A stunning counter-attack by Adam Olesky rescued victory for Woodbury as they beat Exeter Civil Service by two wickets in a thrill-a-minute contest at Foxhayes.
Chasing 123, Woodbury should have been confident of victory, but when Mike Skidmore and Howard Rose cut through the top order, they were reduced to 37 for six with 48 overs of the game still remaining.
Cue Adam Olesky, who turned the game upside-down in the space of two overs. He took 17 from the bat off Skidmore's next over and 15 from the following over from Rose, hitting three sixes and two fours in that spell, at one stage reaching as astonishing 40 from 19 balls. Skidmore (three for 31) and Rose (three for 38) were whipped out of the attack, as Civil tried to change the pace of the game.
Stand-in skipper Martin Cook was dismissed with the score on 89, but had only contributed six in a partnership of 52 lasting 24 minutes. With the help of Matt Plowman, Olesky took Woodbury to within six of victory, but was dismissed by the wily Rehann Caryl, having scored 66 from 51 balls with three sixes and six fours. It was left to 15-year-old Plowman to see Woodbury past the winning post, as he finished the game with a boundary and the second highest score of the innings (14no).
Earlier, Exeter Civil Service had elected to bat on a good surface, but despite a healthy scoring rate, which saw all of Woodbury's three seamers concede five an over, they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. James Taylor (three for 43) caused early problems with his pace, all three of his wickets bowled.
It was the off-spin of Martin Cook that tempered the scoring, after Civil had reached 85 for seven in the 17th over. He bowled ten overs, taking four for 12 in a miserly spell, as Rehann Caryl tried to farm the strike and protect the tail. Caryl was the last man out, holing out to John Ingham off the bowling of Neil Richards (two for 40), having scored 35 with five boundaries. Civil Service were bowled out for 122 in 31.2 overs, having seven double-figure partnerships but none of them reaching 20. Their low score had almost seemed enough, until the heroics of Olesky saved the day for Woodbury.
Woodbury 17pts, Exeter Civil Service 5pts.