Match Report

From Our Own Correspondents (Catherine Smith with Shelagh & David Jacobs)

Saturday 9th August 2014

The North Bovey stand was packed with vociferous WAGS, groupies and hangers-on, eagerly anticipating an action-packed afternoon on the lovely ground at Lustleigh.

Our impartial umpire appeared to be suffering from earache until it was revealed that he was actually hanging onto his earplug while listening to the Test Match from Old Trafford.

Before the match started, we loaned a pair of our spare players to Buckhorn Western and, in a fit of altruism, they happened to be our best two who went on to score almost half the runs for their new team.

Resplendent in white, the Ringers team won the toss and bravely put the opposition in to bat on a good pitch. The opposition batted well with their two ‘ringers’ and our bowling was mixed, to describe it generously; some of our bowlers even managed to reach the batsmen on the third bounce. In their 35 overs our opponents made 186 – a very tall order for our lads.

During the North Bovey innings, one of our old buffers – who was seeing double – insisted the umpire count the fielders, claiming there were at least 15 of them.

At one stage a spectator called out that the combined age of the two batsmen was 81. Not bad for a pub side you might think, until someone pointed out that the little chap at the wicket, who played very well, was not a tiny cricketer but an eleven year old.

Richard – our captain, landlord and host made a splendid fifty, but the Man of the Match was young Ben and like all great village cricket stories, with five overs to go and thirty runs needed, the village blacksmith strode to the crease to save the day. The rest of the team chipped in to get us to a winning 187 with two balls to spare.

You would have thought we had won the Ashes in Australia and the celebrations went on late into the night back at the Ring of Bells.