IAN Jarman lashed an unbeaten century as holders Abbotskerswell hurtled into the Brockman Cup semi-finals with a 90-run win over Stoke Gabriel.
It takes some doing to score 200 in a T20 game, but with Jarman flailing 111 not out Abbots went all the way to 214 for five.
Stoke were never in the hunt and were 124 for five when the overs ran out.
Jarman hit five sixes during his 53-ball stint in the middle, one of them to bring up his ton in the penultimate over.
Brockman Cup tons are few and far between – Jarman’s is the tenth since the competition started in 1933 – and for a while he feared he may miss out.
“I got into the 70s fairly quickly, then found I could not get any of the strike and thought I might get stuck in the 80s,” said Jarman.
“About three overs to go I got back on strike again and the last 20 runs came fairly quickly.”
For the record the previous nine Brockman Cup hundreds were scored by: Ray Haydock (Torquay, 1978), Dave Smith (St Marychurch, 1982), Chris Sleep (Brixham, 2008), Ben Robinson (Stoke Gabriel, 2010), Toby Codd (Abbotskerswell, 2014), Dan Wolf (Paignton, 2015), Joe Wilcox (Shaldon, 2016), Mark Andrews (South Devon 2016) and Seb Powell (Ipplepen, 2016). Wolf’s 144 against South Devon is the all-time high for the competition.
Abbots’ semi-final opponents are Paignton 2nd XI, who overcame Chelston and Kingskerswell by five wickets. The match has been rearranged for tomorrow night (June 14) at Torquay CC (6pm)
Sam Woodcock and Sam Simcox both scored half-centuries as Paignton chased down 137 to win.
Abbotskerswell 214-5 (I Jarman 111no, Z Hussain 31no; I Coulton 2-33), Stoke Gabriel 124-5 (S Tolley 31, A Kanwar 46; C Meikle 2-11, B Cowdry 2-18). Abbotskerswell bt Stoke Gabriel by 90 runs.
Chelston & Kingskerswell 136-8 (N Guest 32, E Gregersen 26, M Waters 21, M Faulkner 25; J Smith 2-32, G Woodcock 2-27), Paignton 139-5 (S Woodcock 54, S Simcox 50; M Faulkner 3-9). Paignton bt Chelston & Kingskerswell by 5 wkts.