Ivybridge Cricket Club - 1st XI Reports & Scorecard
Clyst Hydon CC vs. Ivybridge CC - Saturday 14th July 2007
Ivybridge Cricket Club continued their race for promotion in the Devon Cricket League C Division away to Clyst Hydon, who in fifth, where just one place lower than the visitors. Ivybridge were buoyed by the return of their skipper and opening batsman, Andy Johnson, who had been out for the past four games due to a rib injury and fellow opening bat Gareth Andrews. However opening bowler Pete Boast (hamstring) pulled out on the morning before the game. This meant Nick Gunn reclaimed his place, while Sam Henderson dropped down to second team duties.
With a week of almost no-stop rain leading to Saturdays match, the pitch was always going to favour the bowlers and when a few showers hit, just before the start of the match, whoever won the toss was going to have the advantage of bowling first. And after Andy Johnson called incorrectly, Clyst’s skipper had no hesitation in doing just that.
Sri Lankan Danu Nandana and Kevin Sercombe opened the bowling for the hosts, and it was Sercombe who struck in his first over, having the aggressive looking Johnson caught after looking to whip a ball off his legs, only for the ball to hold up on the slow pitch and for the ball to loop up to mid-wicket.
Des Solomon then joined Andrews and the pair managed to work the ball around, scoring mainly singles and fours, but the going was far from easy, as Andrews had to face 27 consecutive balls without scoring. Sercombe, bowling especially tight, picking up 1-1 in his first spell of 6 overs. During this time Andrews had the most extraordinary piece of luck. Having played and missed at a Nandana delivery, the ball flicked his leg stump but somehow managed not to dislodge the bail, resulting in the ball then racing away for 4 byes.
The pair added 31 in 15 overs before Andrews fell, caught off the bowling of Sercombe, in the first over of his second spell. Karl Prescott (1) only managed to add 5 with Solomon, before being bowled by the dangerous looking Sercombe, and then when Kelvin Trent fell for a golden duck, the very next ball, Sercombe had picked up two very big Ivy wickets in two balls, and was on a hat-trick. Andy Coker managed a bye off the hat-trick ball, and with the introduction of the left armed Johnson at the other end, runs were hard to come by, as his first 6 overs went for just six runs.
Coker and Solomon then added the highest partnership of The Bridgers innings, 33, in 10 overs, to take the score onto 74-4, before a short and wide ball was the undoing of Coker. Having time to pick his place on the off side boundary, he unfortunately hit the ball straight into the hands of Baggs at point. Chris Greenhouse, who had opened the batting the previous week, came to the wicket and was able to up the run rate with Solomon, as the two put on 31 in just 7 overs. Things were going from the silly to the somewhat unbelievable for Nandana, who was not only wicketless, but, like Andrews earlier, also hit the stumps of Greenhouse without the bails dislodging.
Sercombe returned to finish off the last 3 of his 13 overs, and struck once again, as he had Greenhouse trapped lbw for 17. Solomon then fell caught and bowled with a good one handed catch by Nandana, for a very well played 42, Ivybridge were left on 111-7 with 9 overs left. However Nick Gunn (5), Adam Birch (2) and James Bullock (1) left Michael Anderson stranded on 3 not out and were bowled out in the 44th over for 126.
The pitch wasn’t going to improve too much and Ivybridge knew that a few early wickets would put some pressure on Clyst. As the visitors had 2 extra overs to bowl at Clyst, it meant that each bowler could bowl a maximum of 14 overs now, instead of the usual 13.
With no Boast, Michael Anderson took the new ball with James Bullock and the first 3 overs went for 2. It was in the sixth over when Ivybridge made their first breakthrough through the extra pace of Anderson, as he stuck a yorker that Fitt played too late and had his middle stump knocked back.
Ian Sutton joined the attacking looking Baggs at the crease, but also fell foul of an Anderson yorker in his next over, and with the score at 19-2, a lot of cricket was yet to be played before a result could become clear. Baggs and Gary Trade added 18, before Trade fell to a low Prescott catch at mid-on, trying to work Anderson into the vacant leg side, and when the Australian struck with his very next ball, trapping Hodgin lbw, the game was very much in the balance at 37-4.
Bullock had the short straw of bowling up the hill and into the wind, and was wicketless after 8 overs, although he had only conceded 15 runs. However, with the ball starting to reverse for him, he was beating the outside edge now and then. He then picked up his first wicket, with a ball that beat the dangerous looking Baggs’ (23) outside edge and clipped off stump. Clyst had just lost three wickets for just two runs, leaving them 39-5 and with the pressure getting greater.
Anderson was replaced by the leg spin of Prescott after 10 overs, and in his second over had Nandana (15) well caught behind the stumps by Coker and then Sercombe (4) lbw, not offering a shot to a googly, three balls later. With only three wickets in hand, Clyst still required 55 to win.
Bullock (1-33) bowled 14 straight overs and was replaced by Adam Birch. A partnership of 27 between the stubborn Glenny and Johnson, helped by a Glenny six off Birch, back over the bowlers head, got Clyst with 28 runs of victory. Birch (0-10) was then replaced by Anderson, who only had 4 overs of his 14 left. He struck with his fourth ball back, as he got a ball to jump off a length and had Johnson caught at gully off his glove by Trent, who had just been placed there. Another yorker was the undoing of Edwards two balls later, and 28 runs were still required but with only one wicket remaining now.
Number 11 was Clyst’s captain though, Dudley, who had injured his back in the warm up earlier in the day, and who usually bats three. He added nine in seven overs with Glenny as Anderson bowled his last 4 overs, for two runs and taking two wickets. At the end of his 14 overs, he had taken 6 for 24, but that may still not have been enough for an Ivybridge victory. Luckily it was! Prescott (3-23) then bowled Dudley with a ball that kept low, to give Ivybridge an 18 run victory and 17 points.
| IVYBRIDGE | |||
| A Johnson (c) | c Johnson | b Sercombe | 1 |
| G Andrews | c Trude | b Sercombe | 16 |
| D Solomon | c&b Nandana | 42 |
|
| K Prescott | b Sercombe | 1 |
|
| K Trent | c Glenny | b Sercombe | 0 |
| A Coker | c Baggs | b Edwards | 7 |
| C Greenhouse | lbw | b Sercombe | 17 |
| N Gunn | b Edwards | 5 |
|
| A Birch | c&b Sercombe | 2 |
|
| M Anderson | not out | 3 |
|
| J Bullock | c Sercombe | b Johnson | 1 |
| Extras | 31 |
||
| TOTAL | (For 10 wickets) | 126 |
| BOWLING | O |
M |
R |
W |
| D Nandana | 13 |
1 |
35 |
1 |
| K Sercombe | 13 |
5 |
24 |
6 |
| M Johnson | 10.5 |
3 |
20 |
1 |
| C Edwards | 7 |
1 |
24 |
2 |
| CLYST HYDON | |||
| M Fitt | b Anderson | 2 |
|
| A Baggs | b Bullock | 23 |
|
| I Sutton | b Anderson | 4 |
|
| G Trude | c Prescott | b Anderson | 8 |
| N Hodgin | lbw | b Anderson | 0 |
| M Glenny | not out | 12 |
|
| D Nandana | c Coker | b Prescott | 15 |
| K Sercombe | lbw | b Prescott | 4 |
| M Johnson | c Trent | b Anderson | 11 |
| C Edwards | b Anderson | 0 |
|
| M Dudley (c) | b Prescott | 8 |
|
| Extras | 21 |
||
| TOTAL | (For 10 wickets) | 108 |
| BOWLING | O |
M |
R |
W |
| J Bullock | 14 |
2 |
33 |
1 |
| M Anderson | 14 |
6 |
24 |
6 |
| K Prescott | 9.2 |
1 |
23 |
3 |
| A Birch | 2 |
0 |
10 |
0 |
Match Result:
Ivybridge (17) beat Clyst Hydon (6) by 18 runs