UPLYME & LYME REGIS 114-1 beat PLYMOUTH CIVIL SERVICE & ROBOROUGH 110 by nine wickets

SUBLIME Uplyme & Lyme Regis stormed to the Devon League E Tier Five title after crushing Plymouth Civil Service & Roborough by nine wickets.

In front of a bumper crowd at King George V Playing Fields, Uplyme did not disappoint and won their eighth straight game in 2020.

Led by another stellar performance from captain Steve Batey, the hosts eventually had the Civil Service in trouble – but only after a solid start by their opponents.

After winning the toss and batting, the Plymouth plunderers amassed 38 for the first wicket as bowlers Tyler Wellman (1-23) and Joe Elsworth (0-19) threatened but ultimately went wicketless in their opening spells.

Their lack of a breakthrough prompted Batey to introduce himself to the attack, to devastating effect.

Batey bowled straight through, claiming superb figures of 4-18 as he took every one of the first four wickets to fall.

He first cleaned up Robert Gaylard (15) and had Rob Walker (0) caught by wicketkeeper Alfie Jaques as Plymouth were checked at 43-2.

Civil Service captain Alan Smith (30) had resisted well but Batey castled his stumps, quickly followed by Daniel Winsor (0) as Uplyme reduced their opponents to 54-4.

Sam Wooster (3-28) chipped in with three quick scalps and the tail was shared by the Uplyme attack as Plymouth could only post 110.

Given the blistering form of Uplyme’s batsmen this season, that total looked extremely vulnerable and so it proved.

In reply, Uplyme were unperturbed by the loss of the aggressive Batey, who made a rare duck.

His departure gave way to a stunning unbeaten century stand between Jaques (74no) and Mark Batey (27no), the duo finishing the job in 19 overs to seal a deserved title victory.