CONRAD SUTCLIFFE
TORQUAY made light work of beating A Division stragglers Cullompton by nine wickets.
Jamal Anwar opened up with a pacey 103 for Cully – nine sixes, seven fours, 105 balls – in a total of 216 all out.
Support came from James Shere (20) and Jason Parr (26) as Cully eased along to 172 for three.
Harry Passenger spun out Anwar, prompting a collapse from 172 for three to 189 for nine. If Passenger did not get them… Noah Ryder (3-14) did.
Last man Paul Rendall (18) kept Torquay in the field a bit longer than they expected.
Torquay won at a canter by nine wickets on the back of an opening partnership worth 215 between Tim Western (94) and skipper Chris Kelmere (87no). Western got out stumped trying to hit a six that would give him a century and win the game at the same time.
One run each for Kelmere and Callum Stanley had the game done and dusted with more than 13 overs to go.
Cullompton remain bottom of the A Division table and have a tough assignment this Saturday when Bradninch make the short trip to Landspeed Meadow.
Cullompton went out with a depleted side due to availability issues – a recurring theme this season – and had no great expectations from the game.
Parr, the Cully captain, said the team that started did more than he could have hoped for
“I really appreciate the guys from 2nd XI stepping up to fill in every week,” said Parr.
“They give it absolutely everything, but I'm not expecting us to be able to compete with many teams at this standard unless we can start getting our best side out together.”
Parr felt Cully could have done better with bat and ball to make Torquay work harder for their win.
“It was good to see Jamal find some form again and we got into a good position at 170 for three before collapsing,” said Parr.
“Too many lose deliveries when we bowled, which made it far to easy for the Torquay openers who didn't miss out and didn't really give a chance all afternoon.
“Plenty still for us to be working on and desperately hoping for improved availability going forward.”
