Saturday 7th August 2004 at Bideford
Massive game....massive result. The 1st XI joined the holiday traffic on the haul up the North Devon Link Road to play Bideford in the 'game of the season'. Defeat was unthinkable, a losing draw the very least option to take from the game. Pre-match the talk was of a toss that would be vital. 'Win the toss and the match will NOT be lost' was the order of the day and when skipper Chris Acton called wrong it put his side on the back foot from the off, but undeterred the opening bowlers, Joel Murphy and Paul Nott were quickly into their stride.

Bideford opener Ford was back in the pavilion having not troubled the scorers at 6-1, which became 44-2, 52-3, 82-4 and then at 95-5 the visitors were certainly on top. One incredible statistic though, was that with five home batsmen out not a single wicket had fallen to the 'B' Division's deadliest bowler - Joel Murphy, but what the Australian was doing was turning in a stint of controlled, accurate bowling that was holding up any Bideford recovery. At 128-6, 133-7 and 147-8 it seemed that Bradninch had simply to 'mop-up', knock-off the runs and get home, but the Bideford tail wagged and the last couple of wickets took the home score to 184 all out after 45 overs.

Ross Acton returned figures of 3-47, Paul Nott 2-41, Andy Nichols 2-57 and skipper Acton 1-17, but the skill of Murphy stood out: on a decent batting surface when all the other bowlers went for 4, 5 and 6 an over, he saw out his 13 overs at a cost of a miserly 20 runs and bagged two wickets in the process taking him to 47 for the season in the league.

So there it was, at tea time, job half-done and indeed done well, in terms of the bowling performances. So what about the batsmen?

Great drama in the early stages as 'Mr Reliable' Gary Newall went caught behind for a duck and suddenly victory looked that a little further away than it had at tea. Acton and the in-form Piper steadied things and took the score to 56 before Piper went. Acton went next, for 36. With the score on 85 the middle order went before it really got going as Gary Chappell, Joel Murphy and Ross Acton were all back in the pavilion with the score on 134-6 and at this stage you had to favour the home side.

Not so according to Club stalwart Paul Nott and grounds man Gem Coetzee. The South African went on to hit an unbeaten 28. Nott gave superb support, indeed he rolled back the years with his personal contribution of an unbeaten 19 and the pair were at the crease when the win was confirmed in the 44th over, on 185-6 with still three overs remaining.

So, a 20 point haul for Bradninch who will have enjoyed that trip back down the link road as the single point that separated the sides before the start has now been increased to a 14 point margin and with three games to go - two at home from Bradninch, Chris Acton's men know that their fate is very much in their own hands.