With
heavy and prolonged thunderstorms having washed out the first
game of Kings tour of Devon the action on the field started with
an unknown quantity
against Cockwood. The first target Kings had to navigate was the
river Exe estuary to get to the game. This saw the squad of 13
boarding the Starcross ferry from Exmouth. As the team disembarked
with the holidaymakers a message of good luck was put over the
ferry loudspeaker! (See forth coming tour report for full details).
Having been met off the 
ferry
by representatives of Cockwood, transport was then supplied to
the local pub where refreshment was taken and the terms of the
forth-coming game were decided. During this discussion it became
clear that Cockwood had won all their previous games of the season,
finally an agreement of 35 overs per side was agreed.
Cockwood having won the toss decided to field first. On a green
and undulating pitch Kings openers of Miller and Perry played
watchfully in the opening overs, but both were off the mark quite
quickly. However both batsmen opened up in
the third over and 17 was on the board before Miller edged to
slip but was dropped. However the next ball in attempting to push
the ball into the leg side Miller spooned a catch to midwicket
where Foster took the catch (17-1). This brought Evans in to join
Perry and these two had to continue to play with some care as
skipper Wainwright rung the changes with his bowlers, Bayes and
Bell having taken over from the openers.
The
score continued to move along reasonably well and fifty was posed
by the 11th over. Once again the bowlers were used in short spells
as Jones and Wainwright himself joined the attack. The scoring
rate then started to climb as 
Perry
launched into some well-timed shots, especially through cover
and some superb late cuts. Jones' third over cost 14 runs as Perry
finished off the over with a big six. The hundred mark was passed
in the 19th over, but in the same over Evans miss timed his shot
and was caught for 42.(105-2). The fall of the wicket brought
Gordon Young to the crease to join Perry in what turned out to
be a superb partnership. Perry soon completed his half-century
with a fine boundary, which seemed to signal a rapid increase
in the scoring rate. With some fine running and superbly dispatched
boundaries both Young and Perry set about the bowling taking at
least 7 an over off six consecutive overs, including 31 off two
overs from Carpenter.
These
two took the score past 200 and soon posted the 100 partnership.
However in the same over, Perry, in trying to complete a quick
single was run 
out
by a direct shy at the stumps from point (207-3). Perry's superb
82 contained 8 fours and 2 sixes. Young was also enjoying himself
now and he launched into a fine array of shots as he accelerated
toward his fifty. He lost Pipe as a partner when the all rounder
was caught and bowled by the returning Bell. (219-4) Tighe joined
Young and helped 
support
him toward the half-century landmark. With two balls remaining
Young still needed two runs, and the penultimate ball brought
those two runs, although courtesy of a miss field. His fifty contained
7 fours and one six. He had not chance to add to his score as
he was bowled by the last ball of the innings. (225-5)
Kings made the perfect start to the Cockwood innings when Nick
Tighe in his first over had Bayes caught behind and then he bowled
Ward to leave the hosts 
reeling
at 1-2. However some lusty hitting from skipper Wainwright soon
had the scoreboard moving and despite Mears having Carpenter caught
by Pipe at cover (27-3) the run rate was well above the asking
rate. Bygrave's first over cost an incredible 22 runs as Cockwood
continued to bludgeon anything within his reach. But then the
game swung toward Kings again, as Bygrave bowled Lee Jones (51-4)
and then Wainwright finally had one heave to many to also fall
victim to Bygrave (53-5).
When
Wright took a smart catch low down at slip to dismiss Barry Jones
it saw 
Bygrave
pick up his third wicket in 12 balls for the cost of just 1 run,
and that was a wide (53-6). Kings skipper Rob Young then rang
the changes and gave the opportunity to bowl a few players who
do not usually get to bowl. First up was Dave Miller, who had
immediate success, Tighe completing the dismissal of Foster (57-7).
Young himself took the next wicket when Tighe took his second
catch of the game (68-8). Despite some good bowling from Evans
and Wright it was Dave Perry that wrapped up the innings, first
trapping the battling Bell leg before (94-9) and then taking a
return catch to dismiss Baker (100 all out)
Kings had a won an easy match by over 100 runs, the third successive
match with a three figure margin, but despite Kings dominance
it had been an enjoyable match, full of the spirit of tour.
