In the Palladium U11A cup final, Ivybridge Falcons won the toss and chose to bat on a sunny day against opposition Plympton played at the neutral Yelverton ground. Plympton got off to a great start when they took Ivybridge’s first wicket in the first over of the innings. A further 2 wickets followed soon after and Ivybridge were in trouble at 11-3 after 4 overs. The 4th wicket partnership of Drew Bowden and Zach Dunn steadied the ship with the highest partnership of the innings putting on 23 (Bowden 15 and Dunn 6) before Bowden was run out on 15; the highest individual score of the match. Will Stevenson came in next and, to the delight of the Ivybridge support, hit a magnificent 6 clean out of the ground. Ivybridge lost a couple more wickets and with the score on 43, Wilf Templar came in and batted through to the end for 8 not out seeing Ivybridge to a total of 75-7.
Needing to bowl Plympton out for under 75, Ivybridge got off to a great start when Sam Kidd removed the dangerous Plympton opening batsman in the first over of the innings with a great caught and bowled. Arthur Johnson, opening the bowling along with Kidd, bowled full and straight taking 2 wickets in the 4th over and Plympton were 10-3. Jacob Kopparambil bowled with control and turn, taking 2 wickets in his 4 overs, finishing with 2-2. The bowlers were supported by the fielders with Luca Turner taking a great catch off the bowling of Kopparambil. The superb performance by the Ivybridge bowling unit continued when Bowden bowled a wicket maiden in his first over. Scoreboard pressure began to tell as Plympton slipped behind the required run rate. Bowden took another wicket in his 4th over of the match, bowling magnificently and finishing with figures of 1-2. Bowden’s performance with bat and ball earned him the man of the match trophy. Plympton finished on 48-7 and Ivybridge won the final comprehensively by 27 runs.
The team, coaches and managers would like to thank all our supporters both at the final and throughout the season. To witness so many Bridgers at the final in particular provided a real fillip to us all.
