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Doctors beat Spaxton by 4 runs Doctors 149
for 4
Spaxton 145
for 5
Matches between Bridgwater Doctors and Spaxton are always close and hard fought and this game was no exception. Spaxton made an early breakthrough as Ben Thomas bowled admirably straight and John Ogle got a top edge to a pull shot. The ball fell into an empty space but Ogle unaccountably set off for a suicidal single and was comfortably run out by the alertness of James Venton, rushing in from midwicket. Keith Powell (11) played a couple of pleasing drives before steering Richard Gower tamely to Andrew Jeanes at point and with further cheap dismissals to the flighted bowling of Adrian Fisher (1-33) and the pace of Gower (2-20) Doctors slumped to 46 for 4. At this nadir a partnership between Graham Fergusson and Harry Lee was born and rapidly flourished into an unbroken stand of 103. Lee (25 n.o.) was happy to play second fiddle as Fergusson launched his familiar onslaught. The true but slow Cannington wicket needed careful acclimatisation but once set Fergusson was unstoppable and his 80 not out contained 16 high class boundaries. Dave Pople and Dave Saunders did well to check the run flow at the death but 149 was a very challenging total. Spaxton’s reply was anything but comfortable to begin with as John Down (1-16), operating off a shortened run up and Rob Rowles (2-18) reduced them to 11 for 3. Jeanes and Gary Meadows, despite both carrying shoulder injuries, set about repairing the damage with vigour. Meadows (26) won a fascinating duel with his friend and rival Down but then perished when well set, taking an optimistic run to the razor sharp reflexes of Lee at cover whose direct hit ran him out by 5 feet. At 53 for 4 with only 9 overs left Jeanes and Ben Rich had much to do in the failing light but both showed true quality with a selection of fine straight bat shots and hard running between the wickets. The requirement was whittled down to 23 from the last 2 overs and the key moment was the fall of skipper Rich (31) to his opposing captain Peter Reed (1-16) in the penultimate over. Jeanes (58 n.o.) made valiant efforts to win the game and did not deserve to finish on the losing side, but a widespread field and an ice cool final over from Lee ensured that the visitors ended 4 runs short. |
