St Just moved into the top four of the Cornwall Cricket League Premier Division after a comfortable 116-run victory at home to St Austell, writes Matt Friday.
Max Waller scored 45 and Steve Kevern added an unbeaten 43 as St Just, who booked their place in the Vinter Cup final earlier this week, posted 188-7 from a rain-reduced 41 overs at their Cape Road home.
Rain caused a longer break between innings, with St Austell chasing a target of 191 from 41 overs when play resumed. However, that revised figure proved to be irrelevant with Gareth May taking four wickets as the visitors were skittled out for 74.
The win sees St Just leapfrog St Austell and move up to fourth in the standings, with the Saints, who were second only a couple of weeks ago, now slipping to seventh.
St Just skipper May won the toss and chose to bat, and the hosts were hit by the cheap, early losses of Ben Stevens (8), Jacob Harvey (10) and Philip Nicholas (4) before regular high-scorer Neil Curnow fell for 31 as the hosts reached 76-4.
But that exit allowed Waller and Kevern to take centre-stage and the pair put on a match-high partnership of 67 for the fifth wicket, with the duo finding the boundary a combined ten times until the former was caught by Liam Watson off David Munn (3-38).
With the score now at a much more respectable 143-5 with 15 overs still to play, Kevern continued to reel off the runs alongside May (2), Mark George (8) and Josh Semmens (3*) when their innings was brought to an early end by the elements.
Scott Barrott (15) had got off to a decent start in St Austell’s reply until he was caught out by Waller, with Curtis Dalby dismissed for a duck off five balls before Barrott’s fellow opener Hugh Parkinson went for seven with the visitors’ score at 30-3 with 11 overs already down.
Alex Bone made 12 alongside Michael Harding before the former became the first of May’s four victims in the 18th over before Harding became the second two overs later, with Jonty Leadbeater (6) and Gary Bone (8) following within two balls of each other in the 22nd as May reduced the visitors’ middle order to rubble.
With the score at 61-7 with more than half of their allocation already up, St Austell now had the proverbial mountain to climb. The lower order could do little to suggest a remarkable turnaround, with Steve Raven going for a duck before Chamikara Edirisinghe (2-10) removed both Adam Snowdon (4) and Liam Watson (1) to secure victory for the home side in the 30th over.
[Featured image: Colin Bradbury / Cornwall Sports Media]