Gunnislake raced to victory against Tintagel II on Saturday thanks to a maiden half century from Josh Crow and another big innings from star batsman Adam Emmerson.
Once again it was a hot day, and a parched outfield with cracks all over made for tricky fielding conditions. A high scoring match was in prospect, and the teams did not disappoint. Gunnislake won the toss and chose to bat, with Joe Organ promoted to open the batting with Emmerson. The runs came quickly at the start, with anything piercing the fielding ring heading to the boundary for four. A big ask of the Tintagel opening bowlers, James Ellis and Rocco Reynolds, but they stuck at it well, with some playing and missing, and a couple of hard catches missed as Organ fired away with his customary aggression. Organ eventually mistimed one, to be caught at mid-off, but with a firm base of 66 runs on the board. This brought Josh Crow to the crease to partner Adam Emmerson. After a tricky start runs continued to flow and Crow reached his maiden half century with a big six over square leg. By this time the score had reached 190 and a total in excess of 300 was on the cards.
Immediately afterwards Crow lost concentration and was bowled by Reynolds; Tintagel began to hit back at regular intervals. Five wickets fell for a mere 34 runs as the Gunnislake middle order stuttered and the scoring rate slowed. When Emmerson fell, bowled by Ellis just eight runs short of another century, Tintagel sniffed an opportunity. However, a late flourish came from the old guard as Kevin Beare, Brian Martin and Mark Everett and Gunnislake finished on 287 for 7. James Ellis was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets, with two each for Reynolds and Luxton. 287 was a large total, but on such an outfield it was certainly gettable; nothing could be taken for granted.
Tintagel began their reply steadily, but their captain David Lane was caught in the covers with the score on 19 and six overs already gone. Richard Pethick and Adam Wright then picked up the rate before Wright was out with the score on 65 in the 14th over. While wickets were rare, the scoring rate never increased and hovered between four and five an over, as Gunnislake kept things relatively tight. Despite good contributions from Pethick, Wright and Stephen Roach Tintagel seemed to be playing for their net run rate, rather than an assault on the Gunnislake total. And in due course their forty overs were up. Gunnislake had only claimed five wickets, but Tintagel were over 100 runs short of the target.
Another victory for Gunnislake sees them riding well up the table in fourth place, and particular congratulations to Josh Crow, who has come up through the Gunnislake ranks from his school days. We look to more and greater things from him in the future! A difficult trip to Newquay next week is likely to provide a stern test for the Gunnislake team, but so far, as the season reaches halfway point, things have gone as well as can be expected.
Gunnislake 287 for 7 (A Emmerson 92, J Crow 50, J Organ 33; J Ellis 3-510. Tintagel 170-5 (S Roach 39no, R Pethick 37, A Wright 31). Gunnislake (17 points) beat Tintagel II (7 points) by 117 runs.