Junior cricketers at Budleigh Salterton cricket club showed of some impressive cricketing enterprise in some engaging games last week.

The Budleigh U11 girls team participated enthusiastically in a well-attended softball team hosted by Clyst St George. This happy team of youngsters have continued to improve in all areas since the start of the season and were once again well captained by Katy Gracie.

Their first match saw a close game with Culmstock followed by a loss to Heathcoat. The final game saw some impressive batting: a decent number of fours and a narrow loss to Filleigh by only four runs.

The U13s visited Exeter for an ECB cup match against a strong Exeter side containing a number of county players.

Exeter batted first and there was drama from the off when opening batsman Kaleem retired injured having faced eight balls. This was followed by an excellent spell of bowling by Henry, unfortunately curtailed whilst taking the wicket of Exeter’s Devon player Alex Tipper for just eight runs, with Henry tweaking a muscle in his back which ended his involvement in the game. Exeter then powered on to reach a score of 150 off their allotted twenty overs with just one further wicket falling to Oscar from a catch by Ben.

Budleigh came into bat as the sun began to sink behind the university’s Reed Hall and valiantly tried to get the run rate up. Alex top scored with 15 followed by Daniel on eight. Against a very strong attack, the team all did their bit to stay in for the twenty overs, despite being two players down by this point, just falling short of the required target.

The U10s hardball team played Whimple at home on the hottest day of the year so far. This was not only the first hardball game for several of players but also a debut for a couple of players.

Budleigh just fell short by nine runs but a brilliant debut for the team, which was quickly followed by the U12s taking on Ottery St Mary at the Holt. Cricket in Budleigh has a bright future.  

By Rosie Russell