Hills Plymouth Cricket Club

HILLS NOT CIVIL IN TEN WICKET DEMOLITION

Hills travelled to Swansea for their second match of the season, where the wicket was soft and slow, and Hills skipper Chris Shopland decided to put the home side in to bat. Opening bowler Chris Birch set the tone for the innings with 7 consecutive maidens, claiming 2 wickets in 2 balls – opener Devenald lbw for 10 and N Davies clean-bowled for a duck. Birch went on to take 2 more wickets, R Williams well caught by Shopland for 9 and S Porter bowled for 6. Birch finished his spell with figures of 4 for 13 in 15 overs!

At the other end Richard Gibby and Jason Castaldi remained wicketless, but kept the scoring rate in check. David Kelly replaced Birch and bowled the dangerous J Slack for a hard-fought 35, which included a 6 and 3 fours. Shopland took another good catch to dismiss D Griffiths for 3 off the bowling of Andrew Lewis, then Kelly claimed his second wicket, having R Holohan caught at cover by Steven Baber for 16. Lewis grabbed his second when Shopland took a third catch to dismiss G Prydderch for 5. When Kelly clean-bowled M Griffiths for 16, the home side needed to hold out for the last over. The innings went down to the wire, and it was from the last ball of the 50th over that Lewis snagged his third victim, A Owen spooning the ball to cover, where James Kelly was waiting to pocket the catch. A Richards was left not out on 6, the innings concluding at 119.

Hills’ innings opened with a four from David Kelly, and from then on it was a formality. Neither opener was troubled by the bowlers, and David went on to score a ruthless 73 not out, while his brother James looked equally comfortable, stroking an undefeated 38. The partnership of 121 included 19 boundaries, 13 to David and 6 to James. Victory was completed with a boundary in the 24th over.

An excellent day for Hills netted them 24 points, while Swansea Civil Service gained 2 points.