Sidmouth III suffered only their second defeat of the season, but they so nearly chased down an imposing target before slipping to a 23-run defeat at Bradninch 2nds.
The defeat was particularly tough on opening bat Dan Powell, who was seventh man out in the run chase, caught in the deep just five runs shy of a century.
A strong home side that included five players who have had 1st XI time in the Premier Division this season, batted first and posted a good total of 260-4.
On what was a ‘road’ of a wicket in Mid Devon, the only Sidmouth bowlers to enjoy any success were Graham Munday (2-40 from eight overs) and Wesley Holmes (2-50 from eight). The other bowlers toiled away and their returns were: Lee Clayden (0-34 from eight), Toby Seldon ((49 from seven), Jordan Fowler (0-57 from seven) and Luke Raistrick (0-18 from two).
The Sidmouth reply was launched by Dan Powell and Tom Moore and they got their side off to a ‘flyer’, scoring 48 off the first six overs. However, young Moore was trapped leg before for 14 which saw Antony Cox join Powell and they took the score into three figures when, with the total on 118, Cox was bowled for 28. Louis Adey was next in, and out, trapped leg before for one and when Jordan Fowler was bowled for five, the reply was 146-4. Wes Holmes was fifth man down, caught on the boundary for 11 before the wonderful innings from Powell was ended – albeit by a stunning catch in the deep. Powell had faced 93 balls for his innings of 95 runs, though he was dropped no fewer than four times!
It was soon 184-7 after the loss of Graham Munday, clean bowled for four and, at that stage, with three wickets to play with and 42 deliveries left, Sidmouth needed another 76. However, number eight batsman Lee Clayden did not think the run chase was over and he slammed a wonderful 45 from just 23 deliveries before he was run out. Clayden and Lee Adey took the run chase to 220 when Adey was run out for seven and then Toby Seldon was bowled for three to leave last man Luke Raistrick to try and secure the success. However, looking to retain the strike in the penultimate over, Clayden was run out and a brace Sidmouth run chase was over with the reply closing on 237 all out.
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