A trip to Culmstock gave Ottery U10s ‘Tigers’ their first outing of the season as the hardball season finally got under way, writes Allen Morgan.

Skippered by Freddie Eul-Barker Ottery won the toss and put Culmstock into bat. Ted Benson continued right where he left off last season bounding in to take the first wicket of the season with a scorching delivery. Wickets continued to fall with Will Crick and Jonathan Triner all grabbing well deserved wickets whilst Ed Allen produced an excellent throw for a run out.

Ottery worked hard in the field and restricted Culmstock to 139 off their allotted overs. Ottery are fortunate to have some excellent batsmen and with debutant Ollie Sycamore offering some stout defensive shots Freddie Eul-Barker racked up some trademark boundaries in pursuit of the Culmstock target.

As Culmstock attempted to put the squeeze on Owen Foster who always gives 100 per cent worked hard at the crease against some lively bowling with an excellent partnership with Will Crick who excelled with both bat and ball. The final four overs saw Lewis Morgan at the crease. Lewis’ trademark rapid running between the wickets and a couple of sweet boundaries saw Ottery get home with an excellent score of 182 in their 16 overs.

This was an excellent performance against a strong Culmstock side and bodes well for the forthcoming season. The ‘Tigers’ roar at the end of the match was no doubt heard all the way over in Tiverton and the team are looking forward to their next opponents in what promises to be an exciting season.