IVYBRIDGE were on the receiving end of a man-of-the-match performance by Trevor Anning as they slid to a 64-run defeat against visiting Budleigh Salterton.
The Budleigh Salterton captain may have retired from Minor Counties cricket last season, but retains the class that saw him play more than 100 times for Devon.
Anning rescued Budleigh from a perilous five for three – Jamie Bullock (3-16) doing the damage – with a skipper’s knock of 79 that prevented the slide getting any worse.
Budleigh mustered 181 for nine with Anning the ninth man out having put on 73 with Eliot Rice (25), 38 with Ben Phillips (18) and 49 for the seventh wicket with Alex Richardson (19).
Ivybridge bowled well with Josh Coker (2-28) the leading back-up to Bullock. Whose scalps included Somerset staff Max Waller. Pete Abraham, Jeewan deSilva and Joe Langworthy gave little away.
Ivybridge hadn’t seen the last of Anning as he came out after team armed and dangerous with the new ball.
Anning took three of the wickets to fall – Matt Junk took the other – as Ivybridge plunged to 39 for four. Adam Huxtable (26) was the only batter to linger long.
George Thompson (19) de Silva (30) and Kelvin Trent hung around until, one by one, they were picked off by Anning (4-21), James Leat (3-35) and Joel Murphy (1-11 off 8).
Josh Coker was unbeaten on 13 in the Bridge’s total of 117 all out.
