Tidball Insurance Cup round-up | Paget reaches ton for Sidbury | Pryce (pictured) gives it a whack as Heathcoat 3rd XI beat Bovey counterparts | Plymouth edge past Ivybridge 

Heathcoat

By OLLIE SMITH 

SIDBURY captain Alex Paget hit 18 boundaries in his 124 as his side beat Cullompton by 23 runs in the Tidball Insurance Cup. 

Captain Paget opened the batting with Oliver Paget, and they put on 92 for the first wicket. Matt Selman scored a run-a-ball 15, before captain Paget was dismissed on the final ball of the innings, leading his side to 189 for three. 

Steve Crick was the pick of the Sidbury bowlers, taking three wickets for 27 runs from his four overs. Andrew Marshall and Tom Mortiboys put up some resistance for hosts Cullompton, unbeaten on 32 and 21. But they were left with too much to do with not enough overs, as time ran out with the score on 166. 

Alex Paget, the Sidbury captain, said his personal innings was unexpected.

“I didn’t really have high expectations, but things kept on going my way,” he said. “After a slightly sticky start, it all went by without me really noticing. It’s great to look back on!

“I felt the game was ours after our opening bowlers (Damien Armes, 1-20, and Ed Chester, 0- 27) kept things quiet in the powerplay. I was more concerned about the oncoming dusk, and their flurry of boundaries made it look closer than it was.

“We enjoy the Tidball Insurance Cup, and especially enjoyed finals day last year. Hopefully we can go one better this year, as long as we don’t run into someone in the same form as the [Filleigh, 2024 champions] captain last year!” 

Heathcoat’s Harry Pryce blitzed a 30-ball-72 to chase down Bovey Tracey 3rd XI’s 154, to win by seven wickets. Bovey’s top scorer was captain Dan Boteler, who an unbeaten 36 from 25. He was one of three players to reach the 30. Archie Bougourd and Jonny Chilcott set the Heathcoat innings up before Pryce came in and took the game away from Bovey. 

Plymouth 3rd XI scraped past Ivybridge 3rd XI by one wicket, scoring the winning runs in the final over. Ivybridge opener Paul Johnson carried his bat through the innings to score 63, but no other batter passed 14. There were two wickets each for Jamie Burt and Michael Marker, as Ivybridge reached 118 for five from their allocation.

Both Plymouth openers were out for a duck, but captain Gareth Hart, Zach Muquit, and Charles Irish steadied the ship to see the city side home.