Budleigh Salterton Cricket Club U15s defeated by Paignton

The match, held in Paignton on Sunday, July 14, saw the home team score 172 for 5 off 20 overs and BSCC replying with 142 for 2.

The young BSCC team included two debutants, George and Shem, taking on a challenging fielding environment against their more experienced rivals.

Alex Roper, a standout player in the match, took four wickets in his four overs for just 20 runs with Ted Neill also snatching a wicket.

In reply Budleigh set about a tough run chase with gusto - Marcus Robinson battering the openers, quickly joined by Alex Roper, who both put on a substantial partnership of 88 before Alex fell for 37 of 35 balls.

Marcus continued to plunder before retiring on 76 off 53 balls.

Despite concentrated final efforts from Henry Russel and Isla Dixon, the run chase proved too demanding.

The match demonstrated a commendable effort by a notably young team facing hefty competition.

Similarly, the club experienced a victorious triumph when BSCC U17s defeated Upottery U17s by 69 runs.

Following a successful toss, Budleigh openers showed their determination, accumulating 70 runs off the initial 7 overs with only one loss.

Maintaining momentum, the middle order recorded a season-high total of 177 runs from six wickets off 20 overs, featuring distinguished performances from Ollie Roper scoring 49, Otto Sallih with 36 and Ryan Harris-Cotton and Fin Shipton both reaching their twenties.

On the defensive end, Budleigh bowlers made it difficult for Upottery, with their team reduced to 58 for 5 off 12 overs.

Upottery was left trailing with only 107 runs from their 20 overs, with Budleigh bowler RHC, taking three wickets for just 14 runs off his three overs.

The BSCC team is now leading the table with one fixture remaining, facing Culmstock on July 31.

BSCC U14s also experienced sweet victory, beating Whimple U10s/14s by 64 runs.

The young team scored an impressive 150 for the loss of just 5 wickets, with Alex Roper delivering a remarkable performance, retiring on 40.

Subsequently, Whimple floundered, all-out at 86 – Theo Campbell led the bowling effort, taking 3 wickets.

The U14's next game was on Monday, against an Ottery St Mary team that usually challenges us but BSCC came up trumps winning by 73 runs.

This with four or five regular players away on school residentials meaning we had to draft in some younger members.

Alfie Gray came in as opener and was his usual swashbuckling self, scoring 13 off ten balls before being bowled.

The Ottery bowlers were finding their line as they took another two quick wickets.

Daniel came in and calmly brought the game back Budleigh’s way in a partnership with Theo James and then Ben.

He was finally dismissed for 32 after which the remaining batters kept the innings steady, including 22 not out of twenty five balls for Theo Campbell, to post a total of 134/8.

The Ottery innings were relatively short-lived twenty-five around due to some excellent bowling including 3/7 from Theo Campbell, 2/9 from Theo James and 2/11 from Josh.

The fielding was very tight and some superb catches were taken in the field, notably Josh, Daniel and two for Theo James, leaving the opposition struggling to get anywhere near the Budleigh total.

All out for 61 in the 13th over showed the dominance of the home team.

An excellent performance all round.

On the other hand, BSCC U19s overcame a strong Sidmouth U19 team by 6 wickets in the U19 cup.

The team's impressive fielding and bowling restricted Sidmouth to a slender 95 for 9 off 20 overs.

BSCC achieved their target with almost 3 overs to spare, thanks to Marcus' extraordinary 44-run play, placing the team at the top of the table.

On Sunday the U10s narrowly lost to Cullompton by 15 runs. Despite the loss there was encouraging improvement from everyone, more consistent bowling, better running between the wickets (especially from Samuel C and Edward N) and alertness in the field.

A particular shout out to Heidi J and Emily P playing in their first games of the season and doing really well - Heidi took a wicket!

Given their recent performances, their first victory seems imminent.