Cricket- County Division Three (East)

Menheniot v Gorran

Menheniot entertained promotion contenders Gorran at the village ground on Monday and, having won the toss on an overcast day, invited their visitors to bat first.

Rob Hurrell and Dave Behennah opened the innings and from the word go proceeded to put bat to ball, to such an extent that after 10 overs, 61 runs were on the board without loss. It was not that the opening bowlers Ed Gard and Jeremy Randle were that bad, but that Hurrell and Behennah were so positive from the word go. Captain Phil Adsett needed to slow the scoring rate down and the introduction of himself and Hugh Rodgers did just that. The slower pace of these two had the ball moving around more and indeed it was Rodgers who accounted for both openers although by this time Gorran's score had progressed to 105-2 off 21 overs.

Frank Semple and Mike Bawden kept the momentum going, adding 51 for the fourth wicket and with good contributions from a number of the other batsmen Gorran finally reached a total of 239-8 off 48 overs.

All of the Menheniot bowlers stuck to their task well. Jeremy Randle, with 3-88, was a little unlucky to concede so many runs, but the pick of the bowlers was Rodgers who returned the excellent figures of 2-29 off his 16 overs and could have had more.

The home side were not really that phased about chasing 240 to win as they had a pretty good batting side on display. Keith Willcocks add Adsett opened and made steady progress against some tight bowling from Hurrell and Rob Daniel. However, the scoring rate was always behind what was required and as batsmen tried to up the tempo, wickets began to fall. Willcock, Adsett and Simon Hunt all got into the twenties and Ed Gard with some big hits managed a top score of 36, but nobody stayed and played the major innings which would have made the home side's batting effort competitive.

In the end Menheniot were all out for 159, with Rob Hurrell scoring 59 with the bat, completing a fine match after taking 5-45 with the ball. Credit to Gorran who, quite frankly, outplayed their hosts in every department and thoroughly deserved their victory. It could be that they will be playing County Division Two cricket next season.

Scorecard

Gorran

R Hurrell c and b Rodgers....................59

D Behennah c Rigler b Rodgers...........23

F Semple c Rodgers b Gard.................49

A House b Adsett...................................8

M Bawden not out................................37

K Harris b Randle..................................4

M Billing lbw b Randle........................13

R Blamey run out.................................21

R Daniels st Taylor b Randle.................1

Extras...27

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Ttl - 239-8

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Bowling - E Gard 8-0-57-1; J Randle 13-0-88-3; H Rodgers 16-4-29-2; P Adsett 11-0-49-1.

Menheniot

K Willcock run out...............................20

P Adsett LBW b Daniel.......................23

S Hunt c Blamey b Harris......................7

H Rodgers c House b Harris..................7

E Gard b Hurrell...................................36

J Massey LBW b Hurrell.......................6

A Taylor c Bawden b Daniel................13

J Randle b Hurrell..................................6

M Rigler c House b Hurrell....................0

D Wiltshire c Semple b Hurrell..............2

J Kelly not out........................................0

Extras...14

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Ttl - 159

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Bowling - R Hurrell 15-1-45-5; R Daniel 11-1-38-2; R Hastings 5-0-26-0; K Harris 8-0-48-2.

Gorran (20 pts) beat Menheniot (seven) by 80 runs.