HOLSWORTHY?captain, Ryan Walter, admitted that the first 20 overs cost his side ‘dear’ as they lost a thrilling Division Four County Final by ten-runs to St Buryan at Tintagel last Sunday.

The game was postponed by 24 hours as the poor weather meant the outfield was too wet.

However, once the game started, it was the West Cornwall side that flew out of the blocks as Jowan Stedmon (24) and Thomas Redfern (22) took the attack to opening bowlers Jack Greening (10-2-51-1) and Ben Hutchings (9-1-69-2) as St Buryan reached 62-1 inside the first ten overs.

However, once they were both out to Hutchings, Holsworthy missed a golden chance to take control of the game as Oliver Reeves (85) and skipper Trevor Cotton (70) were both dropped early on.

Both men continued to attack the small inviting boundaries as they powered along to 205-2 after 32 overs.

Left-arm swing bowler Rob Mitchell (12-0-46-2), who was standing in for the absent George Orr-Wilcox, and off-spinner Travis Leveson (7-0-32-4) brought the Devon-based club back into the game with a flurry of wickets as St Buryan continued to attack.

However, despite losing the wickets they reached 259-9 off their 45 overs.

Walter would have been praying for a solid start from openers Jack May (35) and Aiden Gerry (40), and that’s what they provided as they reached 85-2 off 20 overs, although the aggressive May and Sam Stacey (6) were back in the hutch.

Walter, who’s scored over 800 runs in all competitons this summer, was key to their hopes, and although they lost Gerry for a patient 40, Walter and Greening (21) continued to build the platform.

Holsworthy needed 36 off five overs with four wickets in-hand but Walter (86) was run-out off the last ball off the third to last over by Daniel Clay from wide long-on.

In the end, the experienced Chris Phillips (12-2-30-1) kept the Holsworthy batsmen down to singles despite the best efforts of Jon Tidball (27no) as they snuck home by ten runs.

Looking back on the day, Walter knows that the game was lost long before the end.

Walter said:?“St Buryan were a very decent side and were without doubt the best team we’ve played all year.

“Despite the overnight rain and the weather, they came out and played their shots and it came off for them.

“To be fair we got their openers out relatively quickly but we dropped their two run getters early on and that cost us dear. But we fought back well to restrict them to 259.

“When we batted we said to take it as deep as we can and we did that. Jack and Aiden gave us a solid start and then we just tried to go as deep as we can.

“I thought that we were going to do it but the guy has ran me out with a direct hit from the boundary as I was coming back for two and then they’ve bowled well to see the game out.

“However, it’s been a brilliant season for us. To go unbeaten was a brilliant achievement and now we look forward to next year.

“Our new pavilion will be ready then and hopefully that may help us attract a couple of new players.

“Division Three East isn’t a level any of us have played at but we’ll be looking to make sure we consolidate and if we can, make sure we’re up in mid-table.?It’s going to be an exciting year.”