Cricket- County Division Six (East)
St Blazey II v St Neot
On an overcast afternoon the intrepid Taverners embarked on another one of their travels to St Blazey. On arrival they found a hard wicket and a quick outfield. The toss was made and A Kent decided that St Neot would bat.
Promoting himself to the number one spot was a decision AK made easily as St Blazey were expecting some late arrivals and had only nine fielders. Joined in the middle by S Rowe these two made a good start against an ever improving attack and attempted to remove any shine from the ball to stop the increasing swing.
With boundaries flowing the score board ticked over nicely, until Rowe, forgetting the extra fielders had arrived, hauled out to mid-on to put the score at 44-1. With Tamblyn now at the crease and AK swinging his oak-tree-like-bat to great effect the run rate increased. At 77 Tamblyn was bowled to allow Clapham to get the Cornwall Show out of his system as he attacked the bowling with his normal flair and charisma.
Disaster soon struck as wickets started to fall at an alarming rate as the score went from 104 for 4 to 141 for 8. This was mainly due to some impressive bowling from Cook who managed to restore the shine to the ball and got it swing again. The only resistance met was from young Robin Fraser who showed no respect for the bowling in a free flowing middle order innings. The innings was soon reduced to 141 all out and the Taverners left the pitch a little disappointed, as they knew a bigger score should have been posted.
As they went out to field St Neot knew that a good tight performance was needed in the field and that chances had to be taken. Things started well as O'Brian struck in his first over. This only brought in the big hitting batsmen as St Blazey accelerated at an alarming rate with the boundaries constantly being found although they had accounted for the guile of Taylor who quickly replaced O'Brian to back up the steady Clapham. These two claimed a wicket each before turning the screw with only the odd ball allowing the batsman a respite. At 76 for 3, St Blazey were looking good especially as the big hitting Dormand was punishing anything loose. But the Taverners never gave up hope and their prayers were answered as Taylor suddenly moved up a gear and went on the rampage. He was aided by some sharp fielding and excellent catching as the game turned around and the Taverners were on the front foot, attacking the St Blazey batsmen. The innings took on a St Neot look as it rapidly declined from 81 for 4 to 111 all out. The old adage that catches win matches had proved itself here as St Neot had played their 'Get out of Jail Free' card and earned themselves a hard fought victory.
Scores - St Neot 141 (A Kent 37, C Clapham 29, S Rowe 23, R Fraser 15, C Cook 5-39, I Chambers 3-43). St Blazey Seconds 111 (R Dormand 49, S Bailey 10, D Taylor 6-30, C Clapham 2-55)
St Neot (18) bt St Blazey (7) by 30 runs.