Harry Everett is pleased to be reporting on some dry, though somewhat chilly action from last weekend as we approach the halfway mark in the season soon and the longest day this week. Cheers for the Sidbury perspective provided by Alex Paget.
Far too few column inches are devoted to the number of holidays taken by the burgeoning bourgeoisie and their effect upon village cricket club selection committees. No sooner has leg-break bowler Isaac touched down after a fortnight on the Amalfi Coast than young top-order batsman Oscar is jetting off for a short break on the Iberian Peninsula. A problem seemingly oh too common in cricket selection across the summer.
This week, then, the hand plunged into the selection box brought out a bounty of batters when only last week it was a fistful of snickers. Indeed, only Sam Sanders could be said to have locked down his spot in the order - 11 - whilst the other ten were largely interchangeable.
And so it proved. No fewer than six of Sidbury's batsmen made it into double figures with number seven, Damien Armes (45), making the greatest contribution.
Put into bat by Whimple skipper Greig Benson on an excellent wicket, Simon Rowe found himself promoted to open alongside regular starter Ed Chester after a midweek run glut. The pair saw off most of the useful opening bowlers' spells before Chester was clean bowled.
Josh Reed soon perished the same way to the excellent Stephen Hathaway (2-20) before Pagets A & O and Lloyd Colin (yes the man with two very-English first names is over from Zimbabwe) offered up middling efforts. Rowe (43) held the innings together for the first half before being given out LBW, again, by umpire Chris Fitzhenry.
Tottering somewhat at 131-6, Armes was joined by Jon Whitfield (26*) and this pair steadied things before accelerating to the holy grail of 200. Armes fell to the penultimate ball of the innings, leaving Steve Howe, last seen as a number three, to play just one ball as a number nine.
After no-tea, a cold north-westerly wind whisked itself up and Sidbury had another excuse to don their vaunted sheep's wool sweaters. There was news from the away changing room that Whimple fancied the Sidbury total about 30 light and, for the first 15 overs, so it seemed.
Both Pagets and Armes were sent frequently to the boundary, openers Henry Gordon-Lennox and A Murray-Watson giving it both barrels before HG-L and the number three extended the chase to 76 for 1.
The game changed once as Colin (2-27) induced a fast nick miraculously held left-handed at slip by O Paget and then twice with the kamikaze running out of star man Gordon-Lennox (30). Man of the match Rowe (2 for 18) then tightened things up alongside Colin and wickets fell steadily as the game was pulled back from a losing position towards a Sidbury win.
All that was left was for finisher extraordinaire Sanders to administer the coup de grace with his only ball and, in so doing, cement his place at the top of the entire Devon League for strike rate, average and economy. Sidbury won by 74 runs.
