Ipplepen Cricket Club

On a warm Friday evening with spordaic sunshine, 3 teams assembled for the first ever Ipplepen CC "Big Bash". The teams looked to calm any pre-match nerves with some early visits to the bar, although in the case of Jack Lewis that seemed to have started at around 9am in the morning!

Game 1 saw the Union take on the Jolly. The Union batted first, and having briefly raised their score into positive numbers, some questionable running between the wickets and quality fielding from the Jolly meant the "minus fives" were coming at a rate. By the final over, some big hitting from Landlord Tom gave the score some respectability at 199 (effectively -1).

The Jolly looked like they would make mincemeat of that total, but some equally dodgy running put the game back in the balance. In a final 2 overs that gripped the assembles crowds, the Jolly took the lead off the penultimate ball and duly defended the final delivery to claim victory by 2 runs.

After a BBQ break, Game 2 say the Union vs The Ipplepen Taverners. The Union showed a marked improvement in their batting from Game 1 to raise their total well above the 200 mark, despite some energetic fielding from the Taverners.

The Taverners made a good fist of chasing the score, but again losing wickets at regular intervals proved the downfall, and despite some superb running from Under 13s girls Carla and Claudia, they couldnt get close to the Union score. The "Champagne Moment" of the tournament also saw Ben Holroyd producing a full-length diving catch at backward square leg.

In the final game, the Jolly needed to beat the Taverners to claim the outright tuornament win. Although a couple of members of their team spent the game off practising batting and bowling skills, more of their team were taking advantage of the well-stocked bar and this perhaps reflected in the overall performance.

The Taverners batted first and posted the highest score of the tournament as the ball was smashed to all areas of the boundary to end on 251. This was always a tall order for the Jolly, and despite some bravado from their players going out to bat, tight bowling from the Taverners kept the required run rate well out of reach. A win for the Taverners meant that all 3 teams had won 1 game and lost 1 game, resulting in a 3-way tie.

A big thanks to umpires Tom Crocker and Jasper Heaver for excellent officiating in the correct spirit, and to everyone who helped with the bar and BBQ. Lots of positive feedback was received from our visiting pub teams, as well as some interest from their female players who would like to join in Monday night training.

The next Big Bash is scheduled for July and will hopefully feature 4 teams from local Primary School PTFA's.