Holsworthy Cricket Club celebrated their 150th anniversary with a ‘Festival of Cricket’ over the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the end May bank holiday, writes club chairman Ryan Walter.

A weekend that had been planned for over 12 months was a huge success with live music, food, drink and children’s entertainment to name a few, oh and of course four superb games of cricket.

It all started on the Friday evening (May 26) when a Past XI captained by club president Dave Gerry took on a Future XI (up and coming stars from our youth academy) in a T20 game.

A nice little crowd gathered in the late evening sunshine which saw the Future XI bat first and score 127 in their 20 overs. Alfie Sealey and Rory Piper were in the runs and there was wickets for Robbie Holland, Dan Marks and Russell Horton.

In reply, the past XI got home with eight balls remaining thanks to contributions from Robbie Holland, Paul Piper and Lyndon Piper.

Past XI – Dave Gerry (captain), Paul Piper, John Snell, Jon Tidball, Paul Cottle, Russell Horton, Robbie Holland, Duncan Edwards, Lyndon Piper, Steve Piper, Andy Mortimer and Dan Marks

Future XI – Tai Wonnacott, Adam Lovejoy, Dan Lucas, Rory Piper, Issac Disney, Lewis Chidley, Alfie Sealey, Charlie Bingham, Oscar Jamison, Gavin Cockwill and Louie Piper.

It was a great way to kick off the weekend and the evening was rounded off by some live music from Gary McCausland on the terrace in front of the pavilion.

It was great to see some old faces back at Holsworthy, which saw a few travel several miles to be in attendance for the weekend.

Onto the Saturday (27th May) and the main day of the weekend, and what a day it was.

It all started at 10am by the Holsworthy ladies team as they took on an Exeter University XI in a T20 game.

This game was a cracker against a very experienced Exeter University team who in the end just crept over the line in the final couple of overs to claim victory.

However huge credit must go to the ladies who put on a show and played some great cricket and made it a perfect way to kick off the day.

Holsworthy Ladies: Freya Godfrey, Layla Godfrey, Hannah Steadman, Hannah Piper, Hannah Barriball, Sally Ashford, Ruth Kitcher-Paige, Jodie Gardner, Andrea Downing, Evie Clarke and Louise O’Dell.

Onto the afternoon and the local derby between Holsworthy and Bude in Division Two East of the Bond Timber Cornwall Cricket League which started at 1pm.

Holsworthy batted first scoring 219 all out in the 45th over with Matt Shepherd top scoring with 51, while Jack Greening (46) and Ryan Walter (37) also contributed to the scoreboard.

The club laid on a huge spread of food and drink for all of the club’s sponsors and special guests who had been invited for the day, and a huge crowd of around 450 was packed into Stanhope Park to watch a hard-fought game of cricket in the blazing afternoon sunshine which saw the Trees bowl out bude in the 44th over for 175.

There were four wickets for left-arm spinner Herschelle Poggenpoel, three for Jack Greening, two for Aiden Gerry and one for Graham Wild to the delight of the crowd who, it was safe to say, had enjoyed the hospitality throughout the day.

It wasn’t just the cricket in the afternoon/evening as there was children’s face painting and entertainment as well as big inflatable bouncy castles, food stalls, pizza van, bar and a BBQ to keep everyone fed and watered.

With the drink flowing, the celebrations continued well into the night with live music, which was kicked off by DJ Adam Green and then continued with The Country Strong band who played throughout the evening to round off day two perfectly.

First team: Jack May, Aiden Gerry, Herschelle Poggenpoel, Matt Shepherd, Jack Greening, Ryan Walter (captain), Brendan Harris, Hayden Sharp, Chris Pomeroy, Rob Mitchell, Graham Wild.

Onto the Sunday and day three (May 28) which saw Stanhope Park host Devon v Cornwall Under 12s, which started at 11am.

Some really talented young cricketers graced the Stanhope Park in a game which had a bit of everything.

Cornwall batted first and were bowled out for 119 in the 31st over, there was a five-wicket haul and a hat-trick for Devon’s opening left arm seamer who finished with figures of 5-22 to the delight of the ever-growing crowd as the hangovers from the night before began to wear off.

Devon looked to be cruising to victory at 94-1 but a flurry off six wickets for just 20 runs made it somewhat nervy for the Devon team, but they did get over the line with no more casualties and won the game by three wickets.

A fantastic advert for youth cricket by both counties with some exceptionally good cricket played by both sides and Holsworthy were very grateful for the opportunity to host the game on their special weekend.

The club brought the curtain down on utterly fantastic weekend with more live music from DJ Adam Green and local legends Joy Machine, and another great evening of dancing followed.

Ryan added: “As chairman I’d like to thank everybody in and around the club for making such a fantastic weekend happen and for the help before, during and after the three days.

“It was great to see a huge proportion of the local community come out in force to support the weekend.

“It amazing to host four superb games of cricket, host all of our sponsors and I’d like to in particularly thank all of the ladies for their work in providing the food on the Saturday, the bands and DJs that played and to everybody who worked behind the bar.

“It was a superb weekend that epitomises what Holsworthy Cricket Club and Holsworthy is all about!”