Devon Tour July 24th & 25th v Arden Taverners CC
Match 59 Nomads CC/North Devon CC v Arden Taverners CC at NDCC Sandhills Instow North Devon EX39 4LF Wednesday July 24th 2.00pm -45/45, max 9 overs per bowler
Toss: Nomads/North Devon
Result: Nomads/North Devon won by 11 runs
Umpires:
Scorer:
Debuts: S Beale,B Howe,A Isherwood,I Milton,E Hill,J Hill.
NOMADS CC/NORTH DEVON CC Innings
S Reeve bowled Walker 38
A Isherwood c Walker b Palmer 60
S Beale lbw b Walker 1
B Howe lbw b Campbell 67
I Milton c & b Ridings 40
M Pearson bowled Campbell 2
CB Stride st Lund b Ridings 13
C Page c Ridings b Campbell 3
E Hll not out 8
J Hill not out 1
Extras (b3,lb3,w7,nb3) 16
TOTAL (8 wickets,45 overs) 249
Dnb:K Smith*+
Fow:1-90(1),2-98(3),3-114(2),4-210(4),5-214(5),6-224(6),7-229(8),8-248(7).
Bowling-Bellehewe 5 1 3 0,Delaney 6 0 41 0(w1,nb3),Walker 5 0 43 2,Palmer 7 0 46 1,Williams 5 0 32 0, Campbell 9 3 16 3(w1),Ridings 8 1 35 2(w5).
ARDEN TAVERNERS CC Innings
J Smith bowled Isherwood 54
L Williams st Smith b Milton 37
J Bamford c Howe b Milton 5
M Payton bowled Pearson 50
A Campbell c Smith b Stride 22
R Delaney c Howe b Stride 2
A Walker c? b Pearson 5
C Ridings c ? b Beale 11
A Lund st Smith b Beale 18
P Bellehewe c & b Beale 5
W Palmer not out 5
Extras (b9,lb1,w12,nb0) 22
TOTAL (All out,45 overs) 238
Fow:1-76(2),2-96(3),3-111(1),4-171(4),5-185(5),6-187(6),7-192(7),8-228(8),9-229(9), 10-238(10).
Bowling-J Hill 4 1 26 0,E Hill 4 0 32 0,Isherwood 8 0 38 1,Milton 7 0 36 2,Pearson 8 1 43 2,Stride 9 2 29 2,Beale 2 0 16 3.
Two Narrow Wins for Nomads
A two-day West Country jaunt ended with two narrow victories for Kevin Smith's veteran Nomads squad bolstered by a few local recruits. Both matches were against the same opposition, Arden Taverners, a relatively youthful touring side largely drawn from midlands clubs.
The first encounter took place at North Devon CC, a stunning location by the sea wall at Instow. The ground matched the setting in its quality, with a hard if worn wicket and a rapid outfield. The thatched pavilion belied its rustic design by offering two screens, one showing England’s collapse against Ireland, the other a live feed from the ground outside. Batting first, Nomads made a much better start than England, Stuart Reeve’s 38 followed up by 50s for the two North Devon CC players guesting on their own ground, and 40 for Ian Milton. But once Arden’s spinners came on, batting got much harder and from 200-3 with 10 of their scheduled 45 overs to go, Nomads were unable to accelerate, losing wickets rapidly to close on 249-9.
Arden’s reply followed a similar pattern, a brisk start against the quicks gradually nullified by spells from Mike Pearson, Chris Stride, Ian Milton, and North Devon’s pro AJ Isherwood, who's four very different versions of slow bowling produced a combined 7 wickets and slowed the run rate enough to leave an impossible task for the Arden tailenders.
The second match was set at the even more scenic Valley of Rocks in Lynton. The wicket was less amenable to batting, but this was partially cancelled out by very short boundaries on three sides, that led to numerous searches for balls amongst the vegetation, and repeated warnings about the risk of adders from some of the more health-and-safety conscious spectators. Again Nomads batted first, with Reeve and Stride making a fast start against wayward bowling. After both openers fell to opposite vagaries of bounce in the space of 6 balls, wickets fell regularly, but Beale’s cultured and occasionally uncultured whacking, and Mike Pearson’s strategy of 'block and hit (or chip!) sixes' proved effective in keeping the scoreboard ticking. Nomads finished on 201-9 from 40 overs, a more than decent score given the conditions.
Arden got off to a flier, their powerful top-order batsmen exploiting the short boundaries, and reached 100-2 from just 14 overs despite an extremely hostile spell of bowling from Jake Hill. Pearson and Milton then worked their way through the middle order in quick time, exploiting the sharp turn and dubious bounce more consistently than the opposition had, and the match looked won with Arden struggling at 140-7. The tourist’s previously becalmed no.s 8 and 9 then came out of their shells with some big swings at Chris Page, resulting in the inevitable stumping by skipper Kevin Smith, but not before a few balls had been lost in the bracken and Arden's total had moved uncomfortably close to their target. With 25 left to defend Jake Hill was brought back and after a couple edges to the boundary, a hoick that appeared to be looping over square leg was clasped Ben-Stokes-like by Milton, to the astonishment of his team-mates and probably himself. Jake’s dad Ed bowled from the other end… two more successful whacks, now just 12 to win, and then a skier, Milton underneath juggles, drops and grabs on the fourth attempt to complete a MOM performance and a second narrow win for experience over youth.
Match 60 Nomads CC v Arden Taverners CC at Valley Of the Rocks Lynton Devon EX35 6DH Thursday July 25th 1.00pm – 40/40 overs, 8 max per bowler
Toss:
Nomads CC NOMADS CC Innings ARDEN TAVERNERS CC Innings Fow: Bowling-J Hill 6 1 36 2,E Hill 7.1 1 46 1,Stride 1 0 10 0,Pearson 6 0 32 1,Milton 8 0 22 4,Page 4 0 39 1.
Wordsworth & Coleridge at the Valley of the Rocks Next day they went to the Valley of Rocks. They decided to jointly write a prose tale The Wanderings of Cain set in the valley. Coleridge turned it into a competition and Wordsworth could not keep up with him, so the story was never finished. Within a week they set out again for Exmoor, agreeing to write jointly a poem to cover the costs of the outing.  Inspiration came from a dream of Coleridge’s neighbour, John Cruickshank, who had had a nightmare about a spectre ship. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner was to take Coleridge five months to complete but Wordsworth gave him much of the plot and inspiration was taken from the walk.
Result: Nomads won by 17 runs
Umpires:
Scorer:
Debuts:D Fish,A Smith.
S Reeve c Williams b West 13
C Stride bowled Campbell 15
S Beale c Davies b Bamford 35
I Milton c Frettingham b Bamford 7
M Pearson ct Beol b Smith 58
C Page lbw b Bamford 4
D Fish c Ridings b Downes 5
A Smith c Williams b Bellehewe 7
E Hill c Frettingham b Lund 19
J Hill c Williams b Smith 9
K Smith*+ not our 2
Extras (b6,lb1,w15,nb4) 26
TOTAL (All out,40 overs) 210
Fow:
Bowling–Lund 4 0 1 24, Wesley 8 1 1 33, Campbell 5 1 2 25, Bamford 8 1 3 23, Dawes 8 0 1 56, Bellehewe 4 0 1 13, Smith 4 0 26 1
C Ridings c K Smith b J Hill 0
J Smith st K Smith b E Hill 24
L Williams c Stride b Pearson 35
J Beol c & b Milton 29
A Lund bowled Milton 5
A Frettingham bowled Milton 14
A Campbell bowled Milton 14
G Dawes st K Smith b Page 17
A West c Milton b J Hill 31
J Bamford c Reeve b Milton 9
P Bellehewe not ou 0
Extras (b5,lb3,w6,nb0) 14
TOTAL (All out,32.1 overs) 193
