Chulmleigh (100 all out M Campling 23, H Trump 3/9, G Welch 2/8) lost by 50 runs to Blagdon Hill

(150 all out M Trump 35, J Weeks 3/16, Phinn 2/31, D Parcell 2/18)
On a sunny Sunday, Chulmleigh CC travelled up to Trull to play Blagdon Hill, due to a late ground
change. With a team featuring new all-rounder Phinn and stacked with bowling talent, captain
Danny sensibly chose to bowl first on a green looking track. However, just as the toss was won, the
rain preceded to fall - slowing the wicket up a touch (though not as slow as Tipton St. John!). Tom
Keighley and Tim opened the bowling and immediately found the wicket to their liking, both making
the openers look uncomfortable more than once. Tom was unlucky to have a caught behind turned
down - with the umpire not hearing and the batsman not walking but both opening bowlers
eventually struck and ending fierce opening spells of 6 overs shortly after.
New boy Phinn and Danny P were next on, and continued the theme of testing pace Phinn
especially finding the wicket to his liking. Danny removed the opposition 3, which brought eventual
top scorer M. Trump in. Both bowling to tight offside fields to combat Trumps fondness for
smashing the ball through said offside, it was an impressive display of control from both bowlers,
resulting in 2 wickets for Phinn, who bowled at fearsome pace throughout.
AJ and James were next, and Weeks removed the troublesome Trump in his first over,
deploying the sly straight ball mixed amongst the long hops and full tosses. AJ removed A Hurnham,
who perished by middling a cover straight to Buzz at short cover smart piece of captaincy from
Danny. James struck again, removing T Knight and A Hotham in successive balls, resulting in the
chance of a hat trick which was subsequentlymissed. However, after seeing continuous wickets go
down, the cricket Gods decided to give Blagdon Hill a chance to regroup and sent another heavy
downpour that sent us running for inside.
Upon resumption, Sam Campling was given a brief twirl, before Danny cycled through the
quicks again to try and end the innings as fast as possible. Phinn got another, but no one could break
the last wicket partnership between young (and impressive) L Trottman and their sturdy number 11,
R Lappas. It came down to the last over, where Danny in desperation decided to bowl some spin,
and lo and behold, he bowled number 11 to dismiss Blagdon for 150, a seemingly chaseable target,
though one bolstered by our generous offering of 16 wides.
In reply, Greg and Buzz set out to build a sturdy platform for our lower order to capitalise on.
However, Greg got a ball that shaved the off stump and dislodged the bail just enough to dismiss Mr
Spence. That brought Sam Clark in who was also bowled by M Trump, meaning James came in,
needing to stick around, play himself in, and deliver a really important innings for the team.
Unfortunately, with all these thoughts swirling around, he forgot to play the ball and was bowled for
a golden duck. Shame. Buzz also was given out LBW to one that may or may not have been sliding
down, meaning our top 4 had totalled 13.
Martin and Danny started to rebuild, both showing glimpses of the application needed to
succeed on what had become, thanks to the rain, had become a tricky wicket to get away on. Danny
on the way to a real captains innings, was unceremoniously bowled for a hard worked 13, bringing
in Phinn, who played with the same easy fluency seen in his bowling, but again was dismissed
without really kicking on, for 14. Martin was caught for a top score of 23, quickly followed by Tim
and AJ, which brought in Sam Campling. He swung 3 times, and 3 fours flew off his bat, and the
Chulmleigh dressing room now watched on, ready to witness Sam propel us to an unlikely victory by
flaying their bowlers with an ease not seen by anyone else in our batting order. Unfortunately, the
opposition didnt share our vision, and he was bowled attempting another hit, scoring a classy 14
more than our top 4.
So on a day of topsy turvy weather, Chulmleigh put in a topsy turvy performance, bowling
and fielding with control and enthusiasm, but then forgetting how to bat. When we get both at once,
we should be alright, but I imagine thats been said for years now.