President's XI 246-7 Kilve 179-9

KILVE Cricket Club’s annual President’s XI fixture ended with the President’s men running out victors by 67 runs on Sunday afternoon.

Batting first, the President’s XI posted 246-7 thanks to half-centuries from Steve Davis (76), Stuart Lloyd (59) and Gareth Lloyd (50not) before restricting Kilve to 179-9 despite 79 not out from Jay Darrell.

President Dave Cobb entrusted his son, Neil, with skippering his invitation XI, and they soon proved to be in good hands when he won the toss on a hard, dry track and elected to bat first.

Stuart Lloyd and Paul Cuff (17) opened the innings and made a steady start, dispatching the occasional bad ball to the boundary.

Cuff was well caught off Button (1-15), but this brought the destructive Davis to the crease, and he proceeded to blast Kilve’s bowlers to all parts and bring up a 100-run partnership in no time.

Davis was caught and bowled by Andrew Martin (1-33) shortly after, but by that point the President’s XI had already racked up 128.

More punishment was to come as the Lloyd brothers combined to plunder the bowling attack to all parts of the ground.

A late spell of quick, accurate bowling from Darrell saved some of Kilve’s blushes before a cameo from Martin James (20) ensured that the President’s XI made a very healthy 246.

In reply, Kilve started well and reached 37 without loss when Malpass (18) was caught off Phil Sylvester.

Andrew Martin followed in similar fashion before Chris James was dismissed by his father, Nick, for just 17.

Barry Adams and Dean Marchant steadied the ship briefly before a suicidal run-out ended Adams’ innings.

Adam Thomas and Marchant continued the rot to leave the score at 58-6, but a blistering cameo from Darrell saved face for Kilve as he propelled the score into three figures.

James Payne (2-15) then sneaked a couple of wickets late on to leave Darrell stranded on 73 as Kilve finished on 179-9.

First team captain Peter Stone said: “It was a great day and the game was played in exactly the right spirit.

“We were lucky with the weather as well, but there was some good cricket played and everyone had a great day.