Just 47 overs were required for the 1st XI to brush aside the challenge of visiting Hatherleigh in a Devon League Premier Division contest played out beneath sun kissed Kensham Park skies on the second Saturday of July.
The visitors won the toss and chose to bat first on what looked, at first glance, another ‘Peter Woodman (the BCC groundsman) road’.
Any concerns Ninch skipper Gary Chappell might have had about sending his side out to field for 50 overs were soon eased for Chad Classen struck twice in his first five overs – bowling Rob Fishleigh for a seven-ball one and then trapping Kagiso Rapulana leg before for a 24-ball six.
With Ross Acton sending down his first five overs for a miserly ten runs, Hatherleigh found themselves 23-2 after 10 overs.
Classen and Acton continued in tandem through to the end of the 13th over by which stage the score was 29-2.
Gary Chappell sent down the 14th over and, in a double change, Mitch Pugh bowled the 15th, having Gareth Tidball caught behind by glovesman Darren Paul for a 42-ball 14.
Acton made a quick return to bowl the 16th and he had Jasper Presswell also caught by Paul for a four-ball one and, after 16 overs, Hatherleigh were 39-4.
Pugh then bowled a maiden and, in his next over he bowled Robert Cockwill for a 24-ball five and struck again in his very next over to have Ryan Davies caught by Tim Piper for an 18-ball nine and, after 21 overs, the visiting side were a troubled 51-6.
The seventh wicket pairing ‘stuck around’ albeit adding just 25 runs before Josh Farley struck in his second over thanks to a catch held by Pugh to remove Paul Heard for a 27-ball 14.
Farley then had Charlie Presswell caught behind – a third catch of the game for Paul. Presswell trooped back with a third ball duck to his name and his side were now 77-8 after 33 overs.
With Chappell and Farley bowling in tandem and proving very difficult to ‘get away’, it was no surprise when the end game and it was skipper Gary Chappell who claimed both wickets – each run outs with the first a combination of Chappell and Will Squire to remove Charlie Nielson for a 10-ball one and then the skipper was responsible for the end of Sean Letheren, run out without troubling the scorers.
It all mean that Hatherleigh were bundled out for 81 in just 37 overs and four balls.
All the Ninch bowling figures were good, but Mitch Pugh served up the ‘stand-out’ return of 3-12 from seven overs – four of which were maidens. The returns form the opening duo were; Chad Classen (2-13 from seven) and Ross Acton (1-26 from a full shift of 10). Skipper Gary Chappell had a return of 2-14 from 8.4 overs and Josh Farley’s return was 2-9 from five.
Gary Chappell and Tim Piper launched the Ninch reply and, if runs had been hard to serve up in the early part of the afternoon then the reverse was the case when the Chaps and Pipes ‘went to work’!
It took 14 deliveries before the serious action got underway with 19 runs plundered from the third over – Chaps launching two sixes and a four!
With 25% of the target already on the board after just 20 deliveries the runs continued to flow and the winning line was ‘in sight’ when Chaps holed out at mid-on the ball after he had chalked up a 35-ball half century with his seventh four – he also hit three sixes.
In at three was Dan Hardy and he slammed the first delivery he faced over the boundary ropes to bring up an emphatic quick-fire nine wicket win.
Tim Piper was unbeaten on an 18-ball 21 – hitting three fours and a six with Hardy the other not out batsman with that one-hit six to his name.
So, a superb win for the 1st XI who could then ‘put their feet up’ ahead of a BIG DAY on Sunday when they travel to Plymstock to (hopefully) retain the Devon T20 Cup – good luck lads!
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