Sidbury Under-15 girls sparkled in some beautiful September sunshine as they bagged the silver medal in a Devon Super 8 Under-15s competition held at Bovey Tracey.

It turned out to be a wonderful day all-round – and a long one – as it lasted from 9am and ran through to a conclusion at 8pm!

Sidbury began their day taking on the home team, Bovey Tracey who batted first.

Sidbury did well to restrict them to 66 from their eight overs and there was wicket success for Immy Bagwell, Jess Perry and Lucy Humphries combined with some wonderful fielding from Olivia Morgan.

When Sidbury batted, a good partnership from Rosie Miller and Lucy Humphries, both of whom retired, was followed by solid batting from Jess Perry that saw Sidbury seal success with two overs to spare.

Tournament favourites Exeter were Sidbury’s next opponents and this match was regarded by many of a large crowd to have been ‘the days finest contest’.

In the match, Lucy Humphries was dismissed by a stunning one-handed catch and, despite some great batting from Olivia Morgan and some fine bowling from Rosie Miller, who claimed two wickets, Exeter proved to be too strong for the Sidbury girls.

Game three was against Paignton who batted first and scored an imposing 80 in their eight overs.

Charlotte Austen-Rigbys bagged a brace of wickets for Sidbury who then were given a great start by openers Immy Baggwell and Jess Perry, before slipping to 26-4!

The game looked lost, but Ellie Monro Higgs and Lucy Humphries had other ideas - running every ball while also rifling a succession of sixes and fours, taking their team to 80 – matching the Paignton total – with one ball remaining.

Ellie was facing and the pair set off for a run, but a throw saw the stumps broken as Lucy reached her mark and the umpire said ‘‘out’ leaving the match tied!

That meant a podium position for Sidbury depended on the outcome of their final game which was against Ipplepen.

The opposition batted first and some superb bowling from Charlotte Austen-Rigby (2-12), Olivia Morgan (0-11) and Immy Bagwell (0-11), left Sidbury chasing a target of 61.

With light fading and the very real risk of seeing the match abandoned, Lucy Humphries and Rosie Miller put bat to ball with great effect. Fours were struck at will before Lucy retired and that Ellie Monro Higgs to come in and finish the game with another four to seal a Sidbury success with three overs to spare!

When the final totals were all added up, Exeter took gold, but Sidbury finished as runners-up to take home silver.

Their achievement made all the more impressive as they played the day with seven, one less than all the other teams.

Lucy Humphries, who was listed in the Tournament Top Ten for batting, was named the Sidbury ‘Player of the Tournament’.

Rosie Miller and Ellie Monro Higgs both featured in the batting and bowling top 10 and Charlotte Austen-Rigby also made the top 10 bowling list.