The holiday season led to a series of selection dilemmas for Gunnislake, with Mark Everett playing his first game of the season as he recovers from injury and David Warner drafted in as a late replacement. There was also a debut for James Pethick, who became the third generation of his family to play for Gunnislake, with the earliest playing record of a Pethick dating back to 1959.
Saturday saw a long trip north to Bude, made slower by holiday traffic, which made several players almost late. Fortunately Gunnislake won the toss and were able to choose to bat. Two early wickets left Gunnislake in trouble, but Stephen Lees and Russ Holloway began to rebuild the innings. Lees was out for 29 with the score on 54, but Holloway continued with excellent support from Joe Organ. On a large ground boundaries were hard to come by, but the runs accumulated steadily, with Holloway launching one six to one of the longest boundaries. The score had reached 126 before Organ fell to an superb running catch on the long-on boundary by Ryan Chalkley. From that point Bude fought back, with third change bowler Charlie Gliddon mesmerising the Gunnislake batsmen. His first victim was Holloway, who missed a straight one trying to manoeuvre it into the offside. By then Holloway had progressed to 69, his third half century of the season. The team score was up to 138 for 4. However, from there Gunnislake seemed anxious to get in for the tea. Wickets tumbled and Gunnislake were all out for 157, three runs short of a fourth batting point with nearly two overs unused. Gliddon finished with figures of 4 for 10, receiving support from Mike Taylor who took three of his own.
Bude were well pleased with this recovery and perhaps had their noses in front at the halfway point. But both teams had reason to be hopeful.
The Bude reply got off to a bad start when Michael J Taylor edged Gunnislake captain Dinesh Thirupuvanarajah to first slip, where Joe Organ held a sharp catch. Next ball saw Dinesh remove the middle stump of Ryan Chalkley with a yorker, but Mike Ellis successfully defended the hat-trick ball. A few overs later, however, Ellis was run out by Dave Warner, after a mix-up with Charlie Gliddon. Gliddon remained Bude’s main hope, with a batting average for the season slightly over 100. But he edged one from Lee Roberts, caught behind for a meagre (by his standards) 31. Gunnislake’s tails were up! All the bowlers kept things tight, with all of them going for less than three an over. At halfway Bude were 68 for 4. But try as they might they were unable to accelerate and the required run rate steadily increased. Graeme Murray and Joe Organ took over from Roberts and Dinesh, but there was no respite. Bude crept to 85 for 8, but were now well behind the required run rate. Dan Petit and Mike Taylor stopped the rot, but had to settle for mainly singles, as Bude fell 42 runs short on 115 for 8. Dinesh took three wickets, while Organ had two. But in the end it was a good all round team effort in the field, with accurate bowling, catches well held, a run-out and debutant James Pethick kept busy in the field.
For Gunnislake it was a first victory against one of the top sides in the division. They remain in fourth place, with what is, on paper, a relatively easy run-in to the end of the season. But you never know, it’s a funny old game and nothing can be taken for granted.
Iconic Opticians Man of the Match: Russ Holloway
Gunnislake 157 (R Holloway 69, S Lees 29, J Organ 22; C Gliddon 4-10, M Taylor 3-27). Bude 125-8 (C Gliddon 31; D Thirupuvanarajah 3-28, J Organ 2-27). Gunnislake (17 points) beat Bude II (7 points) by 42 runs.
