Considering half the square and a large area of the outfield was under water on Tuesday, it was amazing to see the first game of the new season start at all. Under the circumstances it was of no great surprise the wicket was soft and damp, this gave the captains the obvious option on winning the toss to put the opposition in. Gorran duly asked Tideford to bat first.

Hastings and Daniels opened the bowling and kept opportunities to score down to a bare minimum a good line and length. The Tideford top order struggled to score at more than two an over, but their priority was to preserve wickets whilst the surface was at its worst. At 44 for four Gorran must have thought of keeping Tideford to less than 100. Mark Lister and in particular Gerry Snowdon had other ideas as they batted sensibly, keeping the straight ball out and making the most of anything short or wide. Lund replaced Daniels and gave a lesson in how to bowl on a particular type of surface. The contest between batsmen and bowler was good to watch and just as you thought the batsmen were capturing the upper hand Snowdon was undone by one of the few deliveries that stayed low. The gradual momentum of the innings continued with the occasional lusty blow to the boundary and the falling of wickets. Tideford completed their full allocation of 48 overs with a creditable 172 for nine.

It was good to see the return of Steve Osborne who, after missing most of last season through injury, took only a couple of overs to get back into his stride of taking wickets for not a lot of runs. With Dave Lockett continuing as he left off last season, the Gorran batsmen found the job of scoring runs as difficult as Tideford's.

As batting conditions continued to improve with the drying sun and breeze it was important that any chance given was going to be vital to the end result. As it was, the normally reliable Tideford fielders allowed six chances to go to ground. Having been given a life early in his innings M Bawden proceeded to bludgeon himself to an excellent 72 not out and Gorran to what seemed, on paper, to be a comfortable victory with more than two overs to spare.

Tideford

J Griffin lbw Daniels.............................7

W Geach b Daniels................................8

G Snowdon b Lund..............................75

M Lindfield b Lovell.............................0

S Osborne c Bawden b Lovell...............0

M Lister st & b Lund...........................34

S Bradbeer ct & b Lund.......................13

R Baptie b Lund.....................................2

D Lockett b Daniels...............................4

D Bradbeer n.o.......................................1

J Kinsey n.o...........................................7

Extras...20

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Ttl - 172-9

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Bowling - R Hastings 7-2-22-0; R Daniels 11-4-17-3; C Lovell 8-2-33-2-; A Lund 15-5-52-4; K Harris 3-0-18-0; M Shepherd 4-0-19-0.

Gorran

R Adams ct Lindfield b Osborne.........13

C Lovell b Osborne..............................15

A Noott S Bradbeer.............................17

M Shepherd ct Geach b Kinsey...........32

M Bawden n.o......................................72

K Harris b Kinsey..................................1

J Vercoe n.o...........................................1

Extras....12

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Ttl - 173-5

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Bowling D Lockett 14-6-24-0; S Osborne 10-1-25-2; S Bradbeer 6-1-20-1; D Bradbeer 5-0-30-0; J Kinsey 6-0-36-2; W Geach 4.3-0-22-0.

Gorran (19 pts) beat Tideford (six) by five wickets.