Cricket- County Division Four- Tideford v Tintagel
Bank Holiday Monday heralded the weather conditions most cricket players and tourists have become accustomed to over the years, moist underfoot and overcast up above. It seemed obvious, whoever won the toss would elect to bowl first as the wicket, although hard underneath had that layer of moisture which would assist the bowlers early on.
This assumption, which was held by many, was not held by the person who won the toss, Dave Lockett the Tideford skipper. Lockett laid down the challenge to his batsmen to score in any condition in the knowledge that if Tideford's bowlers were let loose first the game would be over within two hours.
Initially, the decision to bat first seemed slightly dubious as both R Harland and G Winkle, obtaining the extra bounce and pace from the wicket quickly removed the Tideford openers. It was left to Gerry and Mike Snowdon to steady the ship with some very stout defensive batting mixed in with some excellent scoring shots mainly from Gerry Snowdon who used the the pace of the ball to score most of his runs.
Harland was replaced by A Billington after completing a fine spell of quick accurate bowling, figures of 2 for 18 off 7 overs being a true reflection of the effort that had been put in.
By the halfway stage Tideford had lost half their wickets but had kept up a steady three runs per over and still had a tail that included four batsmen who had experience of opening the innings. Lindfield and Griffin, who have both scored centuries this year, maintained the steady progress but could not increase the tempo due to the experienced bowling of Billington, who used the conditions to tie both batsmen down. At 110 for 5 after 36 overs, the target of 160 was within reach as long as one of the in-form batsmen stayed there. Griffin decided to open his shoulders and transformed his last 14 deliveries into 31 runs enabling him to reach another half century and remain undefeated again. He is currently maintaining an average of 181, 119 more than last season!
Facing a total of 182 it was difficult to see how Tintagel could respond against an opening bowling attack that had already taken 31 wickets in 4 matches at a cost of 5 runs per wicket. At 11 for 6 after 14 overs the innings of Snowdon, Lindfield and Green were put into context. Billington came in late and played the typical left-handers shot over mid-wicket to perfection bludgeoning six 4's in a quick—fire 27, but the inevitable was only being delayed. Tintagel were all out in the 30th over for 76 runs, Steve Osborne being the pick of the bowlers finishing with 6 for 40.
Scores - Tideford 182-7 (G Snowdon 38, M Lindfield 33, J Griffin 56 n.o., R Harland 2-60, G Winkle 3-56, A Billington 2-44). Tintagel 76 (M Chatterton 15, A Billington 27, A Warren 10; D Lockett 3-11, S Osborne 6-40, W Geach 1-15).
Tideford (19 pts) bt Tintagel (4) by 106 runs.