Devon Dumplings v Arden Taverners

The disappointing summer weather was quite forgotten as the sun shone and the mercury rose at

the picturesque ground that is Filleigh. With numerous cricket matches in the north of the

county, the Dumplings have struggled to raise teams, but with the loan of James Bowker

from Arden Taverners they took to the field under the captaincy of Richard Tidball with a full complement, having lost the toss. 

 Debutant Mustavi Emdad opened the bowling having just been presented with his Dumplings cap. Arden Taverners, down from Nottinghamshire, made steady progress based on an impressive innings by Chris Ridings of 78 from 67 balls. Ridings became the first victim for erstwhile team mate Bowker making the score 175 for 6. But Bowker hadn’t finished and in his next over he took 2 more wickets in two balls, and the team made it a “hat-trick” with a run-out by Dube off the very next ball. The score was 182 for 9, but  then an unbroken partnership of 68 between Andrew Lund and Ben McKendry saw Taverners to a respectable total of 250 from 45 overs. Local player Ed Wilson did well, taking 2 catches and a stumping.

After a well-received lunch, the Dumplings made a sound start with Kian Burns and Greg

Solkin putting on 47 for the first wicket. Burns became the first of Michael Archer’s victims, in the seventh over. They continued on in a similar vein to reach 78 for 2 when Aashay Dube came in and made a quick-fire 35 off 20 ball, until one skier too many ended his onslaught, but leaving the score well ahead of the run rate required at 150 for 6 in the 22nd over. A flurry of wickets by Jack Bamford saw the innings over, short of the target by 26 runs, as he took 4 for 19 from 5.3 overs.

Thanks to our new umpire & scorer - Ike Aviston and Gary Hudson- and to Judy Jolliffe for

preparing lunch despite the distances involved and the challenges of the limited facilities.

Arden Taverners 250 for 9 (Chris Ridings 78, Ben McKendry 36* - James Bowker 3-24) DD

224 (Harry Kandampully 35, Aashay Dube 35 – Jack Bamford 4-19, Michael Archer 3-35)

WH