CONRAD SUTCLIFFE AT BOVEY TRACEY CC
Scorecard
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IPPLEPEN are the new holders of the Aaron Printers Cup after defeating Paignton 2nd XI by four wickets in the final at Bovey Tracey.

Having denied Bovey Tracey 2nd XI an unprecedented sixth straight win in the competition by putting them out in the semi-finals, the Pens were eager to finish the job.

Step one to lifting the trophy for the first time since 2017 was achieved by bowling out Paignton for 120 in the 19th of the 20 overs available.

“I knew at half way if we batted how we have been this season we would have a great chance,” said cup-winning captain Sam Wakeham. “The pitch was playing well and it was a rapid outfield.”

Step two was knocking off the runs, which Ipplepen achieved with the thick end of three overs to spare.

Paignton, whose skipper Carl McFarlane won the toss and opted to bat, got off to a dreadful start by losing opener Brenton Pedley and dangerman batter Neil Hancock to George Tapley getting as far as the third over.

Pedley was bowled playing a forgettable shot; Hancock was well caught at slip before he could get going. As Hancock destroyed many bowling attacks during a spell with Ipplepen, his old team-mates were glad to see the back of him.

Pedley wasn’t the only Paignton batter to make life easy for Ipplepen. Three run-outs and a stumping only added to their problems.

Other than a stand of 37 for the third wicket between Connor Ashworth (15) and Max Pedley (38), only skipper McFarlane (19) made much headway. 

Once Pedley was sixth out on 101 – the second run-out effected by Warrick Green – Paignton lost their next four wickets in a hurry on the way to 120 all out.

Tapley (4-17) had two wickets in two balls when he came back to flush out the lingerers. Green, Andy Bligh and Jono Colgate took a wicket each.

Ipplepen’s reply came out of a different play book. Openers Toby Holroyd (31) and Marcus Gadie (23) got them up to 62 for two, after which Colgate (13) and captain Wakeham (16) chipped away at the deficit.

Paignton spinner Connor Ashworth (3-31) ensured Ipplepen did not have it all their own way, but no one could shift 16-year-old Green, who won the game in a hurry. Belting the first ball Ashworth bowled to him for six was a statement of intent!

Green finished the game with successive fours off the bowling of Matt Lipton. His innings – 26 not out, three fours, one six, 15 balls, coupled with two runs-outs and one wicket for 18 runs from four overs, clinched the man-of-the-match award. 

Dan Green, the man-of-the-match adjudicator, knows a thing or two about what it takes to earn the award as he has won it twice! Tapley had a decent claim for it, as Ipplepen skipper Wakeham acknowledged in his post-match summing-up.

“George has been brilliant all year and on another night would have been man-of-the match,” said Wakeham.

“Warrick is maturing into a very good cricketer and has finished off multiple games like that already this year. He has all the attributes to become a very good cricketer, if he wants to.”

Looking back on the game, Wakeham said: “George getting Neil Hancock in single digits was huge. 

“Other than a little wobble through the middle it went as we had hoped.”