BOVEY Tracey 2nd XI defeated Ashburton by 73 runs to lift the Aaron Printers Narracott Twenty20 Cup for an unprecedented fifth year in a row.
No team had ever won four successive final before Bovey Tracey did that last season. The record they have broken is their own!
And a Bovey Tracey win in the final, staged on their home ground, always looked likely after they stashed a score of 191 for five.
Bovey openers Jake Pascoe (50) and Harry Mount put on 96 in the first 10 overs – and there were more runs where those came from!
Pascoe reached 50 from 33 balls – three fours, three sixes – and promptly.
Mount, who batted through for 80 not out, put on 38 with skipper Dan Green (30) and 30 more near the end with Brad Causey, who made just three.
When man-of-the-match adjudicator and cup competition president Mark Faulkner summed up at the end, his decision to nominate Mount was not a surprise!
Chris Yeo (3-32) and Steve Edmonds (2-36) posted Ashes’ best bowling figures.
Despite a battling half-century from skipper Lloyd White (53), Ashburton finished a long way short on 118 for six. George Yabsley (30) was next best.
Losing in-form opener Steve Edmonds to a direct-hit run-out aiming at one stump by Pascoe did Ashes no favours.
Bovey’s bowlers all operated at around five runs an over. Albie Bradley (2-25) was the leading wicket taker.
Winning captain Green said: “The game got off to a flyer with our opening batsman going at 10-12 an over from the start.
“The lads batted superbly and set a total which we thought was always going to be a challenge to defend.
“Oli Clifford-Bourne and Harry Pitman showed their worth with the ball.
“It was a great evening and, as a club, we are proud to have won it five years in a row.”
White said: “"Full credit to Bovey. They are a really tough team to beat with a quality side.
“The best team won on the day. We let them get too many runs and didn't create enough partnerships to get over the line."
Bovey Tracey’s 20-over total came close to beating the record score in a final, which was 204 for seven in 1999 when Paignton II defeated Torquay at Queens Park. Match report
It is the second-best score in a final by a distance. That record belonged to Stoke Gabriel, for the 177 for five they posted against Dartington & Totnes in 2011.
