Cricket- County Division Four (East)

Veryan v Tideford

Batting first for the ninth time out of 11 games Tideford looked at the impressive facilities and ground at the disposal of Veryan and set themselves a target of at least 250 again. Both batsman and bowler were finding it difficult to master the swinging ball initially as wides were many and opportunities of runs went begging. Veryan found it difficult to bowl against the two left-handers, Griffin and Snowdon and were fortunate not to be penalised more by the batsmen and the umpires. As the batsmen became used to the slowness of the wicket so the the run-rate quickened.

With the Veryan attack weakened by another injury during the week it soon became apparent there was going to be a lot of chasing to do. Griffin's batting in particular was looking ominous as nine fours raced across the boundary before a changed shot as the bat hit the ball gifted mid-off to a catch that was well taken. When the second wicket fell the score had already progressed to 92 in the 22nd over.

Snowdon was joined at the wicket by Anton Luiten (how many runs have these two put together over the years) and looked as if nobody else was going to be needed. Another 100 partnership was only 10 runs away when Luiten was surprisingly bowled by yet another member of the Snowdon dynasty for 37. Mark Lister contributed another 34 runs scoring the only 2 sixes in the game, but the Tideford innings was made complete by a well disciplined and well deserved 102 not out for Gerry Snowdon. Having scored 74 the previous day against Lanhydrock it was a very productive week-end and he joins four other Tideford batsmen with an average of over 40.

A. Tregunna had bowled extensively the day before and could only complete eight overs before being replaced. A full quota of 16 overs would have reduced the final total as even when tired he always does enough to frustrate the batsmen.

Having not batted, Dave Lockett (scored 108 not out yesterday) opened the bowling with Will Geach and yet again the result of the match was decided by the 20th over as Veryan were restricted to 53 with the loss of four wickets. Tregunna showed how it should be done with a display of gutsy batting, but was now up against the Bradbeer boys. When Dave Bradbeer (sandy hair) bowled, it was invariably fielded by Sandy Bradbeer (dark hair) and when Sandy bowled Dave picked up three catches at mid-wicket. S Bradbeer completed the rout with two wickets with the last two deliveries of the match and well deserved his first five wicket haul for the first team.

Tideford are a team determined not only to gain promotion but to participate in the league play-offs at the end of the season as champions and show the western section that there is rising talent in the eastern section as well.

Scores - Tideford 268-4 (J Griffin 58, G Snowdon 102 n.o., A Luiten 37, D Copp 10, M Lister 34 n.o., M Matthews 1-75, M Stoyle 1-60, L Snowdon 1-61). Veryan 108 (R Jobson 12, M Matthews 17, A Tregunna 42; D Lockett 2-24, W Geach 2-27, S Bradbeer 5-28, S Bradbeer 1-18).

Tideford (20) bt Veryan (four) by 160 runs.