HARBERTON V STOKEINTEIGNHEAD – Sunday 24^th April

· Played at Stokeinteignhead

· Toss won by Stokeinteignhead

· Stokeinteignhead 131 for 10 wickets in 38.5 overs

· Harberton 120 for 10 wickets in 37.1 overs.

This was a classic game of cricket played by two evenly matched teams with all the twists, turns and drama which shows the game at its best.

On a bright sunny and warm afternoon Stoke won the toss and unsurprisingly decided to bat. Britcliffe and Burton went to the wicket determined to make the most of a hard dry wicket. Christian Buckner and Shephard opened the bowling and quickly found their line and length making run scoring difficult. Britcliffe looked imperious while Burton struggled to time the ball. Despite several close calls, the opening pair rode their luck and took the score to 60 before Burton was trapped lbw by Pike’s off spin for 15. A canny cricketer, Pike bowled beautifully, varying his flight line and pace getting the ball to bounce and turn, making scoring very difficult. With Elliot Buckner bowling leg spin from the other end the scoring rate slowed considerably. Wickets tumbled regularly with Pike taking 4 for 17 in his eight overs. Only Britcliffe looked comfortable and his unbeaten innings of 96 held Stoke together. Lagden, who had been patiently waiting to come on to bowl was finally let loose with 6 overs to go. Bowling with great pace and accuracy he polished off the tail with 3 wickets for 6 runs , assisted by Christian Buckner who came back to finish with 2 for 24 runs. Harberton could feel well pleased with their effort in the field having contained Stoke who finishing on 139 were probably 40 runs short of a reasonable score on this wicket. Sympathy for Britcliffe whose superb effort which included 12 boundaries was four runs short of a well deserved century.

After tea the Harberton team felt quietly confident after their huge score the previous week. This did not last long as they were reduced to 4wickets for 7 runs after 5 overs. The bowling of Tom Hawkins was awesome as he ripped the heart out of the cream of Harberton’s batting. Elliot Buckner, Harvey, Lagden and captain Jack Buckner formed a procession as the were dismissed in quick succession, all falling to the pace and accuracy of Hawkins’ bowling which included a hat trick in his second over. Opener Ray could only watch in dismay as the batting folded. But all was not lost! In came Pike to join him and these old campaigners got their heads down determined to repair the damage. The score crept up slowly and the pair grew in confidence as the score passed 50. The occasional bad ball was punished and the running between the wickets was excellent as Stoke began to worry. It took a brilliant catch – a one handed full length diving catch by Britcliffe (who else!) - that broke the deadlock as Pike completed a memorable game scoring 39 in a superb stand of 78 with Ray. The game was now finely balanced. After showing great concentration and doggedness, Ray uncharacteristically flashed at a slower ball by Putman and gave a simple catch to Burton – dismissed for 36 with the score on 88. With Oakey following for 3, bowled by Hawkins, who finished with an excellent 5 wicket haul, Stoke looked well in charge. Christian Buckner (last week’s centurion) and Yarnell came together with41 needed for victory and they battled hard to accumulate runs. With the score at 113 young Buckner was dismissed by Presst. Yarnell continued to score well but was stranded on 15 not out as the last two wickets fell to Gray(2 for 23) with Harberton falling 19 runs short of Stoke’s total A closer game than the final score suggested!