and we definitely needed to do it. Victory at any cost. 19 points is an excellent effort from our much changed side. Several players stepped up and put in brilliant performances. Pete got our batting off to a flier. Sam and Keith batted 20 plus overs each, taking us to the 200 mark. Dean scored some valuable runs also at the death. But for me Man of the Match has to go to Darren. Without his spell knocking over most of their top order, I think we’d have struggled to defend our total.Back to his best. Hopefully he can keep it going . So well done to him. But everyone chipped in. Pete scored 33 and took 4 catches. Tim was his usual excellent self. Ollie did a great job second spell and Dean scored some vital runs along with a vital early wicket. So was a great team effort and will hopefully set us on our way to a good season. Week one we weren’t far off. Could quite easily have won it. Week two we struggled a little but with a couple more regulars we could have gotten something. This week we were very short but dug in and produced a brilliant performance. Some as I always say a little more consistency all round and we’ll have a great season. The only real downside today was 29 wides. We’ve been decent the previous two weeks, just 23 between both games. Something to work on there. Must thank Dave for his umpiring efforts and also Tim for his scoring efforts. Massively appreciated as always. Both agreeing to turn out again next week is awesome for us. I definitely think players not having to do either job helps massively. For me it also contributed massively to us winning, as much as any player. After the game Keith fired up the bbq and awesome it was to. Great to see most players staying on for a couple hours and hopefully all enjoyed it. Hopefully we will introduce this a few more times throughout the season. Can’t finish with congratulating The first team on their excellent win. Well actually Ollie Hannam on his excellent match winning knock. Well played😀 And finally can’t forget our resident Luton fan Tim on their return to footballs top table, an amazing effort 💪😀 In all as days go they don’t get much better. Thanks to all for the effort. Can’t express the appreciation enough. What a day to be beside the sea. Let’s repeat this day next Saturday. Thanks and good night.
Cheers
John Weeks
Dean and Darren opened up the bowling. Darren struck early, an excellent take one handed by Pete behind the stumps. Dean was doing a decent job and struck also hitting the stumps. Darren then took over, Steve took an excellent catch, Pete took another one behind the wicket and his fourth wicket was clean bowled. When Tim had another caught by Pete we were in an unbelievable position. 43-6 wow. I’ll say it again 43-6. Darren had rolled back the years with an awesome spell. This though had brought two experienced heads to the crease. They decided to bat time and get themselves in. This they did really well. We didn’t have anyone keen to bowl down hill. So I had to insist they did. Tim was being Tim up the hill(excellent as always) so Sam, Ollie and Riley had to step up. They all struggled a bit and we leaked quite a few runs. Ollie changed ends after Tim’s 1-20 off 8 spell. He fared a lot better. No wickets but his economy fell rapidly. Still Alphington were edging closer all the time. They gave a couple chances that we failed to take. But were putting up a great fight 43-6 had become 187-6. The run rate was always above 10 though so things still just in our favour. Finally though Keith took a caught and bowled which probably ended their hopes. Sam took a late 8th wicket and was able to defend the 20plus runs required off the last over. Alphington had done an amazing job to get within 16 runs in the end. Great effort from them. We could obviously have been a bit better. The bowling after Darren and Tim wasn’t the best and a couple catches missed. We could and probably should have been a lot more comfortable than we were. Credit must go to Alphington for their efforts though. Never have I seen a field like we had at the end. Literally every out fielder was standing on the boundary rope as the ball was being bowled. Quite a sight😂 But it’s within the laws and we definitely needed to do it. Victory at any cost. 19 points is an excellent effort from our much changed side. Several players stepped up and put in brilliant performances. Pete got our batting off to a flier. Sam and Keith batted 20 plus overs each, taking us to the 200 mark. Dean scored some valuable runs also at the death. But for me Man of the Match has to go to Darren. Without his spell knocking over most of their top order, I think we’d have struggled to defend our total.Back to his best. Hopefully he can keep it going . So well done to him. But everyone chipped in. Pete scored 33 and took 4 catches. Tim was his usual excellent self. Ollie did a great job second spell and Dean scored some vital runs along with a vital early wicket. So was a great team effort and will hopefully set us on our way to a good season. Week one we weren’t far off. Could quite easily have won it. Week two we struggled a little but with a couple more regulars we could have gotten something. This week we were very short but dug in and produced a brilliant performance. Some as I always say a little more consistency all round and we’ll have a great season. The only real downside today was 29 wides. We’ve been decent the previous two weeks, just 23 between both games. Something to work on there. Must thank Dave for his umpiring efforts and also Tim for his scoring efforts. Massively appreciated as always. Both agreeing to turn out again next week is awesome for us. I definitely think players not having to do either job helps massively. For me it also contributed massively to us winning, as much as any player. After the game Keith fired up the bbq and awesome it was to. Great to see most players staying on for a couple hours and hopefully all enjoyed it. Hopefully we will introduce this a few more times throughout the season. Can’t finish with congratulating The first team on their excellent win. Well actually Ollie Hannam on his excellent match winning knock. Well played😀 And finally can’t forget our resident Luton fan Tim on their return to footballs top table, an amazing effort 💪😀 In all as days go they don’t get much better. Thanks to all for the effort. Can’t express the appreciation enough. What a day to be beside the sea. Let’s repeat this day next Saturday. Thanks and good night.
Cheers
John Weeks
Upottery 2nd XI v Bideford 2nd XI
20/05/23
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Darren Willcocks
3. Andy Webbe
4. Ian Hayter
5. Keith Berry
6. Sam Beckley
7. Riley Hornby
8. Tim Cooke
9. Pete Stevens
10. Ollie Keates
11. Alex Stevens
1pm start at Upottery
2. Darren Willcocks
3. Andy Webbe
4. Ian Hayter
5. Keith Berry
6. Sam Beckley
7. Riley Hornby
8. Tim Cooke
9. Pete Stevens
10. Ollie Keates
11. Alex Stevens
1pm start at Upottery
Match Report
So to game three. A long away trip to Upottery. Back to normal this week selection wise. Lots unavailable, so once again a nightmare getting a team. But get one I did. Alex Stevens stepping in last minute gave us a reasonable XI. We arrived in plenty of time on a glorious sunny afternoon. The wicket looked ok and perfect for batting first on. This week I couldn’t make the mistake of choosing to bowl first as I lost the and was inevitably asked to have a bowl. So with our four main bowlers from last week missing it was up to others to step up. Sam opened with Darren. Both did ok but a few loose ones allowed them a decent start. They ticked along at 6 an over. Both unable to make the breakthrough. A change of bowling to Tim brought about the first wicket well stumped by Ian. 69-1. This though brought in a hard hitting batsman who almost every other ball was finding the boundary. His dad at the other end was supporting him well. They put on 100 plus partnership before it was finally broken by Riley. Ollie had had a go before Riley but couldn’t break the partnership. With plenty overs remaining they continued to go after the bowling. Finally Sam bowled the in batsman but he had done the damage with 88 runs. The remaining batsmen came and went at regular intervals but the runs kept ticking along. Everyone except Keith managed to pick up a wicket or two near the end but the damage had already been done. 269-8. We all gave our all but lacked a little quality and consistency in the end. An amazing amount of full tosses didn’t help along with quite a few very short balls. These we easy to hit for their in batsmen who punished us accordingly. Their top three pretty much made most of their runs. 25 extras wasn’t to bad. Just 11 wides. They were a little lenient though I thought. So a tough chase but one we should be able to get close to if we bat to our abilities.
Me and Webbe opened as usual and got off to a good start. I surprisingly out scored Webbe to start with. 45 on the board after just 6 overs was a decent start. But alas my lack of quality shone and I was caught at point for 30. Still better me than Webbe. Sam was given a go but could only muster 3 off 5 balls. Ian and Keith both tried to hang around with Webbe but neither managed double figures. Two balls after Keith perished Pete did also caught. Darren made 12 quite quickly but was then bowled. Webbe was at the other end trying his best to farm strike and keep the board ticking. He managed this for a while but after a while the task became to much. Wickets were tumbling and without any help with the runs he finally fell caught behind for 91. A great effort. One that with a little more help could have been a winning one. The end came in the 39th over on 186. Webbe apart we didn’t perform great. More effort is definitely needed. Looks like they were much better than us. On the day yes they were, but on paper I wouldn’t say so. Consistency is our problem all round. From selection to batting, bowling and fielding. A little here and there could make a massive difference. Man of the Match is easy. Webbe once again showed what a massive asset he is for us. Just needs a bit more HELP from the rest of us😂. So well done to him. Alex Stevens also did an excellent job in his first game, particularly fielding. Hopefully he enjoyed it and will get better and better the more he plays. Thanks to all that made the long trip away. Always a hassle 😀Also to those who drove, appreciated as always. Next week is Alphington at home. Always tough so another big effort required. Was hoping to have a couple back this week, but currently doesn’t look to be the case. Along with Ian and Webbe missing we are behind the eight ball already. So that effort from the rest of us is going to have to be massive. The weather looks set to be decent again so let’s try and make the most of it. See you soon. Cheers and good night 😀😀
John Weeks
Me and Webbe opened as usual and got off to a good start. I surprisingly out scored Webbe to start with. 45 on the board after just 6 overs was a decent start. But alas my lack of quality shone and I was caught at point for 30. Still better me than Webbe. Sam was given a go but could only muster 3 off 5 balls. Ian and Keith both tried to hang around with Webbe but neither managed double figures. Two balls after Keith perished Pete did also caught. Darren made 12 quite quickly but was then bowled. Webbe was at the other end trying his best to farm strike and keep the board ticking. He managed this for a while but after a while the task became to much. Wickets were tumbling and without any help with the runs he finally fell caught behind for 91. A great effort. One that with a little more help could have been a winning one. The end came in the 39th over on 186. Webbe apart we didn’t perform great. More effort is definitely needed. Looks like they were much better than us. On the day yes they were, but on paper I wouldn’t say so. Consistency is our problem all round. From selection to batting, bowling and fielding. A little here and there could make a massive difference. Man of the Match is easy. Webbe once again showed what a massive asset he is for us. Just needs a bit more HELP from the rest of us😂. So well done to him. Alex Stevens also did an excellent job in his first game, particularly fielding. Hopefully he enjoyed it and will get better and better the more he plays. Thanks to all that made the long trip away. Always a hassle 😀Also to those who drove, appreciated as always. Next week is Alphington at home. Always tough so another big effort required. Was hoping to have a couple back this week, but currently doesn’t look to be the case. Along with Ian and Webbe missing we are behind the eight ball already. So that effort from the rest of us is going to have to be massive. The weather looks set to be decent again so let’s try and make the most of it. See you soon. Cheers and good night 😀😀
John Weeks
Bideford 2nd XI v Exeter 3rd XI
13/05/23
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Andy Webbe
3. Keith Berry
4. Ian Hayter
5. Jody Brown
6. Matt Clarke
7. Jim Keates
8. Chris Luxton
9. Darren Willcocks
10. Sam Beckley
11. Riley Hornby
Umpire. Tim Cook
Scorer. Tim Lane
Meet 12ish for a 1pm start at the Ho!
2. Andy Webbe
3. Keith Berry
4. Ian Hayter
5. Jody Brown
6. Matt Clarke
7. Jim Keates
8. Chris Luxton
9. Darren Willcocks
10. Sam Beckley
11. Riley Hornby
Umpire. Tim Cook
Scorer. Tim Lane
Meet 12ish for a 1pm start at the Ho!
Match Report
So finally we got to kick off our Devon League campaign after Axminster’s withdrawal and rain had put paid to the first week of the season. I woke up Saturday morning to what promised to be a glorious day weather wise. And this it was. Sunshine all day. With strong availability we had a decent experienced side. Matt Clarke and Jody Brown returning to the club bolstered our experience massively. I was Undecided at the toss as to what to do. I went for bowling first. Hoping we could start well. Jim and Sam started off the bowling. Both did a decent job but with a couple dropped catches and some attacking shots, they got off to good start. 60-0 off the first ten wasn’t the start we wanted. A double change in the bowling brought a quick reward. Jody in his second over had a wicket caught by Chris at deep mid wicket. That quickly became two wickets thanks to a good slip catch by Keith off Matts bowling. The two new recruits had got us back in the game. Jody beat the next batsman and bowled him for zero. Now at 89-3 we were looking good.Their number three though had other ideas. A few quick singles were interrupted by some big hits for six. Matt copped a few as did Riley who had taken over from Jody. Jody’s excellent spell of 2-28 off 8 was a brilliant effort. 89-3 became 150-3. Riley got his first wicket of the season well stumped by Ian. Two previous efforts at stumpings from Ian would definitely have been reviewed. 12 overs still to go. Darren replaced Matt. Did ok and picked up a wicket bowled. But also copped a couple big hits. Their number three got 83 before he was bowled by Sam. The runs ticked along at six an over throughout. Two excellent overs at the death from Jim stopped them getting past 250. But 238-6 was a decent total and would take a big effort to chase down. Extras wasn’t to bad, just 15. Still two extra overs in wides. There were roughly 130 dots but lots of sixes made up for it. Wasn’t a lot we could do about that though.
Batting would be hard work but I was confident that if we batted all our overs we had the batting to chase their total. After 4 overs we doing well. Webbe struck a four and a big six and I had hit two fours. 30-0. Unfortunately Webbe went again and miss timed his shot straight to the fielder posted on the boundary. A big blow for us. I was joined by Kieth. He and I struggled to get the ball away. 10 overs went by for just 20 runs which put us behind the rate. Kieth fell for 5. I had made it to 22 before I flicked one straight to fine leg and was caught. 65-3 at drinks was below where we wanted but with lots of batting to come we were still in with a shout. We’d have to bat well though. This we did. Well Ian and Jody did. After a few balls each getting in Ian in particular managed to move the scoreboard along at a very decent rate. One over of 19 and one of 21 included some huge sixes from Ian who passed fifty in the process. Jody initially supported Ian well before bringing out some shots of his own. Mainly fours but one big six also. He also passed fifty. Jody was unfortunately bowled on 51. Ian kept on going though. Once Jody perished we needed 10 an over but could only muster 5 or 6. Jim and Matt tried valiantly as did Ian but we fell 16 short. Great efforts from Jody and Ian on another would have taken us home. 10 overs for 20 at the start put us on the back foot a little. We also faced 130 ish dots which is what cost us in the end. Both teams batted well and unfortunately for us they came out on top in a tight finish. Two fairly evenly matched teams. Not the result we wanted but a good performance all the same. Everyone did a good job and if we can play like this every week I’m sure the victories will come.
Man of the Match can only go one way and that’s in the direction of Ian. He kept well. Byes zero. And batted magnificent for 89 not out. Some lusty blows almost got us home. Well done to him. Must mention Jody who bowled exceptionally and also batted well. A great retuning effort from him. Everyone gave there all as always so thanks for that. Same effort next week please. Must thank the two Tim’s for scoring and umpiring. Can’t remember ever having one of each. Been several years at least. Great job done and such a massive help, so thanks for that. Thanks to Exeter for uploading the results. Saves me a job. Upottery away next week. A long drive and a tough one I’m sure. The same effort again and we will have a chance. So on we move. Thanks and goodnight
Cheers
John Weeks
Batting would be hard work but I was confident that if we batted all our overs we had the batting to chase their total. After 4 overs we doing well. Webbe struck a four and a big six and I had hit two fours. 30-0. Unfortunately Webbe went again and miss timed his shot straight to the fielder posted on the boundary. A big blow for us. I was joined by Kieth. He and I struggled to get the ball away. 10 overs went by for just 20 runs which put us behind the rate. Kieth fell for 5. I had made it to 22 before I flicked one straight to fine leg and was caught. 65-3 at drinks was below where we wanted but with lots of batting to come we were still in with a shout. We’d have to bat well though. This we did. Well Ian and Jody did. After a few balls each getting in Ian in particular managed to move the scoreboard along at a very decent rate. One over of 19 and one of 21 included some huge sixes from Ian who passed fifty in the process. Jody initially supported Ian well before bringing out some shots of his own. Mainly fours but one big six also. He also passed fifty. Jody was unfortunately bowled on 51. Ian kept on going though. Once Jody perished we needed 10 an over but could only muster 5 or 6. Jim and Matt tried valiantly as did Ian but we fell 16 short. Great efforts from Jody and Ian on another would have taken us home. 10 overs for 20 at the start put us on the back foot a little. We also faced 130 ish dots which is what cost us in the end. Both teams batted well and unfortunately for us they came out on top in a tight finish. Two fairly evenly matched teams. Not the result we wanted but a good performance all the same. Everyone did a good job and if we can play like this every week I’m sure the victories will come.
Man of the Match can only go one way and that’s in the direction of Ian. He kept well. Byes zero. And batted magnificent for 89 not out. Some lusty blows almost got us home. Well done to him. Must mention Jody who bowled exceptionally and also batted well. A great retuning effort from him. Everyone gave there all as always so thanks for that. Same effort next week please. Must thank the two Tim’s for scoring and umpiring. Can’t remember ever having one of each. Been several years at least. Great job done and such a massive help, so thanks for that. Thanks to Exeter for uploading the results. Saves me a job. Upottery away next week. A long drive and a tough one I’m sure. The same effort again and we will have a chance. So on we move. Thanks and goodnight
Cheers
John Weeks
Bideford 2nd XI v Exeter 2nd XI
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Ian Hayter
3. Darren Willcocks
4. Chris Luxton
5. Sam Beckley
6. Andy Webbe
7. James Ford
8. Keith Berry
9. Tim Cooke
10. Riley Hornby
11. Fionn Toland
1pm Start at Westward Ho!
Breakfast 10:30 meet at club for those who wish.
BBQ after game also
2. Ian Hayter
3. Darren Willcocks
4. Chris Luxton
5. Sam Beckley
6. Andy Webbe
7. James Ford
8. Keith Berry
9. Tim Cooke
10. Riley Hornby
11. Fionn Toland
1pm Start at Westward Ho!
Breakfast 10:30 meet at club for those who wish.
BBQ after game also
Match Report
Finally we arrived at the last game of an interesting season. And of course it wouldn’t have been right to not have our usual selection headache. 9:30 Saturday morning I get a message. Martin hasn’t turned up so we have pinched Sam. Great😂 still though a possibility he might be able to play at home. If we can get hold of him. Alas we couldn’t so our superstar sub Liam helped out once again. He’s becoming a regular now😂 Let’s hope though that Martin is actually ok. Writing this I’m still none the wiser as to where he might be😀 so onto the game. I thought we would struggle to get much play with the overcast conditions and rain forecast. But apart from a little drizzle just after the tea break. We had no stoppages at all. I lost the toss and was asked to have a bowl. I was quite happy with that though as I would have bowled anyway. So with 10 points required off we went. Chris and Darren opened up. Both did ok jobs at the start and Darren picked up the first wicket caught by Ian. 1-1. Unusually Chris wasn’t firing so Tim took over. He was his usual self. With the second wicket partnership looking ominous he managed to lure the batsman out his crease and Ian did the rest. With 100 on the board at drinks they were in a good position to push on.Tim though picked up the wicket of their in batsman, well caught by Webbe. Darren had bowled through his overs and done well with 1-34. Then it was the inspirational decision by the captain to bring Fionn into the attack. And equally inspirational to keep him on after his first over saw 3 boundaries hit. He got into his rhythm and was constantly troubling the batsman. Chris produced the catch of the day diving forward a mid on. Exceptional catch I thought. Riley held onto a catch. Strange technique but held it😂 Webbe snapped up a slip catch and then Fordy although not looking completely comfortable, held on to a steepling catch. James had taken over from Tim and was doing a great job. Fionn took a simple catch to give him a wicket. Riley bowled a couple but struggled so Chris came back and bowled the final two. The second half was great. We restricted them well and consistently picked up wickets. We couldn’t quite manage to bowl them out. But 180 was a very gettable total with the line up we had. Bowling sides out is something we have struggled with this season. Only managed it twice. Work to be done there. So next was the batting. As we desperately needed to win I decided to make the most of senior Ford. He opened up with Webbe. A couple of classy shots each got us going and it was looking like it might be a comfortable chase. But of course it never is with us. Webbe smashed a full toss. I actually clicked four instantly on the tablet. I had to undo my error as there cover field took a one handed worldy. Fordy on the other hand was using up quite a few of his nine lives. I again a couple of times had given him out on the scorecard only to see 4 or 5 dollies dropped. Webbe was cursing his luck on the sideline. Keith had joined James but only lasted two balls. I gave him out caught behind but apparently Darren gave him lbw😂 Fionn strode to the crease and played an excellent innings. He supported James brilliant. James made it to fifty in is fourth innings and then finally they took the chance and he was caught behind for valuable 69 runs. When Ian was bowled shortly after we still required 60 runs. Fionn was looking good though and we had some batting still to come. I joined Fionn and together we ticked the scoreboard along nicely. The odd four and lots of 1s and 2s. It’s surprising how fast the scoreboard ticks over when your running 1s and 2s. I hit a six to get us into single figures required. Four byes left four to win. Bugger I chopped on to ball that should have disappeared. That meant Chris had to stroll out and help Fionn get us over the line. Chris knocked a single and then Fionn magnificently won us the game with a reverse sweep. But if practice needed though as it didn’t quite make the boundary. Still they were able to run the 3 that was required. Hooray we did it 19 points and safety. Finishing 6th in the end. That win took us above Exeter😀 Was a great effort from everyone. Several stepped up and we got ourselves over the line. Man of the Match can only really go one way and that Liam Toland😂 oh sorry I meant Fionn. Liam probably does deserve something though for continually helping us out and putting in great efforts. But yes today Fionn was the star performer. After a shaky start produced an excellent spell of bowling, picking up four wickets along the way. We’ve unearthed a decent spinner there. His fielding was excellent as always and he played a brilliant innings allowing everyone else to bat around him. Then the highlight of seeing us home and to safety with a classy shot. Well played him. Well done to all others was a great effort. Thanks from me for that. Must thank all who stayed after for the bbq. Wasn’t to bad I thought😂😂 The semi naked louts slightly upset our civilised evening when they turned up😂😂 But was a decent evening and day in the end. End of season review will arrive when I have a spare 5hours or so😂😂 Finally it’s been an interesting season. Started with 4 out of 6 wins. Ended 3 wins from four. Just the middle bit to sort next year. Oops nearly forgot the most important person. That’s Hannah Luxton for washing up at the end. Appreciated massively. Thank you. Cheers and good night.
Sampford Peverall 2nd XI v Bideford 2nd XI
27/08/22
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Andy Webbe
3. Ian Hayter
4. Darren Willcocks
5. Riley Hornby
6. Keith Berry
7. Damon Berry
8. Rob Guppy
9. Tim Cooke
10. Liam Toland
11.?
1pm start at Sampford Peverall
No teas
2. Andy Webbe
3. Ian Hayter
4. Darren Willcocks
5. Riley Hornby
6. Keith Berry
7. Damon Berry
8. Rob Guppy
9. Tim Cooke
10. Liam Toland
11.?
1pm start at Sampford Peverall
No teas
Match Report
So here goes then. Not really sure where to start. Thought about not doing one this week but then decided to make one last effort 😀Selection! Well in all the years doing this job, I’ve never had such inconsistency. Most weeks is normally ok with a handful of tough weeks. This season it’s but the other way round. Tough and challenging all but a couple of times. This week was just crazy again. People in then out. First team pinch one. At one point I had twelve but unfortunately by the time the game started we had just ten. Not ideal but on we must go. So on arrival and winning the toss I decided to bat. Looking back probably should have bowled. I lasted just two balls and Keith didn’t last much longer. Both not troubling the scoreboard. This partnered Webbe and Ian who kept the runs flowing and were looking like putting us on target for a great total. Several fours and the odd six. A change of bowling at one end brought a young leg spinner on. He bowled well but did bowl a poor one most overs. This though seemed to be the one that took the wicket. First Webbe picked out the boundary fielder for 30. Darren hit a couple boundaries before he was also out caught. Rob and Riley within a few balls both out slogging across the line. Ian though was at least digging in. Blocking the good ones and dispatching the bad ones. We somehow made it to twenty overs. Ian hit a huge six but with only two wickets in hand was bowled. 105 on the board. One wicket left. Damon and Tim. They valiantly got us to 120 and a third point. But then Tim gave there leggy his fifth wicket caught deep mid wicket. All five of his wickets were caught leg side. 124 all out. Only Ian and Webbe got going. On another day one or both would have smashed us to a big score. Had the rest of us been able to help them out a bit, then maybe they would have. The rest of us batted poorly, making some poor decisions and our total was nearly always never going to be enough. 250 was probably about par. One less batsman was also a big issue. Still we are in a tough position in the league and so fighting for every point was required. Darren and Rob both did ok opening the bowling but this season we have struggled massively to take wickets. This week was no different. Everyone did ok but all bowled several poor deliveries each. These were generally punished and they slowly edged towards our total. Tim was he’s usual self though finally nabbing us a couple wickets and a fourth potentially vital point. Still they got there with 16 overs to spare. In reality we didn’t get any luck and we made some poor decisions all round. We basically got exactly what we deserved and that was not a lot. Everyone made the effort of course but lack of consistency in selection is hurting us. One or two changes is fine but 6 or 7 literally every week is tough to cope with. Several players have missed 4 weeks without playing. It’s tough to come back in and play well after that.Man of the Match has to go back with its familiar friend. Ian was again our best batsman by far and without his runs we would have been fifty all out. His efforts even with his health issues is amazing and I’m certainly grateful for that. Those efforts mean that at least we go to the last game knowing that a win will be enough. Actually 10 points will do it. 200 runs and 10 wickets even in defeat. Only once this season have we achieved this so it’s definitely gonna be tough. So thanks to Rob and Liam for helping us out once again. Thanks to those who drove. We all know what’s needed. A little use of our brains and one last big effort. We are potentially a far better team than our league position Suggests. But the league doesn’t lie, we are exactly where we deserve to be. Somethings are out of our control (availability) but the rest is down to us. Working hard and making the right decisions and concentration. Let’s give it one last monumental effort. We definitely have it in us. A call to arms, one last stand.Lets do this.💪💪💪😀😀😀😍😍😍
Cheers
John Weeks
Cheers
John Weeks
Axminster 1st XI v Bideford 2nd XI
20/08/22
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Andy Webbe
3. Darren Willcocks
4. Jim Keates
5. Ollie Keates
6. Pete Stevens
7. Riley Hornby
8. Sam Beckley
9. Rob Hill
10. Mark Paul
11. Liam Toland
1pm start at Axminster
Teas provided😀
2. Andy Webbe
3. Darren Willcocks
4. Jim Keates
5. Ollie Keates
6. Pete Stevens
7. Riley Hornby
8. Sam Beckley
9. Rob Hill
10. Mark Paul
11. Liam Toland
1pm start at Axminster
Teas provided😀
Match Report
Selection is always an issue and never easy. Some weeks though it’s just astonishing. It nearly always works out but the stress involved is immense. Struggling to find an XI , getting an XI, not having an XI again and then at the last second hooray an XI. So I was delighted to wake up Saturday morning with a full team and everyone having a lift. A two hour trip, the longest of the season was in front of us. We had our usual issues on the link road but managed to turn up in plenty of time. The weather was ok. A little overcast but no sign of rain. On inspection of the wicket we noticed that the crows had been having a fine time. Not a few holes but literally hundreds. Some even on the wicket. So on winning the toss it was a no brainier to field first. Jim and Sam opened up the bowling. Jim bowled excellently and picked up the first wicket, showing Rob how to catch with a caught and bowled. Sam bowled ok and actually was able to bowl some proper bouncers. The wicket was acting exactly as it looked. Some over the batsman’s head and some barely leaving the ground. Unfortunately though we continued to bowl quite a few wides and mixed in a few poor hit me balls. Their captain did pretty much what Cullomptons captain did last week. He hit all our poor balls for four and quite quickly made it to fifty. Ollie was doing well and managed to entice him into a big shot that went straight up and was caught by Pete. They were going around 5 an over but towards the end we managed to slow the rate a little. Liam took a simple catch to give Riley his first 2nd team wicket. Riley picked up another one when Jim took a great catch on the boundary at long off. Webbe produced some good fielding to inflict a run out and Jim took the final wicket of the day clean bowled. Mark did well bowling a few overs near the end. Their final total of 188-6 was not bad after the start they had. We fielded well and took most of our catches. A few too many wides and a few too many loose deliveries but a good effort all round. Jim’s 2-10 the highlight. So if we could survive the overs I was confident we could get the runs. Keeping Wickets was the priority. For the third time this season we had a tea to look forward too. And very nice it was to, so thanks to Axminster for that😀. Me and Webbe opened up again and wow what a start. Two loose deliveries in the opening over were duly dispatched by Andy. I hit my first ball for four and then got a single. A six, a four and then four byes took us to 27 off two overs. Unfortunately I missed timed the fifteenth ball of our innings and was caught. Webbe was joined by Rob and the runs kept coming. 10 overs in we had 70 on the board. Then alas the wicket did for Webbe. A half tracker that somehow hit the stumps. That was the start of the nerves. Jim and Rod struggled to get going. Rob hit a couple fours but the next ten overs would only yield about 20 runs. Four maidens in a row. Both were out caught though quite close together. First Rob at point and then Jim c and b. Darren hit one four and was then bowled. We were now in trouble at 108-5.This though partnered Pete and Sam together. Sam did well sticking around with Pete. In between the blocks he smashed three boundaries including a big six. Pete rode his luck a little but 10 fours and one six in a total of 53 suggests not much running was done. Axminsters fielding wasn’t great at times. Some boundaries should have been stopped. I’d have been screaming 😂😂😂. We still need 37 runs and I was hoping Pete could see us home. Unfortunately though he was trapped lbw. With 37 required and 13 overs left we needed to just bat sensible for ten of them. The odd extra and easy ball would help us tick along. Sam had other ideas though. Trying to smash a six in the same over Pete was out. He was well caught on the boundary. Hopefully a lesson learnt for him there. Seven down now.🥵 Had I had any hair I’d have been pulling it out at this point. Riley strode to the crease to join Mark Both did well blocking and waiting for the loose one. Then dispatching it for four. With 21 still needed Mark hit one straight to mid off and was caught. Ollie was next joining Riley. Two cracking fours for Ollie and a few ones and two got us to 185-8. Liam was looking a little nervous on the sideline 😂😂 We all crossed our fingers 🤞No need to worry, Riley flicked it off his legs and to the boundary at the vacant fine leg. A massively important victory for us. One that should see us survive. But not to be complacent, we need 15 points to be certain. What a game and what a day. We made hard work of victory but finally a few are stepping up and getting us over the line. As with last week Man of the match is tough. Lots contributed. Jim bowled excellent as did Ollie and Riley. The fielding was decent all round. Webbe was great again getting us off to a flying start. Sam, Riley, Mark and Ollie did amazing to get us over the line. But today has to be Petes day. His quick fire fifty got us within reach and with plenty of overs remaining. Just a shame he couldn’t see us home. A match winning effort though so well done to him. 18 points and now a 25 point gap with forty to play for. We Still need to work hard and finish the job off. If we play sensible and to our abilities then we should be fine. Must first thank Axminster’s scorer and umpire for both doing excellent jobs. Appreciated as always. Then must thank the three stooges 😂😂 Mark, Rob and Liam for stepping up last minute. Without them we would probably now be in deep 💩💩 So massive thank from me and I’m sure the other regulars appreciated it to. It was a great day and got my birthday celebrations off to a wonderful start. Next week is Sampford Peverall away. Another changed team is expected but we have shown what we can do. So let’s keep fighting to the end and finish off the season in style. Thanks also to the drivers. Bideford 2nd XI always keep me on my toes. Thinking I’ve seen everything, I keep learning that there’s alway something I haven’t. Thanks again. BOOM 💥
John Weeks
John Weeks
Bideford 2nd XI v Cullompton 2nd IX
13/08/22
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Andy Webbe
3. Darren Willcocks
4. Ian Hayter
5. Ash Baker
6. Martin Stewart
7. James Roe
8. Jim Keates
9. Ollie Keates
10. Sam Beckley
11. Fionn Toland
Umpire James Greenleaf 😀
1pm Start at Westward Ho!
No Teas as usual
2. Andy Webbe
3. Darren Willcocks
4. Ian Hayter
5. Ash Baker
6. Martin Stewart
7. James Roe
8. Jim Keates
9. Ollie Keates
10. Sam Beckley
11. Fionn Toland
Umpire James Greenleaf 😀
1pm Start at Westward Ho!
No Teas as usual
Match Report
On a scorching hot day at Westward Ho! We welcomed Cullompton. They were the last team we had managed to beat. 7 defeats and 1 game conceded to us. We did though have a decent team as well as an umpire 😀 Having batted first in 6 of our last 7 games, I briefly considered bowling first. But on actually winning the toss I decided with the lineup we had to bat first. Two and a half hours in that heat would be tough. Hopefully we could put up a good competitive total. In recent weeks we have got to around the 200 mark but that has been 30/40 short each time. We have generally started ok but then lost wickets in clumps. Me and Webbe opened up and got off to a lightening start. I rode my luck a little, just missing the fielders. Webbe calmly waited for the bad balls and dispatched them accordingly. Due to the heat we went for drinks every 10 overs. At the first drinks break 70 plus was on the scoreboard.Webbe passed fifty and continued on to 75. He got to 75 with a huge six that bounced on the pavilion roof. This took a big chunk out of the ball which seemed to suddenly change things. With 140ish on the board Webbe was caught going for a big hit and in the same over I missed a straight one and was bowled again for 49😡 First ball of the next over Ash was caught and bowled for a duck. Wickets in clumps again. And then when James Roe was caught near the boundary for 13, we were in a little trouble. Our batting depth though was good and we still had plenty to come. Fionn and Ian did well. Stopping the fall of wickets for a while. They took the score over 200. Then Darren and Martin hit a few each near the end. We were looking like posting 300 plus at half way. 277-7 was decent though and a great total to defend.
Jim opened the bowling and got us off to a great start. I took the catch in the first over. That though brought the captain and best batsman in. He unfortunately took a liking to Darren again and punished each of his loose deliveries. Jim picked up another wicket though caught by Ash at Gully. Martin took over from Darren and did a great job. Bowling some brilliant deliveries. James Roe replaced Jim and also did a great job. Their captain though was pushing on and he got to 50 in quite quick time. The others though had struggled a little as he had 50 out of the first 70 runs scored. This meant the rate was slowly climbing. James managed to find his outside edge just after he’d passed 50 and thankfully Ian was able to take the catch. A massive wicket. James bowled through his spell and picked up 2 more decent wickets. Ash was a bit expensive but also nabbed a wicket Lbw. Ollie did an ok job but unfortunately couldn’t grab a wicket. Martin came back on and again bowled brilliantly, finally grabbing the wicket he deserved with his final delivery. They need 130 off the last 10 so we were pretty confident. Riley and Fionn bowled most of these. Both doing well. Fionn managed to take a wicket but we didn’t manage to bowl them out. Their final total was 207-8. So 19 points for us which is massive. Gives us a great chance to stay up. It’s still in our hands as it stands, extending the gap to 13 points and dragging next week’s opposition Axminster into the mix. Today was definitely a team effort. Everyone contributing in some way. Webbe and I managed to get us off to a great start. The only blot was once again losing 3 or 4 wicket within 2 or 3 overs. Fortunately this week we had great depth. Fionn, Ian, Martin and Darren helping to get us to a very competitive total. Jim, Martin and James all bowled excellently. Ash and Fionn picked up a wicket each. Riley and Ollie bowled respectable spells also. So there it is everyone mentioned means everyone contributed to a vital victory. So thanks to all for the effort on a scorching hot day. Man of the match is tough. As I said everyone did well. But thinking hard I’m going for Webbe. His clean hitting got us off to an awesome start and meant that even though we lost 4 quick wickets we were still in a handy position. So well done to him. Finally someone has knocked Ian off his perch😂😂😂 must say huge thanks to Greenleaf for his umpiring stint, very much appreciated. Thanks again to all for the effort, it was awesome. Next week unfortunately is gonna be a much changed side again but hopefully we can continue to dig deep. I think we are gonna need at least one more victory. So if we could get it next week that would ease the pressure on us immensely. Great win, great day to be beside the sea and sorry but gotta say it. My day was topped off by a couple beers with old friends, but more importantly the Man Utd result😂😂😂
Cheers
John Weeks
Jim opened the bowling and got us off to a great start. I took the catch in the first over. That though brought the captain and best batsman in. He unfortunately took a liking to Darren again and punished each of his loose deliveries. Jim picked up another wicket though caught by Ash at Gully. Martin took over from Darren and did a great job. Bowling some brilliant deliveries. James Roe replaced Jim and also did a great job. Their captain though was pushing on and he got to 50 in quite quick time. The others though had struggled a little as he had 50 out of the first 70 runs scored. This meant the rate was slowly climbing. James managed to find his outside edge just after he’d passed 50 and thankfully Ian was able to take the catch. A massive wicket. James bowled through his spell and picked up 2 more decent wickets. Ash was a bit expensive but also nabbed a wicket Lbw. Ollie did an ok job but unfortunately couldn’t grab a wicket. Martin came back on and again bowled brilliantly, finally grabbing the wicket he deserved with his final delivery. They need 130 off the last 10 so we were pretty confident. Riley and Fionn bowled most of these. Both doing well. Fionn managed to take a wicket but we didn’t manage to bowl them out. Their final total was 207-8. So 19 points for us which is massive. Gives us a great chance to stay up. It’s still in our hands as it stands, extending the gap to 13 points and dragging next week’s opposition Axminster into the mix. Today was definitely a team effort. Everyone contributing in some way. Webbe and I managed to get us off to a great start. The only blot was once again losing 3 or 4 wicket within 2 or 3 overs. Fortunately this week we had great depth. Fionn, Ian, Martin and Darren helping to get us to a very competitive total. Jim, Martin and James all bowled excellently. Ash and Fionn picked up a wicket each. Riley and Ollie bowled respectable spells also. So there it is everyone mentioned means everyone contributed to a vital victory. So thanks to all for the effort on a scorching hot day. Man of the match is tough. As I said everyone did well. But thinking hard I’m going for Webbe. His clean hitting got us off to an awesome start and meant that even though we lost 4 quick wickets we were still in a handy position. So well done to him. Finally someone has knocked Ian off his perch😂😂😂 must say huge thanks to Greenleaf for his umpiring stint, very much appreciated. Thanks again to all for the effort, it was awesome. Next week unfortunately is gonna be a much changed side again but hopefully we can continue to dig deep. I think we are gonna need at least one more victory. So if we could get it next week that would ease the pressure on us immensely. Great win, great day to be beside the sea and sorry but gotta say it. My day was topped off by a couple beers with old friends, but more importantly the Man Utd result😂😂😂
Cheers
John Weeks
Whimple 2nd XI v Bideford 2nd XI
06/08/22
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Andy Webbe
3. Darren Willcocks
4. Ian Hayter
5. Ash Baker
6. Jim Keates
7. James Greenleaf
8. Fionn Toland
9. Keith Berry
10. Pete Stevens
11. Ben Gifford
1pm Start at Whimple
No Teas
2. Andy Webbe
3. Darren Willcocks
4. Ian Hayter
5. Ash Baker
6. Jim Keates
7. James Greenleaf
8. Fionn Toland
9. Keith Berry
10. Pete Stevens
11. Ben Gifford
1pm Start at Whimple
No Teas
Match Report
This week we had a trip to Whimple and a ground new to most. It’s probably not a good idea to swear on here so I won’t make any comment on the selection issues. Swear words were used though😂😂 But as unlucky as we were, we were lucky to have guys who could help out last minute so thanks to Ollie and Sam for that. The trip was a long one once again thanks to our favourite road to Tiverton. Still we arrived in reasonable time on a glorious sunny day. And a decent ground to play cricket. For only the fourth time I managed to win the toss and thought it would be a good idea to bat. Me and Webbe opened up. Between us we managed to tick along at around five an over for the first ten or so overs. Webbe unfortunately gloved one down the leg side and was out for 22. I had made it to 32 when I played inside a straight one and was bowled. When Greenleaf also missed a straight one an over later he was out lbw. Same thing every week. A reasonable start but then a cluster of wickets. This makes it tough for the new batsmen. Fionn was going ok but a pretty decent catch saw him dismissed with the score on 93. We were 4 down but still plenty to come so still confident of a good total. Pete and Ian were at the crease. Amazing they batted the whole way through. Both not out at the end. With Pete batting 18 overs you’d have expected a very large total. But although he and Ian did a great Job. They struggled with running and found it tough to get some of the bowling away. Darren and Jim were itching to get out there. But Ian made 70 again and Pete finished on 44. We passed 200 which is rare for us, so at least we had something. 205-4.On another day we could have easily made 30/40 more. So after tea Jim opened as usual with Darren at the other end. The 3rd ball of the first over flew down the leg side and went for 4 and was 5 wides. Not the start we wanted which pretty much set the tone. Darren bowled 4 overs but with a few wides and loose deliveries, we had to make a change. Jim did ok but like Darren there was the odd wide and loose ball which was punished. Sam bowled a couple good overs mixed in between a few not so good ones. He did pick up a wicket bowled. Ben was the highlight with the ball. Most deliveries were good. But it was the long hop and the full toss which brought him two well deserved wickets. Darren caught one and Webbe excellently caught the other. Ollie did a reasonable job but couldn’t find a break through. As did Fionn who bowled a couple overs. The poor balls were punished plus we helped them out with some extras and several poor attempts in the field. They were able take quick singles and twos which we weren’t. And this meant the scoreboard ticked along(when it was operated properly 😂) just above the rate all the way through. We took it to the 38th over but with only 3 wickets down they were never really in trouble. To be fair they batted quite well and punished us when the opportunity arose. It was another frustrating game that on another day we could easily have won. 30 more runs would have been massive. Less mistakes in the field, fewer wides and our old friend consistency would have been a great help. All these together and we’d be 3rd top not 3rd bottom. Man of the Match must go to Ian, that’s 3 in a row now. Well done to him. Others need to step up and help him out. Pete though did bat well. He and I and maybe one or two others probably need to join Ian on his daily runs. He would easily have passed fifty if he’d had the energy😂 still Ian and Pete gave us something to defend. But alas we weren’t up to it. Our gap is now down to 3points. So we have no room for errors anymore. 4 massive games. Two home and two away. A minimum of two wins is probably gonna be required. But there is no reason we can’t win them all. The effort needs to be kept up along with concentration. I do still believe though that having five or six changes every week is a huge hindrance. Even good players coming for the odd game are struggling, if they haven’t done much for a few weeks it’s always tough to come in and perform straight away. Hopefully we can dig deep and find a way to win some games. We are going to have try and get the best team we can out each week. So a plea to all to be available and give ur all for the cause. So finally thanks to the guys for helping last minute and to all who drove. Appreciated as always. Next week is a tough game against Cullompton. But those that were there will remember that as our last victory. An away one. So at the Ho! It should be a cakewalk 😂😂😂 But as we all know it most certainly won’t be. Thanks again. One big last effort please🙏🙏🙏
Cheers
John Weeks
Cheers
John Weeks
Upottery 2nd XI v Bideford 2nd XI
30/07/22
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Tim Cooke
3. Eliot Curry
4. Damon Berry
5. Ian Hayter
6. Keith Berry
7. Ollie Keates
8. Riley Hornby
9. Jim Keates
10. Steve Beckley
11. Sam Beckley
1pm start at Upottery
No teas
2. Tim Cooke
3. Eliot Curry
4. Damon Berry
5. Ian Hayter
6. Keith Berry
7. Ollie Keates
8. Riley Hornby
9. Jim Keates
10. Steve Beckley
11. Sam Beckley
1pm start at Upottery
No teas
Match Report
So to game 13 and the away fixture at Upottery. We had won the home leg but with 8 players missing from that game it was always going to be tough. We had two debutants and 5 players under 17. On losing the toss for the tenth time this season I was once again asked to do what I didn’t really want to do. And that was bat. With a decimated lineup I asked Keith and Jim to open the batting. They did a decent Job though and got us off to a reasonable start. Keith made 30 odd before he was out and I then joined Jim. Jim was then bowled for 34. He had done all the hard work, getting to drinks but unfortunately couldn’t push on for a big score. I was joined by Ian and we managed to keep the scoreboard ticking. I though lost concentration and was bowled for 30. Bugger😂😂 Sam and Ian continued on well though and we looked like putting up 200 plus. But when Sam was bowled and then Ian caught, it derailed our efforts. The inexperienced tail didn’t manage to trouble the score book much and what initially look like a 230 score ended up 197/9. Would have taken that at the start but half way through we should have done better. But still it was something to defend. Start well bowling and we’d have a sniff😀. Unfortunately though we didn’t start well and things didn’t get any better. Jim and Sam tried hard but extras tried it’s best to be top score. He Didn’t quite make it but he make a decent effort😂. The first wicket came via a catch from Damon off Ollie Keates bowling. Damon, Riley and Elliot all had a go at bowling but couldn’t find the consistency required. Fielding was ok but could have been better. The highlight of the day though belongs to Eliot. A brilliant diving stop topped off with an amazing direct hit at the bowlers end gave us another point. A quite remarkable piece of fielding 😀😀 That though was as good as it got. They passed our total with 10 overs to spare. We tried hard but just couldn’t create any pressure. Consistency was missing again as it has been all season. We did make a reasonable effort though with an inexperienced side. Hopefully we learn from this and perform better next time. I firmly believe that so many changes every week is the main cause of our inconsistency. Looking ahead to next week I can see half a dozen changes already. Our league position in my opinion is a reflection of this. Still everyone made a great effort and the youngsters did well. Hopefully they enjoyed it and are keen to play again. Experience can only be gained by playing games. Hopefully they learned some lessons today. Man of the Match is tough after a disappointing result but probably have to go for Ian again. His experience dragged us to a respectable total and gave us something to defend. So well played to him again. Thanks to all for the effort made. Hope it was enjoyable even with the result. Thanks to the drivers, appreciated as always. We are still the right side of the line and hopefully we give our all to stay there. We are on a disappointing run of results, but hopefully we can stop the rot and have a decent end to the season. I’m looking for the more senior guys to step up and help us out. Consistency is the buzz word for us. Consistency in selection (availability) is what’s needed. Unfortunately I’m not good enough to to do it alone. So any and all help in having a good end to the season is greatly appreciated. 5 games left. 5 big efforts required. Thanks and As I’m on the ball (bored) it’s good morning 😂😂😂
Bideford 2nd XI v Exwick 1st XI
23/07/22
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Darren Willcocks
3. Andy Webbe
4. Keith Berry
5. Pete Stevens
6. Jim Keates
7. Ian Hayter
8. Julian Hayter
9. Sam Beckley
10. Tim Cooke
11. Ollie Keates
1pm Start at Westward Ho!
No Teas
2. Darren Willcocks
3. Andy Webbe
4. Keith Berry
5. Pete Stevens
6. Jim Keates
7. Ian Hayter
8. Julian Hayter
9. Sam Beckley
10. Tim Cooke
11. Ollie Keates
1pm Start at Westward Ho!
No Teas
Match Report
Game 12 was the reverse fixture against Exwick who were in good form having beaten leaders Alphington the previous week. We would have to play well to get anything out of the game. We had a reasonable side so I was quietly confident we could. They won the toss and decided to have a bowl. Webbe and Julian opened up. The bowling was decent but both openers were able to get going and move the scoreboard along nicely. They managed to get us to 69 without loss. Webbe was out first caught and unfortunately Julian joined him shortly after caught and bowled. They had given us a good start though. Something we have struggled with lately. We couldn’t capitalise though. Keith left one and was out LBW. And I nicked behind. All of a sudden we were 84-4. That partnered Ian and Pete together. They put on 30ish before Pete was out also caught. Darren helped the score to 135 before he was out LBW. Ian was going well though and was our big hope for a decent score. Jim lasted a while but struggled to score and was out caught. Ian passed fifty and hit several great shots on his way to 72 not out. Unfortunately nobody else could get going along side him and help him out. 188-7 was ok but probably a few runs short. Thanks to Ian we had a least something to bowl at. Their bowling all through was decent but a little more intent near the end may have seen us pass 200. Anyway out to bowl with Jim and Darren starting off. Unfortunately due to his batting heroics Ian needed a handful of overs to get his breath back.😂😂 So we started with 10. We started off well and managed to take some regular wickets. Firstly Jim with a caught and bowled. Pete then did brilliantly with a direct hit for a run out. Jim bowled their number 3 batsman who literally tried to smash every ball. When Darren snapped up an LBW they were 58-4. We were well in the game. Sam and Tim took over and did ok but the wickets dried up for a bit. The score doubled before we took another one. First Ollie took one when the batsman chopped on. Then Tim took a c and b. 128-6 now and a real chance. Some good hits got them to 157. I decided to bring Jim back early and it paid off with two wickets in an over. One caught behind by Julian and then a brilliant bit of quick thinking also from Julian to inflict a run out. 30 to get 2 wickets in hand. Cullompton all over again. This time though some decent strikes and a few loose deliveries got them to 180-8. Ian had other ideas though. Having got his breath back he bowled some overs. He snapped up the ninth wicket, another c and b. 8 to win 1 wicket. Alas this time we didn’t get there. Exwick batted well all the way down to the last man and did just enough. So well done to them. We fell just short all round. Had we got the runs we should have, particularly after our start. We’d probable have won easily. But we didn’t and Exwick fought hard. Another nearly but not quite. We did well but couldn’t quite get over the line. Even though we had a reasonable side out we still had half a dozen changes from last week. This is never easy to cope with. Unfortunately it looks like it’s gonna be the same again next week. Man of the Match has to be Ian. He batted great and got us to a good total. He then nearly bowled us to victory. So great effort as always. He just needs a little more help from the rest of us. Jim bowled well again and Julian had a decent game also. Great effort from all. A decent game and one we probably should have won. Never mind let’s try again next week. Must say huge thanks to Ash Baker for his umpiring stint. Really appreciated that. Makes my life so much easier. We are starting to have to look over our shoulders. We probably gonna need a couple more wins at least to be safe. We have 6 games left to get them. We are gonna need a few guys to step up and take charge. We definitely have the ability, we just need a bit more consistency. Upottery will be a tough game but a winnable one. Let’s try our best to make it so. Cheers and good night.
John Weeks
John Weeks
Bideford 2nd XI v Sidbury 1st XI
16/07/22
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Darren Willcocks
3. Pete Stevens
4. Keith Berry
5. Sam Beckley
6. Tom Anderson
7. Tim Cooke
8. Dave Stanton
9. Dave Branch
10. Damon Berry
11. Steve Beckley
1pm at Westward Ho!
2. Darren Willcocks
3. Pete Stevens
4. Keith Berry
5. Sam Beckley
6. Tom Anderson
7. Tim Cooke
8. Dave Stanton
9. Dave Branch
10. Damon Berry
11. Steve Beckley
1pm at Westward Ho!
Match Report
Finally getting around to writing this. So game 11 was against Sidbury. In the away game we had beaten them comfortably, but on that day we had everyone available, everything went our way and we obviously performed well also. Liverpool won the FA cup as well. Thought I’d remind everyone of that 😂😂😂 up the reds. Anyway back to this weeks game. Unfortunately only four of that team were available to us this week. Selection was a nightmare again. Not finally getting our 11th man till Friday night. But it was going to be a glorious day so I was hopeful of a decent game. Finally I managed to win the toss. 3 wins out of 10 now. The obvious choice was to have a bat which I did We would have to bat well and most importantly bat out our overs. So with a very different lineup I decided to change things up. Pete opening with Keith. Unfortunately though Keith got what he thought was a rough one LBW fifth ball. Darren was promoted up the order to 3. He unfortunately chopped on and was bowled. Pete bowled shortly after left us 20 odd for 3 and in some trouble. The opening bowling was though as good as I’ve seen all season. The change in lineup did make it hard work though. Dave and Dave the Victoria Park partnership did quite well though. They didn’t score many but did see off the two openers. After doing the hard work both got out and I followed them back for a disappointing duck. We were now 6 down with just 50 up. Sam was in and smashed a few. Damon and Steve didn’t trouble the scorer. But number 10 Tom Anderson did. He and Sam road their luck a little but played some great shots. They took us past 100 and looked like potentially taking us to a defendable total. Alas though Sam tried one big shot too many and was well caught for 33.Soon after a mixup saw Tom run out for a well made 36.134 all out wasn’t great but a lot better than 60, which is what it looked like being. We had a slim chance but at least it was something. Sidbury bowled very well though. Most of us were got out rather than stupid mistakes which is a slight comfort. So bowling would need to be great from the start. Darren and Dave Branch both did well. Unfortunately they couldn’t get a wicket. Sam then had a go in partnership with Tim. Sam also couldn’t make a break through, so was replaced by Tom. He immediately struck taking the first wicket. Tim took one also. 46-0 became 47-2 and a sniff of a chance was created. But try as we did we couldn’t keep the pressure up. They batted well and sensibly and in the end were comfortable winners. Both not out batsman 49 and 55 respectively. We tried our best but it was in vein. With 7 changes every week it’s always going to be tough to to be consistent. That word again😂 But it is what’s missing. Sidbury played well and beat us fair and square. Next week looks promising for selection. So let’s hope it is and we can finally put up some decent resistance. Man of the match is Tom who stepped in Friday night, batted brilliantly and also bowled a decent spell. Well played to him. Without him the game would have been 30 overs long rather than the 65 it was. So thanks from me for that. Must mention Sam who batted great. Some great shots including a big six into the net. And also to the two Dave’s for once again helping us out. We may not have had a team without their help. Thanks to all others for the effort. Another one to forget and lock away in the cupboard. Let’s try to put things right next week at home to Exwick. Big team changes again but hopefully the extra quality will tell. Sidbury deserved their win, so good luck to them going forward. Mustn’t finish without congratulating Alexander Hannam on his awesome 130. Shame it was in defeat. Let hope both teams are back to winning ways soon. Still time to have a great season. Thanks and good night.
Cheers
John Weeks😀😀😀
Cheers
John Weeks😀😀😀
Alphington 2nd XI v Bideford 2nd XI
09/07/22
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Darren Willcocks
3. Sam Beckley
4. Dave Stanton
5. Ollie Keates
6. Jim Keates
7. Tim Cooke
8. Finn Toland
9. Liam Toland
10. Jake Cleave
11. Rob Guppy
1pm Start at Alphington
2. Darren Willcocks
3. Sam Beckley
4. Dave Stanton
5. Ollie Keates
6. Jim Keates
7. Tim Cooke
8. Finn Toland
9. Liam Toland
10. Jake Cleave
11. Rob Guppy
1pm Start at Alphington
Match Report
So to game 10, the first game of the second half of the season. With a trip to table toppers Alphington I was hopeful of an easier time with selection. Unfortunately it was a struggle again. I must therefore thank those who stepped in and helped out. So on a scorching hot day we would loved to of had a bat first but for the seventh time I lost and was asked to field. Jim and Sam opened and did a great job in the first few overs. Sam took the first wicket bowled in the 4th over. A decent partnership then started to grow. Darren and Rob both saw there bad balls whistle to the boundary. The outfield wasn’t great. Liam did brilliantly to not take one in the face. We made a few mistakes in the field also on top of a couple dropped catches. Tim did a reasonable job and picked up his usual couple of wickets. But unfortunately the runs kept coming at a steady rate. Jake, Finn and Ollie all tried but couldn’t stop the flow of runs. Some lusty blows near the end took Alphington to a decent total of 257-5. Jim bowled a couple good overs though and Finn managed to also grab himself a wicket. It was hard work in the field on such a hot day and we struggled a little. That and some decent sensible batting, punishing the bad deliveries is what combined to get them their total.
After tea it was going to need a massive effort if we were going to have a chance. I struck my third delivery for four and then unfortunately missed the next one and was bowled 🤬 gutted is an understatement 😂 Jim was joined at this point by Finn playing his first league game of the season. Whilst showering and changing I didn’t hear any cheering, which was a good sign that no wickets had gone down. So on walking back out we had 40 off 8 overs which was a great start. Several boundaries were hit I was informed. But alas I probably should have stayed in the changing room. First Finn miss timed a pull shot and was caught. A couple overs later Jim did similar and was also caught. Dave, Jake, Darren and Rob all got starts but then got out. We had made it to 100 but were five wickets down. Unfortunately the last five wickets came fairly quickly and in the 29th over we were bowled out for 133. Had we matched Alphington for consistency we would have made a better fist of things. We probably gave them 30 in the field and the drops cost us a few also. Having a top five batsman around in the last 10 overs is something we need to aim for also. It was tough and things didn’t go our way. With such different sides out each week we were bound to struggle a bit. I hope we can learn the lessons and try to do better next time. This week man of the match is tough. Not really sure where to go with it. So I’m thinking I’ll give out a team one. Everyone made a decent effort in tough conditions. So thanks from me for that. Thanks to Liam and Rob who helped us out. Thanks to all the drivers as always . Unfortunately today we weren’t quite good enough. Alphington are by far the best team we have faced and will be a tough game for anyone. With a full strength side out I firmly believe that we’d have given them a much tougher game. As with all season it’s our inconsistencies that have cost us. Batting, bowling , fielding and selection all contributing. So with 8 games left we still have time to have a decent season. Two home games in a row will hopefully be good for us. The weather looks like it’s gonna give us two decent days, so let’s try and make the most of it. Thanks again to all for the effort. Let’s go again next week. Cheers and good night
John Weeks😀😀
After tea it was going to need a massive effort if we were going to have a chance. I struck my third delivery for four and then unfortunately missed the next one and was bowled 🤬 gutted is an understatement 😂 Jim was joined at this point by Finn playing his first league game of the season. Whilst showering and changing I didn’t hear any cheering, which was a good sign that no wickets had gone down. So on walking back out we had 40 off 8 overs which was a great start. Several boundaries were hit I was informed. But alas I probably should have stayed in the changing room. First Finn miss timed a pull shot and was caught. A couple overs later Jim did similar and was also caught. Dave, Jake, Darren and Rob all got starts but then got out. We had made it to 100 but were five wickets down. Unfortunately the last five wickets came fairly quickly and in the 29th over we were bowled out for 133. Had we matched Alphington for consistency we would have made a better fist of things. We probably gave them 30 in the field and the drops cost us a few also. Having a top five batsman around in the last 10 overs is something we need to aim for also. It was tough and things didn’t go our way. With such different sides out each week we were bound to struggle a bit. I hope we can learn the lessons and try to do better next time. This week man of the match is tough. Not really sure where to go with it. So I’m thinking I’ll give out a team one. Everyone made a decent effort in tough conditions. So thanks from me for that. Thanks to Liam and Rob who helped us out. Thanks to all the drivers as always . Unfortunately today we weren’t quite good enough. Alphington are by far the best team we have faced and will be a tough game for anyone. With a full strength side out I firmly believe that we’d have given them a much tougher game. As with all season it’s our inconsistencies that have cost us. Batting, bowling , fielding and selection all contributing. So with 8 games left we still have time to have a decent season. Two home games in a row will hopefully be good for us. The weather looks like it’s gonna give us two decent days, so let’s try and make the most of it. Thanks again to all for the effort. Let’s go again next week. Cheers and good night
John Weeks😀😀
Alphington
Exeter 3rd XI v Bideford 2nd XI
02/07/22
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Steve Beckley
3. Sam Beckley
4. Keith Berry
5. Damon Berry
6. Ollie Keates
7. Jim Keates
8. Dave Stanton
9. Tim Cooke
10. Pete Stevens
11. Joseph Stevens
2. Steve Beckley
3. Sam Beckley
4. Keith Berry
5. Damon Berry
6. Ollie Keates
7. Jim Keates
8. Dave Stanton
9. Tim Cooke
10. Pete Stevens
11. Joseph Stevens
Match Report
This week was game 9 and the halfway point in the season. Game 8 had been conceded by Sampford Peverall which meant several of us hadn’t played for a couple of weeks. The weather wasn’t looking great but I was hopeful of a full game. Getting a team together was a major headache. Finding enough players and then transport was as hard as I have ever known it. But thankfully at the last minute everything seemed to work out. A team and we could all get there. Relieved is an understatement. So on the trip down the rain didn’t let up at all and was still going when we arrived. But miraculously even in overcast conditions it was perfectly fine and we started on time. Of course for the 6th time this season I lost the toss and had to bat. With so many changes Jim was given the opportunity to open the batting. The first four overs flew by and we raced along at 8 an over. I though was bowled for 14. Pete joined Jim and was his usual self. Smashing a handful of boundaries before he was also bowled. The scoreboard was ticking nicely but wickets were coming regularly. Keith and Dave didn’t trouble the score much. Jim chipped one to mid wicket and was out for 23. With 102 on the board at drinks, it was wickets that were the problem. Sam, Joe and Steve hit a couple good shots each but all perished soon after. Unfortunately for Damon he was BBQ’d by Joe. That left last pair Tim and Ollie to scrape some last runs. They did a valiant job and put on around 20 for the last wicket. With 4 overs remaining Tim missed a straight one and we were 148 all out. We needed someone from the top 5 to stick around till the last 10 but unfortunately we weren’t up to it. With a bit more application we could and should have made 200. With are normal side I am confident we would have. Still some of Exeters youngsters bowled quite well. We would have to bowl equally as well to have any chance. A couple of early wickets is what we required. Jim duly obliged with the first one which turned out to be the only one. He bowled a decent spell. Unfortunately though there number 3 launched a devastating assault on our bowling. Jim was the only one to escape punishment. Dave, Sam, Tim and Damon all suffered. Lots of fours and a handful of sixes and the game was done inside 20 overs. 90 off about 40 balls was too much for us. The one regret was dropping him off his first ball. The only chance he gave. With over 100 still required we may of stood a chance. So just the three points and an early finish. A game to forget and hopefully we move on to better things next week. Hopefully better availability. Winning the toss might help also😂😂 Man of the Match this week is Jim. Batted well and bowled decently. Had the catch been taken he could quite easily have been a match winner. Well done mate keep it up. Must mention Exeters young lads who bowled decently I thought. Can’t end without thanking all for the effort. Particularly Dave, Steve and Joe for helping out last minute and also those who drove. Appreciated as always. Alphington next who are currently top. But with a decent effort we will have a decent chance. No team we’ve played has scared us. We have competed in every game and with a little more consistency we could be a lot better off. So let’s try to be more consistent in the second half of the season and show what we can really do. Finally well played to the first team who also had few missing and well played to Mr Stewart who stepped up with a five wicket haul. Different people stepping up each week makes for a great team. Hopefully someone in the 2nds can step up next week.
Cheers
John Weeks
Cheers
John Weeks
Bideford 2nd XI v Axminster 1st XI
18/06/22
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Andy Webbe
3. Darren Willcocks
4. Ian Brown
5. Ollie Keates
6. Jack Ancill
7. Pete Stevens
8. James Greenleaf
9. Ian Hayter
10. Keith Berry
11. Damon Berry
1pm start at the Ho!
2. Andy Webbe
3. Darren Willcocks
4. Ian Brown
5. Ollie Keates
6. Jack Ancill
7. Pete Stevens
8. James Greenleaf
9. Ian Hayter
10. Keith Berry
11. Damon Berry
1pm start at the Ho!
Match Report
Game 7 looked like it might be the first called off game for us. The forecast was terrible. But for all who have played at the Ho! Regularly you’ll know that we can very often be lucky enough to somehow get a game in when all around us suffer. This was to be that game. The covers were removed around 12:30 and amazingly never went back on. I was Hoping to win the toss and bowl. But obviously as usual I didn’t and was asked to bat. Still with a decent batting lineup I still expected us to put up a challenging 200 plus total. I again partnered Webbe opening up. Together we got off to a great start. Several boundaries and the odd 3🥵 kept the scoreboard ticking nicely. The drizzle came and went all innings, but never quite enough to take us off. Both of us were dropped once each. But we ploughed on and Webbe was first to his fifty. Unfortunately straight after with the score on 103 Webbe nicked behind for 53. Still another decent effort. I then watched on as Ian left his 3rd ball which then crashed into his off stump. Out for a 🦆. Sorry couldn’t resist 😂😂 I was joined by James just before drinks. I managed to hit a four which took me to my first fifty this season. I though copied Webbe by getting out two balls later bowled.3 wickets for 6 runs added a bit of pressure. Being ultra critical one of us should have made sure we were still in nearer the end. Both of us were out trying big shots. Still James and now Ian continued to tick the scoreboard along. Ian hit two big sixes. They put on fifty before another mini collapse. Both in batsman getting out in quick succession. James caught behind and Ian bowled. We still had batting to come. Darren and Keith both batted excellently. Keith made 32 not out and Darren made 29. Jack joined Keith for the last few balls. We had passed 200 and made it to a decent total of 238-6. Was good but with several getting starts and also now knowing the result. Having an in batsman sticking in longer and making it to 70/80 plus would have made it easier and the total more like 270. Bit like we did against Upottery. Still was a good effort and I was confident we could defend. We were though Shawn of some regular bowling. Jack opened up in Jim’s absence and Darren opened up the hill. Both did ok but every over we would bowl a four ball. Hardly an over went by without at least one. Jack picked up a great caught and bowled for the first wicket. But unfortunately that’s as good as it got till they were on 169. They hit the bad balls well for boundaries. Ian Brown and Damon who took over from the openers, tried but couldn’t stem the flow of runs. Axminster kept up with the run rate throughout. Struggling for bowling Ian Hayter removed his keeping kit and bowled 8 overs up the the hill. He did a great job finally taking the second wicket and giving us a sniff. All the while the runs kept ticking and the drizzle kept keeping everything damp. Ollie had a go but found it tough with a wet soap like ball. Ian and Jack did pick up a late wicket each but unfortunately not the in batsman who did what we couldn’t making 95 not out. We took it to the last over of the game, bowled by Keith. But alas they won with 5 balls to spare. Was tough in the field on a damp day. I thought we batted well with several decent contributions. But on the day Axminster’s batters contributed slightly better. If Tim and Jim hadn’t been missing I think it would’ve been tougher for Axminster to chase are total. So it’s wasn’t the greatest day to be beside the sea but we did pretty well and at least got a full game in which was great. Man of the Match was tough with several good efforts particularly batting. Me, Webbe, Keith and Darren all did ok. And I thought Jack did a decent job bowling in tough conditions. But this week I’m going for our superman who seems to be able to do everything. Ian Hayter scored 30 with the bat, kept for 20 overs and then showed all the kids how to bowl up the hill. Bowling 8 overs and taking 2 wickets. So great effort from Ian, well played. On the day we came up just short but still played ok. Axminster played just that bit better on the day, so we’ll done to them. Should be a good game away. I hear they provide teas too, so that’s something to look forward to. Let’s keep the effort going and I’m sure we will have a great season. Thanks to all for the effort appreciated as always. Next week is home again, this time to Sampford Peverall.
Cheers
John Weeks
Cheers
John Weeks
Cullompton 2nd XI v Bideford 2nd XI
11/06/22
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Andy Webbe
3. Darren Willcocks
4. James Greenleaf
5. Ian Hayter
6. Keith Berry
7. Damon Berry
8. Jack Ancill
9. Tim Cooke
10. Ollie Keates
11. Jim Keates
1pm start at Cullompton
2. Andy Webbe
3. Darren Willcocks
4. James Greenleaf
5. Ian Hayter
6. Keith Berry
7. Damon Berry
8. Jack Ancill
9. Tim Cooke
10. Ollie Keates
11. Jim Keates
1pm start at Cullompton
Match Report
So to game 6 and the relatively short trip to Cullompton. This weeks team had just the one change. Greenleaf and Stone swapping teams. It’s been great lately to have a reasonably settled side. On arrival the sun was out and it looked like being a decent day. The wicket looked in good shape and the boundary one side was fairly short. Not quite Kentisbeare though 😂 So with that in mind I was hoping to win the toss a land put a decent total on the board. The first bit went well with tails coming up trumps. With Tom Stone missing I decided to open up with Webbe. Some extremely lenient umpiring mixed with some decent deliveries made it extremely tough to get going. Going at 1 an over for the first half dozen over put us under some early pressure. This pressure told when Webbe gloved behind for just 6. I was joined by Keith. Slowly we managed to up the rate a little and found the boundary a few times. All the while the extremely lenient umpiring continued. It made it tough having on occasions to chase balls that should really have been wide, particularly the leg side ones. Still we managed to keep wickets and tick the scoreboard over. We got to drinks with 67 on the board and nine wickets in hand. A couple overs after Keith danced down, missed and was bowled. This brought Ian to the crease. He played an entertaining brief cameo. Hitting a Beamer for the only 6 of the game. We took 27 off the 24th over. Helped by a couple of no balls and two massive wides going for fours. Ian though was unfortunately out chopping one to point shortly after. In the same over my stay came to an end on 43, getting strangled down the leg side. This partnered James Greenleaf and Darren. We were 111-4 at this point with 15 to go. I was still hopeful of adding some more vital runs. For the next five overs James held his end up and Darren hit a hand full of boundaries. Darren then got a decent one and was bowled. That left ten overs. Jim and James both struggled to get the ball away, only able to take the odd single. James was caught first for 7 and then Jim for 11. Jack had come in at 8 and hit several good shots. He hit four boundaries on his way to a vital 21 off 19 balls. There was one over to go and an entertaining one it was. Jack hit a 2 but was out next ball. Damon took a single off a no ball. This put Ollie on strike. I was gutted as I had stopped filming him in the previous over. Ollie’s dismissal was hilarious. Only he knows why he jumped out the way of a ball that half volleyed off stump. Made everyone laugh though so thanks for that Ollie. Think you might get reminded about it fairly regularly. So last man Tim tried to smash the final ball but could only sky it and was caught. A final total of 175 was ok but I was a little disappointed. I was very hopeful that the umpire would be equally as lenient for us. Thankfully he was. I was thinking we were 30-40 short and would have to bowl well to stand a chance. Cullompton provided us with a tea which was great and very much enjoyed by all. Damon particularly enjoyed the chocolate muffins. Not sure anyone else in the team got one. I counted at least 7.😂😂
So now to the second job of the day, fielding and bowling. Jim and Darren opened again and I very much hoped they could repeat last weeks performances. Jim did a good job. But I think Keith forgot his super glue this week putting down a sharp chance at slip. Was the big wicket of their captain. He would make us pay. Particularly Darren who found his bad deliveries racing to the boundary. Jim bowled two opening maidens but unfortunately Darren’s opening three went for 31. A change was made to bring Jack on in place of Darren. The boundaries kept coming though and after 9 overs they had 60 on the board. Well ahead of the rate. Jim had taken a decent caught and bowled but their captain was still in. It took a great catch from Damon in the next over to remove him off Jacks bowling. We now had a sniff. After Jim’s decent opening spell I decided to make the bold decision to bring back Darren back from the opposite end. The decent bat was out and I hoped he would have more luck. When his first over back went for 10 I was regretting my decision. But keeping the faith he rewarded me with two wickets in his next over. Keith must have found his glue as he took one at gully, literally the ball after the captain moved him from slip. Not luck, just perfectly placed fielder’s 😂😂 Two balls later the stumps were disturbed. 87-4 and a real shout now. Thanks to Darren and Tim who had replaced Jack. 87-4 became 94-5 at drinks. Darren bent back the stumps again. All to play for now. The confidence was rising. Darren had now finished so Jack came back in his place. Tim had been going about his business as per usual and finally enticed the batsman out of his crease and Ian duly stumped him. The runs were still coming though. Several boundaries were hit and although wickets were falling, Cullompton were edging towards our total. 113-6 became 138-6. Super Tim then struck again,Ian taking a comfortable catch. In the same over Damon produced a calm bit of fielding to inflict a run out. Ian had the simple task of removing the bails. Things were now getting tense. 36 required with 2 wickets and 10 overs left. Jim finished off his overs well, as did Tim. Both bowled great. Now came crunch time. Damon was thrown the ball. He bowled two good over to start. Then it was the turn of Ollie. They had taken the score onto 150. Keeping Keith at slip payed off when he snapped up their number 10 nicely. 26 required 1 wicket left. A couple overs went by with 12 runs being scored. 5 overs still to go. Just 14 needed. We had been trying to give their in batsman a single and bowl at number 11. But When he made a reasonable attempt at a reverse sweep I worried that maybe he wasn’t a usual number 11. With just 8 needed I decided to bring some fielders in to prevent them just tapping singles. This worked spectacularly. Now they would have to beat the field. In trying this the ball was smash straight at Tim. A foot either side and we were probably defeated. To my delight Tim snaffled it brilliant for a fantastic win. The nerves were shredded but we came out on top in an epic game. Every year we are involve in one or two like this. 19 vital and very well earned points. Cullompton put up a good fight but we held our nerve and triumphed in the end. Today was a great all round effort again. Man of the Match is very, very tough. I batted reasonably for 43 if a little slow. Darren came back in his second spell brilliantly. Jim’s 8 overs were great as were Jacks 7. Jack also hit 21 vital runs at the end. Damon had a great game in the field. A vital catch, a vital run out and the most vital of wickets, the winning one. But today I’m gonna go with Tim. Every week he seems to pick up wickets and rarely gets smashed about. 8 overs for just 23 runs was a brilliant effort. The two wickets and then the match winning catch. Having put down 4 catches early on it was brilliant that Tim held on to the winning. Well done to him, great effort again. So third in the table just 13 off the top. 4 wins out of 6 is a great effort. The fact we were really disappointed in the two loses shows we have had a great chance in every game. A great season is looming, let’s keep up the effort and make it so. Had we held our catches like we did against Whimple things would have been a lot easier. So plenty still to work on. But another brilliantly entertaining and enjoyable game. Thanks to all from me for that. Just hope my nerves can hold out😂 Thanks to Cullompton for an excellent tea and a decent game. Thanks to all who drove. Appreciated as always. Next week is Axminster at home followed by Sampford Peverall at home. Hopefully we can use home advantage and keep our run going. 58 out of 60 points is great. Up the Bideford 2nd XI.💪💪💪💪💪😀😀😀🏏🏏
Cheers
John Weeks
So now to the second job of the day, fielding and bowling. Jim and Darren opened again and I very much hoped they could repeat last weeks performances. Jim did a good job. But I think Keith forgot his super glue this week putting down a sharp chance at slip. Was the big wicket of their captain. He would make us pay. Particularly Darren who found his bad deliveries racing to the boundary. Jim bowled two opening maidens but unfortunately Darren’s opening three went for 31. A change was made to bring Jack on in place of Darren. The boundaries kept coming though and after 9 overs they had 60 on the board. Well ahead of the rate. Jim had taken a decent caught and bowled but their captain was still in. It took a great catch from Damon in the next over to remove him off Jacks bowling. We now had a sniff. After Jim’s decent opening spell I decided to make the bold decision to bring back Darren back from the opposite end. The decent bat was out and I hoped he would have more luck. When his first over back went for 10 I was regretting my decision. But keeping the faith he rewarded me with two wickets in his next over. Keith must have found his glue as he took one at gully, literally the ball after the captain moved him from slip. Not luck, just perfectly placed fielder’s 😂😂 Two balls later the stumps were disturbed. 87-4 and a real shout now. Thanks to Darren and Tim who had replaced Jack. 87-4 became 94-5 at drinks. Darren bent back the stumps again. All to play for now. The confidence was rising. Darren had now finished so Jack came back in his place. Tim had been going about his business as per usual and finally enticed the batsman out of his crease and Ian duly stumped him. The runs were still coming though. Several boundaries were hit and although wickets were falling, Cullompton were edging towards our total. 113-6 became 138-6. Super Tim then struck again,Ian taking a comfortable catch. In the same over Damon produced a calm bit of fielding to inflict a run out. Ian had the simple task of removing the bails. Things were now getting tense. 36 required with 2 wickets and 10 overs left. Jim finished off his overs well, as did Tim. Both bowled great. Now came crunch time. Damon was thrown the ball. He bowled two good over to start. Then it was the turn of Ollie. They had taken the score onto 150. Keeping Keith at slip payed off when he snapped up their number 10 nicely. 26 required 1 wicket left. A couple overs went by with 12 runs being scored. 5 overs still to go. Just 14 needed. We had been trying to give their in batsman a single and bowl at number 11. But When he made a reasonable attempt at a reverse sweep I worried that maybe he wasn’t a usual number 11. With just 8 needed I decided to bring some fielders in to prevent them just tapping singles. This worked spectacularly. Now they would have to beat the field. In trying this the ball was smash straight at Tim. A foot either side and we were probably defeated. To my delight Tim snaffled it brilliant for a fantastic win. The nerves were shredded but we came out on top in an epic game. Every year we are involve in one or two like this. 19 vital and very well earned points. Cullompton put up a good fight but we held our nerve and triumphed in the end. Today was a great all round effort again. Man of the Match is very, very tough. I batted reasonably for 43 if a little slow. Darren came back in his second spell brilliantly. Jim’s 8 overs were great as were Jacks 7. Jack also hit 21 vital runs at the end. Damon had a great game in the field. A vital catch, a vital run out and the most vital of wickets, the winning one. But today I’m gonna go with Tim. Every week he seems to pick up wickets and rarely gets smashed about. 8 overs for just 23 runs was a brilliant effort. The two wickets and then the match winning catch. Having put down 4 catches early on it was brilliant that Tim held on to the winning. Well done to him, great effort again. So third in the table just 13 off the top. 4 wins out of 6 is a great effort. The fact we were really disappointed in the two loses shows we have had a great chance in every game. A great season is looming, let’s keep up the effort and make it so. Had we held our catches like we did against Whimple things would have been a lot easier. So plenty still to work on. But another brilliantly entertaining and enjoyable game. Thanks to all from me for that. Just hope my nerves can hold out😂 Thanks to Cullompton for an excellent tea and a decent game. Thanks to all who drove. Appreciated as always. Next week is Axminster at home followed by Sampford Peverall at home. Hopefully we can use home advantage and keep our run going. 58 out of 60 points is great. Up the Bideford 2nd XI.💪💪💪💪💪😀😀😀🏏🏏
Cheers
John Weeks
Bideford 2nd XI v Whimple 2nd XI
04/06/22
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Darren Willcocks
3. Ian Hayter
4. Andy Webbe
5. Tom Stone
6. Keith Berry
7. Damon Berry
8. Tim Cooke
9. Ollie Keates
10. Jim Keates
11. Jack Ancill
1pm Start at Westward Ho!
No Teas
2. Darren Willcocks
3. Ian Hayter
4. Andy Webbe
5. Tom Stone
6. Keith Berry
7. Damon Berry
8. Tim Cooke
9. Ollie Keates
10. Jim Keates
11. Jack Ancill
1pm Start at Westward Ho!
No Teas
Match Report
Game 5 was another home game for us, the second of four in five weeks to come. We tend to do well at the Ho so for me this is a big part of the season for us and one that will hopefully set us up for a decent season. So on arrival around 10:30, I was pleasantly surprised to see Jamie tending to our ever impressive square. A little bit of rain overnight meant it was damp but as we all know Westward Ho! Drys up quickly. It was overcast but didn’t actually rain until fives minutes before kickoff. Fortunately it was just a passing shower. Having only lost ten minutes we decided not to lose any overs. I had already lost the toss and was asked to have a bowl. This wasn’t the worst thing, due to a strong wind and overcast conditions. So Darren and Jim opened up again and both were able to bowl decently. Darren picked up the first wicket caught at first slip by Keith, at second or third juggle. This is a sentence I’ll be regularly repeating, just a different bowler. So here I go, this time it was a great catch at first slip off Jim’s bowling. So two early wickets had given us a great start. Darren then snaffled the third wicket caught at slip again by Keith 😀 Jack took over from Jim. His first over probably one to forget going for 16. He did though tighten things up. 40-3 became 47-4 with Ian taking a catch off Jack. Then he sent a stump cartwheeling for his second. 50-5.Next it was the turn of Tim. His first wicket was well taken by our first slip(guess who?)😀 I then interrupted Keith taking a catch at mid off. But only briefly. Wow another one off Tim once again snapped up at first slip. A 5fer, Getting silly now. Tim enticed another batsman to leave his crease and he was stumped well by Ian. Another four wickets for Tim to add to his collection. Tom took over from Jack and did a fantastic job. Their in batsman decided not to take singles and did a reasonable job farming the strike. He got them to 97 before Tom finally finished it, out doing Jack by sending two stumps cartwheeling. His was a spell of 4.1-4-0-1. Beat the bat several times. So 97 all out was a fantastic effort. Only one drop from memory and a few wides but in all very happy at the break.
Webbe and Tom opened up again and started off well. But at 20-0 Webbe missed a straight one and was bowled. 20-1 became 24-2 when Tom was caught at gully. This partnered Ian and Keith together. Keith managed 5 runs before he was also caught. Now it was 33-3. Ian was now joined by Jim. Jim did a good job holding an end up whilst Ian went about his work. Punishing the bad deliveries he was given. 7 fours from him got him to 42 and us to within 10 of winning. I joined Jim and we finished the game off. A nicely struck 6 to win. 102-4. A little nervous at 33-3 but a great innings from Ian saw us win reasonably comfortably in the end. Today was a great all round effort again. Lots of people contributing to a very good win. Different people stepping up each week is great to see. Man of the Match is a first for me. Not for his bowling or his batting. Keith wins for his superb slip catching. A specialist if ever a saw one. One or two slip catches is a rarity, so five is extraordinary. He juggled a couple but still held on. An amazing effort and a vital one. Kept the wickets coming regularly. So brilliantly well done to him. First time I’ve enjoyed a jug for slip catching. Must mention the rest though as it was a great team effort. Jim bowled well and held his end well when batting. Jack, Darren and Tom also all bowled great. Tim was his usual self taking another four wickets. A great asset to have. On any other day Ian would have been man of the match. A catch, a stumping and 42 well made runs. He took us to the edge of victory removing any remaining nerves. So in summary it was another great day and victory for us. Weather wasn’t great but held off for us. Thanks again to Richard for his brilliant effort in the scoreboard, appreciated as always and Jamie for once again providing a decent wicket and ground for us to play on. Next week is Cullompton away. Hopefully we can keep our good form going. Will be tough but I’m sure we are capable of putting in another big effort. So well done all. Finally well done to the first XI on 4 out of 5. It’s shaping up to being an epic season. Let’s keep up the effort.cheers and good night
John Weeks😀😀
Webbe and Tom opened up again and started off well. But at 20-0 Webbe missed a straight one and was bowled. 20-1 became 24-2 when Tom was caught at gully. This partnered Ian and Keith together. Keith managed 5 runs before he was also caught. Now it was 33-3. Ian was now joined by Jim. Jim did a good job holding an end up whilst Ian went about his work. Punishing the bad deliveries he was given. 7 fours from him got him to 42 and us to within 10 of winning. I joined Jim and we finished the game off. A nicely struck 6 to win. 102-4. A little nervous at 33-3 but a great innings from Ian saw us win reasonably comfortably in the end. Today was a great all round effort again. Lots of people contributing to a very good win. Different people stepping up each week is great to see. Man of the Match is a first for me. Not for his bowling or his batting. Keith wins for his superb slip catching. A specialist if ever a saw one. One or two slip catches is a rarity, so five is extraordinary. He juggled a couple but still held on. An amazing effort and a vital one. Kept the wickets coming regularly. So brilliantly well done to him. First time I’ve enjoyed a jug for slip catching. Must mention the rest though as it was a great team effort. Jim bowled well and held his end well when batting. Jack, Darren and Tom also all bowled great. Tim was his usual self taking another four wickets. A great asset to have. On any other day Ian would have been man of the match. A catch, a stumping and 42 well made runs. He took us to the edge of victory removing any remaining nerves. So in summary it was another great day and victory for us. Weather wasn’t great but held off for us. Thanks again to Richard for his brilliant effort in the scoreboard, appreciated as always and Jamie for once again providing a decent wicket and ground for us to play on. Next week is Cullompton away. Hopefully we can keep our good form going. Will be tough but I’m sure we are capable of putting in another big effort. So well done all. Finally well done to the first XI on 4 out of 5. It’s shaping up to being an epic season. Let’s keep up the effort.cheers and good night
John Weeks😀😀
Bideford 2nd XI v Uppottery 2nd XI
28/05/22
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Andy Webbe
3. James Roe
4. Martin Stewart
5. James Greenleaf
6. Keith Berry
7. Darren Willcocks
8. Tom Stone
9. Ian Hayter
10. Pete Stevens
11. Jim Keates
1pm Start at Westward Ho!
No teas as normal
2. Andy Webbe
3. James Roe
4. Martin Stewart
5. James Greenleaf
6. Keith Berry
7. Darren Willcocks
8. Tom Stone
9. Ian Hayter
10. Pete Stevens
11. Jim Keates
1pm Start at Westward Ho!
No teas as normal
Match Report
Game four was a home game against Upottery. It was another glorious day at Westward Ho! The ground was looking great as was the team. The first team had given me three players, so this was one of the rare occasions where a couple of players had to miss out. With the line up I had I was desperate to bat first on a great looking wicket. So my heart sank when their captain called correctly. But to my complete surprise he opted to have a bowl. As a young captain he probably lacked a bit of experience. So I was delighted to inform my players we would be batting. As Webbe was back he partnered Tom opening up. Very early on Webbe spooned a catch to point. My heart sank again, but to my delight he was dropped, on zero as well. This is something Upottery would come to regret. Both played out some good opening bowling. Waiting for the bad balls and punishing them. Webbe finally got going hitting some big sixes. Both were able to keep the scoreboard ticking along nicely. They passed the fifty mark and soon after they made it to the hundred mark. No wickets lost and amazingly not a single extra. Then just two balls before drinks Tom missed a straight one and was lbw for 37. Another great effort from but he must have been gutted to get out just as he was getting going. So with 20 overs to go Keith joined Webbe and the runs kept coming. Webbe had passed fifty and was dropped again in the eighties. He made them pay again by passing 100. Our first of the season and another awesome effort. He was supported by Keith who made 30. Another 100 partnership got us to 220 with about 5 overs left. When both were out in quick succession, Webbe for 149 and then I also come and went, The James’s took over. Roe and Greenleaf. Some lusty blows got us to a cracking total of 278-4. There were a couple pieces of luck along the way but we made the most of it and batted really well. Webbe and Tom got us off to a great start which is always a big boost. After tea Jim and Darren set about opening the bowling. After last week’s poor effort I was hoping we would be significantly better. Both did well and deserved a wicket or two. But some poor effort in the field especially from me meant no wickets. Apologies from me 😂. Martin and James Roe took over and continued the good work. Upottery got to 80-0 but were well behind the rate. Finally James Struck with a lbw. We then were able to create some pressure. Tom took an excellent catch as the wickets came at regular intervals. Martin was wicket less but Bowled well. Jim changed ends and took three wickets, two bowled . Showed he can bowl up the hill😂 Tom bowled well also and picked up a wicket caught behind by Ian. The overs were ticking over though and we were running out of time to bowl them out. So you’ll be totally unsurprised that I threw the ball to Pete😂 He bowled four decent overs picking up a wicket also. Darren also managed to pick up a late wicket. This meant with one over to go they were 9 down. Pete bowled it. Last ball of the game James Roe did all the hard work getting to the ball but couldn’t hold on. 179-9 was a good effort but had we held our catches early on we would probably have restricted them to around 100. Still 19 points is an excellent effort and proof once again of how good we can be. Consistency is the buzz word for us. We have the ability just need to show it more regularly. No team this season has been better. We have just been too inconsistent. Hopefully we put that right next week at home to Whimple. So a great effort from all. Man of the Match is again an easy one. Webbe was back with a bang with a brilliant 149. Without an excellent catch he may have pushed the double century mark. So well done him. Must mention Tom again though. Batted great again. Bowled really well and is our best fielder by some distance. So we’ll played him again. James Rowe showed his quality with 30 quick runs and 3 wickets. Aarrggg just that drop at the end😂😂 Big fine coming this week I hope😂😂 So in summary it was another great day to be beside the seaside. Thanks to Tim for his excellent stint umpiring, was a massive help. Thanks all that came and watched, was quite a crowd. Let’s build on this and put in a similar performance this week. Thanks again to all for the effort. See you next time.
Cheers
John Weeks
Cheers
John Weeks
Exwick 1st XI v Bideford 2nd XI
21/05/22
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Darren Willcocks
3. Tom Stone
4. Pete Stevens
5. Ollie Keates
6. Jack Ancill
7. Jim Keates
8. Tim Cooke
9. Keith Berry
10. Damon Berry
11. Ian Hayter
1pm Start at Exwick
No teas this week I’m afraid
2. Darren Willcocks
3. Tom Stone
4. Pete Stevens
5. Ollie Keates
6. Jack Ancill
7. Jim Keates
8. Tim Cooke
9. Keith Berry
10. Damon Berry
11. Ian Hayter
1pm Start at Exwick
No teas this week I’m afraid
Match Report
Game three was the away trip to Exwick. We arrived in good time and with a decent side. But we still had three decent players missing from last week. On losing the toss I was asked to have a bat. For me this was the bit we were a little short on. But with Tom partnering Keith we still had a decent line up. Keith though was out fairly early so Ian joined Tom. Tom was getting himself in and looking fairly comfortable. Ian was generally waiting for the bad ball which he was then smashing for fours.They managed to get us to 62 before Ian was out caught in the point region. I then joined Tom just before drinks. Together we managed to keep the scoreboard ticking along. Tom passed his fifty and was looking good. I was riding my luck just a bit but somehow got to 34.With 6 overs to go we had 149. I was then out but Tom was still going. Pete joined him and was struck by a short ball which cut his ear. He obviously came off for some treatment. Darren joined Tom and we consistently kept the board ticking, mainly thanks to Tom who was unfortunately out for 81 with about 7 balls to go. Pete was fortunately fine so he went back out for a couple last balls. A final total of 191-4 was a decent effort I thought. Particularly great from Tom. 200 would have been great but 191 was more than acceptable. So at tea I was quietly confident that if we bowled as we had done the previous week we would be in with a great chance. Unfortunately this wasn’t to be the case. We didn’t bowl well all round. The fielding wasn’t great particularly the catching. Had we held them I think we would have had a great chance. One off their openers batted well though smashing the bad balls we served up to the boundary. Had we took one of the chances he gave we may have stood a chance. But alas we didn’t and he punished us with 92 not out. Several extras and the odd miss field and Exwick got there with 3 or 4 overs to spare. The outfield was definitely a lot quicker second innings but still no excuse. Saying that though Ian and Tom both did ok jobs bowling. Both picking up a wicket and maybe I should have brought Damon on sooner. He bowled two decent overs and picked up his first wicket which he caught himself. Showing the rest how it’s done. So a poor fielding effort after a great batting one. The first game of the season was the opposite. A poor batting effort and a great bowling effort. We showed in game two that combining the two gives a greater chance. We had a couple missing but still there was too much inconsistency. Something we all need to work on. So 5 points isn’t great but let’s learn and move forward to next week at home. If we can get 191 at Exwick we can surely better that at the Ho! On Jamie’s magnificent look motorway 😂😀 Man of the Match this week is another easy one. Tom was magnificent with the bat and at the Ho! Would surely have had a 100 plus score. My aching legs proved how many 2’s we ran. Most would have been fours at the Ho! He bowled decently and was our best fielder by a mile. If only the catches had gone to him. So we’ll done to him. Hopefully more of the same in the coming weeks. As I said next week is Upottery at home so let’s try and bounce back with a decent all round performance. We have quite a lot of availability so selection maybe interesting 🤔 Many thanks to all who drove and Richard for his effort scoring. I know we gave our all and made the effort, but today we just lacked consistency. See you all next time.
Cheers
John Weeks
Cheers
John Weeks
Sidbury 1st XI v Bideford 2XI
14/05/22
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Andy Webbe
3. Keith Berry
4. Tim Cooke
5. Chris Luxton
6. Darren Willcocks
7. Ollie Keates
8. Jim Keates
9. James Greenleaf
10. Jack Ancill
11. Tom Stone
1pm Start at Sidbury
They will be providing teas for us, so a match fee will be required by all😀
Below are some extra directions for Sidbury.
2. Andy Webbe
3. Keith Berry
4. Tim Cooke
5. Chris Luxton
6. Darren Willcocks
7. Ollie Keates
8. Jim Keates
9. James Greenleaf
10. Jack Ancill
11. Tom Stone
1pm Start at Sidbury
They will be providing teas for us, so a match fee will be required by all😀
Below are some extra directions for Sidbury.
Match Report
So to game number 2. This Week was a much easier task getting a side together. Having more than 11 to choose from I was relieved that a couple couldn’t play. Saving me from tough decisions. And nobody pulled out Friday night 💪💪The second longest trip for us was to Sidbury. A ground and place none of us had been to before. We arrived in plenty of time and were pleasantly surprised at what a nice ground it was. The sun was shining and it looked set for a great day. So with a decent side I had a tough call at the toss. I decided in the end to field. The football kick off time had absolutely nothing to do with my decision 😂 Bideford 2nds come first always😂 so out to field we went. Chris and Darren opening up. Darren did ok but bowled the odd bad ball which was punished. Due to the size of the ground particularly one side is was no run or four. So after 3 overs from Darren, Jim took over. At the other end god as he is known in the group chat was going about his business and living up to his name. Wicket one was caught well at cover by James. Two opening maidens had created the pressure. Two LBW’s and a decent catch at gully by Webbe gave Chris 4 Wickets and destroyed their top order. A quite unbelievable spell. 8-6-6-4. Actually I take that back. A run of the mill normal performance from him. Normal on the next level above the rest of us anyway.With Jim disturbing the stumps Sidbury were 5 down for around 40 runs. After Chris had finished Tim took over. He used flight and guile to bamboozle their batsman. Another decent catch at mid wicket from Webbe and Tim ended with 3-15. Another great spell. Jack had taken over from Jim and continued on with the great work. A superb slower delivery out foxing one batsman and another LBW. He finished with 2-15. Quality again. 80 all out. A quite exceptional bowling performance. Only 3 wides was quite remarkable. We gave nothing away and did a very professional job. For the first time in two years we had a tea to enjoy. And that we did. Very nice and thanks to Sidbury for that. Onto the batting we go. Webbe and Keith opened up. I think Keith must of had his wheat a bix as he plundered 10 off the first over. Not to be out done Webbe hit 13 off the second. It seemed as though we would canter to an easy victory. As with us though we always like to test the nerves. Keith was caught behind first. James joined Webbe and Webbe proceeded to smash several fours. I think four in a row at one point. He though was given out LBW with 14 required. Tom unfortunately was bowled next ball, which meant I was the hat trick ball. I survived this and managed to smash 3 fours to see us home. A slight wobble but comfortable in the end. 25 overs not needed. A cracking all round effort and the icing on the cake was a 4pm finish. Plenty of time to watch the football match which hadn’t crossed my mind at all. I knew exactly how the game was going to go and had planned everything accordingly 😂😂 So to sum up. A brilliant all round team effort at a nice ground on a hot sunny summers day. Man of the Match can only go in one direction. Chris was next level today. An amazing match winning spell. Well played. Must mention the young guns Jim and Jack. Two great spells backing up Chris. And the miserly Spell from Tim. Another great effort. And finally Webbe with two excellent catches and several lusty blows. See us home though next time please Andy😂 I wasn’t happy having to put my pads on and risked going out with no thigh pad, fortunately got away with it 😂 Thanks to all who drove and Richard for scoring, appreciated as always. Thanks to all for the effort made and thanks to Sidbury for an excellent tea. Next week is away again at Exwick. Hopefully not on the mat this time. But hopefully another decent effort. Finally can’t end without making mention of a great effort from the first XI. Chasing down 284 is a fair effort well played. And of course the mighty red men who added another trophy to their ever expanding cabinet. In all as days go I’ve had worse. Thanks and good night😀😀
Cheers
John Weeks
Cheers
John Weeks
Bideford 2nd XI v Alphington and Countesswear 2nd XI
07/05/22
Team Sheet
1. John Weeks
2. Andy Webbe
3. Darren Willcocks
4. Keith Berry
5. Damon Berry
6. Jake Cleave
7. Jack Ancill
8. Tim Cooke
9. Ollie Keates
10. Jim Keates
11. Martin Stewart
1pm start at Westward Ho!
2. Andy Webbe
3. Darren Willcocks
4. Keith Berry
5. Damon Berry
6. Jake Cleave
7. Jack Ancill
8. Tim Cooke
9. Ollie Keates
10. Jim Keates
11. Martin Stewart
1pm start at Westward Ho!
Match Report
Here goes then with my first match report back as captain. I was thinking early in the week that I’d probably have too many players and would have some tough decisions to make. How wrong I was😂😂 By Thursday evening I had a decent side and with a couple unavailable I didn’t have the tough decision to make. Happy and contented, I looked forward to our opening game. Everything was going well. But alas as always something comes out to bite you. Not one but two Friday night pull outs. Ones is generally ok but two was a nightmare. I can’t repeat on here my exact words upon hearing the news😂 Especially as the first half dozen I asked couldn’t help out. In the end though Damon Berry and a very hungover Martin Stewart came to our rescue. Big thanks to them for that. So finally onto the game. On arrival at the ground there was a fair bit of mist hovering around. It stayed pretty much all day. Proper umpires would probably have taken us off towards the end. I believe they did over at Instow. Must make an early mention of how good the ground and wicket were looking. Thanks to Andy, Jaime, Martin and anybody else who helped. Excellent as always. On winning the toss I decided to have faith in our batting line up and batted first. Andy Webbe was back, so he partnered Jake opening up. Some tight opening bowling made it tough to score. Jake missed one and was bowled for 1. Webbe hit a four and a six before chopping one to gully. So at 13-2 we were in a little trouble. I joined Keith and between us we moved the score onto 37. I then wafted at one and chopped on. Martin was at 5. He and Keith managed to stop the wickets falling but did struggling to get going. They did though battle on and got the score to 99 before Keith was out lbw. 46 was a great effort and so with 9 overs left I was hopeful of posting 150 plus total. Jim joined Martin and decided to run himself out. Can’t comment because I missed it. Darren then picked out the deep square leg fielder. We were now 105-6. Martin still there though so was hopeful of a few more runs. Unfortunately we struggled to get the ball away. Jack and Ollie came and went quickly. Damon and Tim tried to help Martin but we ended up disappointingly 119-9. Not a great total. Would definitely have liked 40 more. Must mention there opening bowler though who had figures of 8-6-3-2. Well played😀 So with not many runs to play with I decided to open with Martin Stewart. Darren partnered him off his new short run up. Both did excellent jobs keeping it very tight. Their ten overs went for only around 20, but unfortunately no wickets. Jim and Tim took over and kept up the pressure. There 10 overs also went for around 20. With Jim picking up the first wicket of the season lbw. Four good spells meant they were 40-1 at drinks. We had a sniff but would have to keep up the pressure. Jack came on and did just that. Picking up a wicket bowled and if only he hadn’t overstepped. An absolute ripper bending back off stump but alas a no ball. The only one in the hole game😡 With around 15 to go the experience in their batting started to pay off. They had gotten themselves in and now started to hit a few big shots. Tim came off for Ollie and Jim came back on but a couple loose ones and they were edging closer. Martin took a couple wickets near the end so they were 4 down. But with 4 overs left they got over the line. 30/40 more would possibly have been enough and I was a little disappointed with the batting effort. We did bowl well though and were in with a good shout till near the end. Just couldn’t quite keep up the pressure. Was a great effort though. Little bit rusty maybe. Let’s hope that gone by next week. Man of the Match was tough. Keith batted well as always. Jim, Jack and Darren bowled well. But probably just, Martin wins with 33 not out and 2-15. Well done him. Next week is away to Sidbury. A new one on me so will be interesting to visit. They will I believe be providing teas😀Thanks to all who played and the effort made.
Cheers
John Weeks
Cheers
John Weeks
Bideford Devon League 2nd XI 2016
Back row- Andy Webbe, Chris Luxton, Steve Bond, John Weeks, Tom Farnell, Gareth Davies, Ike Aviston
Front row- Matt Parkhouse, Tom Parkhouse, Marten Stanbuy, Ollie Hannam, Rosie Ball
Front row- Matt Parkhouse, Tom Parkhouse, Marten Stanbuy, Ollie Hannam, Rosie Ball