June 29, 2018

Roundup of the annual charty cricket match which took place on Sunday 24th June 2018 at Kentisbeare Cricket Club

This year the Charity Cricket match at the Kentisbeare Oval was blessed with best weather that the event has experienced with temperatures into the upper 20’s. The attendance for the event was a little lower than previous matches which was partly due to some insignificant football match being played in Russia & also the fact that a number of locals will have headed to the beach.

The Keepers Cottage fielded a very strong team despite the absence of their usual captain ‘Chav’ He was very well deputised by Neil Farley, assisted by all his family. Jake Johnstone opended the batting with Stuart Persey. Jake retired at 25 but came back later to score a total of 40 runs. The first wicket put on 31 runs before Stuart was well caught off Justin Gillett’s bowling. Wickets continued to fall, 3 to Tony Howe, until the arrival at the crease of Alex Brooks who steadied the ‘ship’ and later retired. The momentum of run scoring continued with fine contributions from Neil Farley & his father in law Nigel Gillett. The Keepers Cottage innings closed on 197 which included 24 extras. The events organiser kindly provided drinks for everybody after 11 overs.

The Wyndham Arms team fielded a much changed team to previous years with a number of new faces. James ‘Swoop’ Sprague and Tim Percival opened the batting. The first wicket fell with the score on 18. Swoop and Rory Dennis added 46 for the next wicket during which both retired having reached 25. Justin Gillett was superbly caught by Libby Ann Finlay when he was starting to look dangerous. Messrs Dennis and Hague accelerated the scoring rate and total with some quick fire runs before both were bowled in successive overs by Susie Farley and Stuart Persey. Skipper Rich Norman tried to speed up the scoring rate as it had fallen behind but found himself holing out to Neil Farley off his wife Susie’s bowling! The innings ended 36 runs short after the allotted 22 overs. So the Keepers Cottage won by 36 runs.

Congratulations once again to the Keepers Cottage for retaining the Keepwynd Cup. Tony Howe, who came out of retirement to play, was the Player of the match award for his bowling figures of 3 wickets for 14 runs and a quickfire cameo innings.

A BIG THANK YOU to Umpires Ray Radford & Mick Gutierrez, the commentators Sid & Simon, Ellie Hammett, the scorer, the sponsors of the event and all other helpers who manned the Bar, Gate, BBQ, & Cream Teas. A grand total of £ was raised which will be split between The Laura Persey Trust & Kentisbeare Cricket Club to help fund the new pavilion roof.

Jackie Smith (Event Organiser)