DCL C Division West
Ashburton 1st XI 133 all out;
Lewdown 136 for two;
Ashburton lose by eight wickets
Ashburton’s first team hosted Lewdown, lost the toss and were asked to bat first on a pitch that looked reasonably firm, writes Dan Coles.
Skipper Ashley Berry and Lloyd White started positively and had added 26 before White fell victim to an LBW decision. Dan Coles joined Berry and a further 21 was added before Berry was unluckily bowled off his pads for 28.
Will Coon and Coles added a further 25 before Coles then fell for 22.
A promising position of 77 for three at the halfway stage then saw regular wickets fall as only Coon (34no) stood fast as wickets fell regularly to Tom Pengelly (five for 17) and Ashburton subsided to a well below-par total of 133 all out.
Chris Yeo bowled an excellent opening spell and deserved much more than his figures outlined (nine overs, one for 16). However, runs came quickly at the other end as Lewdown skipper Dave Ball punished anything loose.
Russ Lacey was introduced after Yeo and picked up a wicket to give Ashes a bowling point, but Ball batted through for an excellent 71 not out as Ashes were beaten by eight wickets with more than 17 overs remaining.
Berry reflected on the loss: “We didn’t really hit our marks with bat or ball, but the guys gave a really good effort, as always.
“It was a good game fought by two clubs in similar situations.
“At this early stage, it’s intriguing how this league is going to pan out.”
DCL F Division West
Bovey Tracey III 230 for five;
Ashburton II 231 for nine;
Ashburton (17pts) beat Bovey Tracey (9) by 1 wicket
Ashburton IIs made it two wins from two with a nail-biting win against Bovey IIIs.
After winning the toss and fielding, wickets were hard to come by as Bovey totted up 230 for five in their 40 overs, with Tony England (71) and Malcolm Senior (67) in the runs. Robin Lambert (eight overs, one for 18) bowled a tidy opening spell for Ashes and Jake Pascoe (six overs, two for 36) picked up a couple of wickets in the middle of the innings.
The Ashburton reply was led by an imperious knock of 114 from Chris Pascoe.
However, when he fell at 169 for three there were still 62 runs to be found, with a youthful lower order to come.
Thirteen-year-old Jake Pascoe (37) marshalled the lower order superbly and a 53-run partnership with Harvey Field (11) who is also 13, kept Ashes in the game. A flurry of wickets fell towards the end as 223 for four became 227 for nine.
However, final pair Jake Bartram and Michael Davies kept their cool to seal a nail-biting victory by one wicket with two balls to spare.
Second team skipper Chris Yeo said: “A superb result. The heroes were our young guns, with Sam Higgs keeping superbly on debut, Jake Pascoe and Harvey Field with a match-winning 50-run partnership and Jake Bartram hitting the winning run. A great sign of things to come from our colts.”