Devon Cricket Board - Wessels' century sets up Lewdown for vital win

Wessels' century sets up Lewdown for vital win

BRADNINCH ran into a side with something to play for and came out of the encounter 83-run losers.
The Kensham Park outfit’s season has been going nowhere for a couple of weeks after their promotion push fizzled out.
Lewdown are engaged in a second successive scrap for survival and needed no motivation at all.
Stand-in Lewdown skipper Ben Williams, who was covering for the work-tied Harry Geering, went for the positive approached by batting first and watching the side pile up 246 for six around an unbeaten Johann Wessels century.
Williams then took four wickets and Billy Searle three more as Bradninch were hustled out for 163.
Victory moves Lewdown within 10 points of survival with two games to go.
Bradninch should finish in the top six – they are fourth now – depending on how their final games against Cornwood and finally Hatherleigh pan out.
Wessels opened up with Tom Pengelly and towed the batting along behind him.
There were stands of 54 with Pengelly (11), 46 with Jack Williams (12) and 60 with veteran Arnie Searle, who made 22.
The best stand of all was an unbroken one of 56 with Harry Williams in the final nine overs.
Paul Nott (3-44) and Charlie Walker (2-45) were the leading wicket takers while Ross Acton was tight and tidy with 10 overs for 23 runs.
Bradninch were always up against it after losing both openers with 12 on the board to a double strike by Ben Williams (4-37).
Walker soldiered on and on to make 94 in 153 minutes, but suffered from a lack of worthwhile support at first – Billy Searle (3-25) doing the damage.
Connor Carthew came in at 54 for four and hung around for 10 while the score went up to 70.
Although Carthew was teased out by Leon Horn (2-35), Will Squire and Walker added another 32 to keep it interesting.
The return of Ben Williams signalled the beginning of the end for Bradninch.
It took two balls to dispatch Squire and barely four overs to knock over the tail enders.
Walker was last man out in the 37^th.

DCB Ltd, University of Exeter Sports Hall, Stocker Road, Exeter, Devon EX4 4QN Company Registration Number: 7024773