Sidmouth make it four from four with Bradninch triumph

Skipper Will Murray won the toss and opted to bat and saw both in-form batsmen Liam Lewis and Matt Cooke joined in the Bradninch pavilion by both Josh Bess and Luke Bess with just 68 runs on the board.

Anthony Griffiths and Pete Randerson launched the recovery, putting on 76 with Griffiths departing for a spirited 58, followed swiftly by Randerson for 45 and Will Gater was next to be dismissed with seven wickets down and still some way to go to reach 200.

However, a key strength of this Sidmouth side is that they bat all the way down to number eleven and the late order did their jobs once more guiding the total to a close 226. Harrison Jones (29) and Scott Barlow (27) provided the bulk of the late runs.

Barlow opened the bowling and struck twice early on to reduce the home side to 16-2. Bradninch’s Jackson Thompson then struck a 30-ball 42 before holing out to Miles Dalton and form there it was a case of could Sidmouth pick up maximum bowling points or would the hosts hold out. The latter happened with the final home pair at the wicket when stumps were drawn with the reply 156-9.

Skipper Murray said: “I am delighted with the all-round contributions as we had performances from everybody in the side. With four down and less than 100 on the board I was concerned, but once we cleared 200 I felt very confident that with the bowling attack we field these days it would see us to victory.

On Saturday Sidmouth entertain North Devon who have lost three of their four games so far this term.

Murray says: “North Devon have too good a batting line-up to be miss-firing for too long. Okay, they have not started well, but they have the capability to hurt teams. However, as I keep saying. For me this season it is al about us and what we do. I shan’t be worrying about the opposition. For me it’s a case of making sure that out team all do the jobs we are charged with and if we do that the new will be fine.”