The Devon Cricket Board Under 14 Inter District Competition
for the Jonathan Mears Cup
2007 Champions - The East
The West made their season's intentions clear in their comprehensive 160 run win over the South. Batting first they were 159-5 with their man of the match George Stephenson on his way to an early season hundred. With Robin Dart seventy-one were added for the second wicket and a further seventy-three were added for the third wicket when Stephenson eas joined by Ryan Skinner. Stephenson finally fell at 197 when he was caught for an outstanding 113. With extras adding 37 this was a most respectable start to the season with the South's opening bowler taking 3-28 off 6.3 overs winning him the South's man of the match nomination. Unfortunately the South were never in contention losing their first six batters for just 34. Stephenson then rubbers salt into the wound taking 3-0 off 2.2 overs.
Alex Brown scored a match winning 79 in the East's total of 150 against the North where Head took 3-30. In reply the strong North side were never in contention being dismissed for 61 with Rowe and Rahman taking two wickets and Ryan Glass 3-20 off his six overs.
After last week's results this fixture was billed as a one sided contest, with the East the strong favourites. But the South Devon boys clearly hadn't read the script and had East reeling at 8 for 4, with the new ball doing all sorts to trouble East's early order batsmen. But Ryan Glass and Nick Dean (11) steadied things for a while, Ryan batting very sensibly for a valuable 23. At 58 for 6 East were once again in trouble, but messrs Grainger, Bess (25), Rahman (29) and Menheniott (24) turned things around with some valuable partnerships. Cameron Grainger played fantastically for his 43. His partnership of 65 with Zack Bess ensured that East reached just over 200 and secured an unlikely (at one stage) 5 batting points. Conor Bryan (10 - 53 - 3) and Tom Gubbin (10 - 41 - 3) were the pick of South's bowlers, each taking 3 wickets by putting the ball in the right place and letting the wicket do the rest. Will Matthewman (7 - 38 - 2) bowled well and some smart catches were taken. West did not get the start they needed to their batting innings and were soon 16 for 3. Wickets then fell fairly regularly and South could not gain any momentum, with East skipper Alex Brown setting some good fields. The eighth wicket stand of 28 between Chris Kelmere (jnr!) and Joe Buckle (9) was the only stand of note. Only Chris Kelmere (24 n.o.) got into double figures and South were out for 71. Pete Rowe (7 - 16 - 1), Matt Miller (5 - 4 - 2) and Jake Crouch (5 - 15 - 3) were hostile and well directed bouncers accounted for 3 wickets. Ned Menheniott (10 - 20 - 2) bowled tightly and Zack Bess wound things up with the final 2 wickets in 5 balls. Eighteen catches were taken in the day, which says a huge amount about the quality of fielding, quality of bowling from the seamers and shot selection from the batsmen. Cameron Grainger was East's man of the match, for his batting and excellent 'keeping. Chris Kelmere was South's man of the match for some fine slip catches - a slip is a 'must have' in these games - and his very resilient batting.
The rain had the final say in the East/West game that was called off very early.The game between the South and North was also not played.
2007 League Table
East v North East 150 (A.Brown 79; B.Head 3-30) North 61 (R.Glass 3-20) East won by 89 runs West v South West 223 (G.Stephenson 113; Extras 37; C.Bryan 3-28; S.Defriend 3-51) South 63 (G.Stephenson 3-0) West won by 160 runs Men of the Match West G.Stephenson South C.Bryan) East v South East 204 (C.Grainger 43; Extrs 42; C.Bryan3-53 T.Gibbin 3-41) South 71 (J.Crouch 3-15) East won by 133 runs Men of the Match East C.Grainger South C.Kelmere Match cancelled - rain South v North Match cancelled North v East East 150 (A.Brown 77; J.Head 3-30) North 81 (R.Glass 3-20) East won by 69 runs North v West North 105 (Extras 66; D.Winsor 3-18) West 105 (A.Collier 3-36) Match Tied Men of the Match North A.Collier West D.Winsor |