Devon Dumplings v Ashford CC

 Ashford elected to bat first on what looked like a very worn and battered strip. It was however hard and held together well. This being Budleigh’s last season here it was very much fin de siecle out on the sward.

Ashford kindly lent Dumplings the services of Matthew Knight due to the delayed presence of an eleventh man, in the face of much chiding from his fellows.

Their Captain Cameron Brown was in no mood to delay and had scored 39 from 26 balls when he was well caught at long on by Martin Goff. At the other end Chris Evans had been quietly amassing runs at a pace more befitting his age.

The middle order batsmen all contributed runs and it was only the idiosyncratic spin of Harry Everett and the pacier (late) President, Dominic Tuohey that made any serious inroads.

Knight made atonement for his fielding by cracking 48 in short order before being defeated by the guile of Tuohey. Everett had trapped Evans LBW once he reached 50 and then succeeded in bamboozling two more to leave their stumps undefended.

However, apart from a mean spell from Felix Joseph, all the bowlers had suffered and Ashford had compiled 252 from their 45 overs.

The teams spent the interval partaking of a picnic tea in a bag sitting in the sunshine.

Dumplings innings started well, as Goff moved quickly to 16 with four boundaries. He was undone by Rao and became the first of five batsmen to fall to him.

A steady procession of batsmen came and went, and apart from a brief partnership of 26 between Everett and Joseph, there was not much resistance. The innings ended with captain Paul Berman caught behind off the redoubtable Rao and 31 overs had produced only 104. Six had been bowled which spoke well of Ashford’s accuracy.

It had been a good afternoon, cricket played in an open and friendly manner and the short break necessitated by passing thunder had not caused a problem.

Ashford: 252-8 Evans 51; Knight 48; Cousens 41; Brown 39; Rao 34 Tuohey 3-19; Everett 3-40

DD: 104 ao Rao 5-21

Ashford won by 148 runs