A superb 82-ball 56 from captain Meg Acton was the feature of her teams Devon Womens League Division Three 33-run success at Taunton Deane on the final Sunday of June.
Fittingly for a game dominated by the innings of captain Acton, it came on the weekend when her ‘husband-to-be’, Paul Metcalfe, was with a group of friends on his Stag outing – in Portugal!
After being put in to bat having lost the toss, Acton sent out Kirsty Trude and Sarah Stanbury to open the innings, but the latter fell to the sixth delivery she received, bowled by Kate Gillard without troubling the scorers.
Fi Moran was next in – and out – in her case bowled by Holly Noble for a four-ball one and, when Yvonne Jackson was clean bowled by Noble, Bradninch Ladies were 9-3 after just four overs and two balls!
With the wickets tumbling, in came captain Meg Acton to join Kirsty Trude and the pair began to rebuild the Ninch innings.
It was a ‘watchful’ start from the partnership and, at the end of the 10th over, Ninch had made their way to 33-3.
With one ball remaining of the 15th over, Ninch had reached 60-3 with the fourth wicket partnership just past the 50 mark when Trude was caught and bowled by Tanya Dicks and dismissed for a 44-ball 24.
The 16th over was a long one – lasting some 11 deliveries and, in the 17th over, Colette Bamber was trapped leg before by Dicks and trooped back with a four ball duck to her name.
Heather Stanbury was next in to join captain Acton and over number 18 was another that lasted some 11 deliveries. Into the 19th over and, off the sixth and final delivery of the over, Stanbury was next out, clean bowled by Dicks for a for a 14-ball three.
Carrian Jones joined Acton, but again, the ‘curse of the final delivery of an over’ struck as Jones was bowled by Zoe Frowd and sent back having scored four from the nine balls she faced and, at the end of 21 overs, Ninch were 86-7.
Captain Acton then lost two batting partners in quick success with Molly Scott bowled by Holly Noble, out for a seven-ball duck and, off the very next delivery, Becky Fagg was clean bowled by Noble to leave Bradninch on 91-9 at the end of the 24th over.
Faye Ross was the last player in for Ninch and she joined Acton and, the last batter did her captain – and team – proud as she stayed around long enough to help Acton see the side into three figures.
Ross was finally out to the third delivery of the 30th and final over, bowled by Holly Noble for a 20-ball four.
This all meant captain Megan Acton was the not out batsman having scored 56 from the 82 balls she faced in what was a 102-minute stay at the wicket. Acton hit six fours during her knock which, with the team score being 112 all out, represented exactly 50 per cent of the total!
In terms of the Taunton Deane bowling, ten different bowlers saw action and there were two stand-out returns which were the 5-11 from 5.3 overs sent down by Holly Noble and the 3-8 from three overs bowled by Tanya Dicks.
If Bradninch had found batting difficult then there would be no respite for the home batters as Taunton Dean slipped to 35-5 after 10 overs!
Colette Bamber struck first, bowling Charlotte Wade for a five ball two and then, just three balls later Yvonne Jackson knocked over the stumps of Chelsea Chamberlain for a five-ball two.
Jackson struck again with the second delivery of the eighth over, clean bowling Abby Murray for a 14-ball nine and, in the very next over, Heather Stanbury claimed the fourth wicket thanks to a catch held by Kirsty Trude to send back Abby Murray for a 14-ball nine.
Kirsty Trude claimed wicket number six, clean bowling Kate Gillard for a 14-ball six and, at the end of 14 overs, the Taunton Deane reply was 46-6.
It was soon seven down as a Fi Moran catch off the bowling of Heather Stanbury, saw an end to a six-ball three scored by N Worley leaving Taunton Deane 50-7 after half the 30 overs.
Over 16 yielded four runs and over 17 produced five runs to leave the home run chase on 59-7 after 17 overs. Needing 54 runs from the final 13 overs, but with just three wickets to play with.
Yvonne Jackson claimed the eighth wicket, clean bowling Niamh Wait for her teams top score, a 39-ball 16.
At the start of the 20th over the home side were 64-8 needing 49 more runs from the remaining 11 overs while Bradninch needed two more wickets.
Yvonne Jackson sent down the 20th over and it yielded just two runs while, with the fourth delivery, Jackson claimed her fourth wicket and the ninth Taunton Deane wicket as she clean bowled Tanya Dicks for a four-ball duck.
Over 21 was delivered by Carrian Jones and just three runs came from it to leave Taunton Deane on 69-9.
Back to Yvonne Jackson for the 22nd over as the opening seamer went in search of a ‘fivefer’, however, there was to be no fifth wicket and only a single was taken from it, leaving Jackson with the splendid figures of 4-15 from seven overs.
Over 23 was sent down by Jones and six runs came from it which all meant Taunton Deane were now 76-9 with another 37 runs required from seven overs.
Jackson might not have got her ‘fivefer’, but you could not keep her out of the game for, with the second ball of the 24th over, sent down by Colette Bamber, it was Jackson who held a catch to end the knock of Zoe Frowde, out for an 11-ball three to leave Taunton Deane all out for 77 meaning a Bradninch win by a margin of 35 runs.
The Bradninch bowling figures were, of course, led by that magnificent 4-15 from Yvonne Jackson and the ‘best of the rest’ was the 3-13 from 4.1 overs sent down by Colette Bamber. Heather Stanbury’s return was 2-14 from four overs while the others to bowl were Kirsty Trude (1-11 from four) and Carrian Jones (0-19 from four).
