A 41-ball 73, an innings that included four fours and six sixes from the in-form Tim Piper together with a well-constructed 38-ball three boundary 44 from Dan Hardy were the key contributions to a Bradninch total of 183-8 that ultimately saw the team safely through the first challenge of their 2022 Sunbelt Devon T20 Cup defence as Gary Chappell and his men defeated Budleigh by 85 runs on the final Sunday of May.
After losing the toss and being invited to bat, Bradninch skipper Chappell and Tim Piper opened the home effort with bat fresh from their 221-run opening partnership just 24 hours before.
However, ten balls into the contest, Chappell was caught and bowled by Jack England for a six ball five which brought Ross Acton out to join Piper.
Midway through the sixth over, England struck again thanks to a catch from Tom Oxland to send back Acton for a run-a-ball 16.
Dan Hardy joined Piper and the pair put bat to ball with great effect until the fourth ball of the 15th over when Piper fell to a catch held by Ed Doble off the bowling of James Doble, but not before Piper had constructed his superb knock of 73.
Tom Bunker was then run out without scoring before Bradninch new boy, South African Chad Classen was caught in the deep by Tom Oxland off Lloyd Murrin for an 11-ball 17, to leave Bradninch on 165-5 with two balls of the 18th over remaining.
It was soon 169-6 with Ankit Badwall caught by Tom Oxland off the bowling of Chathura Peiries for one and a seventh wicket fell when Eliot Acton had his stumps knocked over by Murrin for one and, in the final over, Dan Hardy was run out 44, scored off 38 balls. Darren Paul sending the final ball of the innings to the boundary as Bradninch closed on 183-8 with the not out batsmen bring Paul (5) and Farley (1).
For Budleigh, Jack England and skipper Lloyd Murrin returned the identical figure of 2-25 while there were single wickets for Jack England and Chathura Peiris
When Budleigh batted, Chad Classen and Dan Hardy were given the bowling responsibilities from skipper Chappell.
Ed Doble and Dylan Penberthy-Hutchings launched the Budleigh reply and the openers made a confident start with Doble hitting Hardy for successive sixes before holing out to Thom Bunker who claimed a superb catch on the midwicket boundary to see the first wicket fall to Hardy with the score then 23-1, 11 balls into the innings.
Harvey Shipton joined Penberthy-Hutchings and the Budleigh pair continued their sides confident start, taking the total to 64-1 after eight overs.
It was the ninth over of the innings in which the game took a dramatic turn as Craig Penberthy claimed two wickets and conceded just a single run!
Penberthy bowled a dot ball before sending Shipton’s stumpings flying – the Budleigh batsman out for an 18-ball eight and then, just four balls and one run later, Penberthy had the impressive Penberthy-Hutchings caught by Dan Hardy for a 27-ball 34.
That left the Budleigh reply on 65-3 after nine overs and, with rain closing in, the momentum had switched in favour of the home side.
Things got better for Bradninch as Josh Farley, with the first ball of the 10th over, saw his skipper hold a catch to end the brief innings of Tom Oxland without troubling the scorers.
Just four singles came from the remainder of the over and, at the halfway stage Budleigh were 69-4.
In the next over – the eleventh – sent down by Penberthy, two more wickets were snared as first, James Doble was bowled for two and then Lloyd
Murrin was caught by Gary Chappell – a second catch for the home skipper – which meant the Budleigh innings had slipped from 64-1 to 69-6 in the space of 14 deliveries!Josh Farley then bagged a brace of wickets in the 12th over, first having Will Oxland stumped by Darren Paul for one and then bowling Jack England for five to leave Budleigh starting the 13th over on 80-8.
Midway through the 15th over the returning Chad Classen knocked over the stumps of Chathura Peiris for a 14-ball 16 and the final wicket was taken when Gary Chappell held a catch off the first delivery of the 18th over which was bowled by Eliot Acton to leave Budleigh bowled out for 98 in 17.1 overs to leave Bradninch winners by a margin of 85 runs.
In terms of the home bowling returns the ‘star’ of the show was Craig Penberthy with his figures of 4-21. Josh Farley was just as impressive with his 3-20 while Chad Classen, Dan Hardy and Eliot Acton each claimed a single wicket.