Division Eight (East)

Looe v St Stephens

Winning the toss Looe elected to bat, taking advantage of a good batting track. It didn't take long for the Looe openers J. Hocking and H. Balman to find their feet and this pair duly sought to pile on the runs, which seemed effortless, as they exhibited an array of well manufactured scoring strokes. Having made the most impact during their partnership, Balman (43) found himself trapped lbw with the score on 78 in the thirteenth over.

Enter Pryce-Hughes and after a short incubation period there was no stopping the two of them, and the hatching of a new and substantial partnership running until the 31st over when Looe's score had reached a rosy 170, Pryce-Hughes was caught behind for 44.

By the 40th over Looe were looking well composed and with sustained pressure from Hocking the struggling St Stephen's side were finding it difficult to make the breakthroughs they required to thwart the progression of this well- disciplined Looe batting line up.

Some bowling changes rewarded the persistent St Stephens eleven in the dying overs of Looe's innings, and the home side's innings duly subsided just managing to achieve a total of 300. Running himself out in the 43rd over Hocking left with a well-deserved and classy 121. The pick of the St. Stephen's bowlers was Ward who finished with figures of 4-63.

With the gauntlet having been laid down St Stephens had the arduous task of finding 301 runs to chase victory at the Killigarth venue, they started with the opening pair of Jobb and Teague, who didn't find it as easy to get going as Looe's batsmen had earlier in the afternoon. Soon Looe's bowling attack, supported by enthusiastic ground fielding and sound catching, found the length they were looking for and started to make light work of the St. Stephen's line up, bar Luff, who coming in during the 10th over stuck around and attempted to revive his team's moral. Lasting out until the 36th over Luff was finally bowled by an accurate Mason delivery, for a very worthy 37. Three balls later and it was all over, St Stephens were all out for 83 runs, Looe winning by 217 runs. Looc's bowlers looked good throughout with Nick Allan finishing on 3-24, Joyce on 2-16 and MacMillan on 2-15.