BOTH captains felt the game was in the balance as Bude and Holsworthy’s local derby on Saturday in Division Two East of the Bond Timber Cornwall Cricket League was abandoned shortly after tea.

With the poor forecast around, Holsworthy unsurprisingly chose to field upon winning the toss, but it was the hosts that eased to 73-0 through openers Wayne Adams (32) and Matt Williams (33) before the latter was run out by Aiden Gerry.

They both departed within a run of each other as tidy nine-over spells from left-arm spinners Graham Wild (3-38) and Herschelle Poggenpoel (1-21) turned the tide.

Bits and pieces from the middle and lower order got them up to 178-8 with Dan Smith taking 2-34. Aiden Gerry bowled seven overs for just 16 towards the end.

Drizzle throughout tea meant the innings break went on longer than usual, and when play did get underway, Bude’s Australian left-armer Brett Hunter clean bowled the in-form Jack Greening for two.

But Ben Hutchings and Poggenpoel took the score to 37-1 after 7.3 overs before they came off and never returned.

Bude captain Warren Rumble told the Post: “We always knew it was going to come into rain in the second innings, and on the weather reports it certainly looked like the type of rain that wasn’t going to just blow over.

“That said, our batting again wasn’t our strongest performance. We had a nice start from Matt and Wayne, but then the majority of us seemed to give our wicket away with poor shot selection rather than getting beaten all ends up by a delivery. So it was a below par total, but I was glad that we didn’t end up all out.

“It was nicely poised before the second rain delay really ended it, couple of wickets and we would have been right into the game.”

Bude have an important weekend coming up.

On Saturday they head down to league leaders St Austell Seconds (1pm) before a rescheduled home game with Tintagel on Sunday (1pm).

Rumble added: “We’re certainly hoping for better weather this weekend.

“We have done well down at St Austell in previous years so hopefully the boys carry that with them, and Sunday we are home against Tintagel which was rearranged because of the weather in April.

“Looking at the league table they haven’t picked up many points yet, so hopefully we can get a positive result at home!”

Holsworthy skipper Ryan Walter felt his side were on top, but like Rumble, knew a couple of quick wickets would have changed the momentum.

He said: “We chose to field and were hoping to get as early wickets as possible, but they batted well and we didn’t quite get it right.

“But once we got the breakthrough, Graham and Herschelle came on and bowled 18 overs straight through and we were well in control right through to the end of the innings.

“Then, Dan and Aiden came on and bowled well, and to restrict Bude to 178-8 on that wicket was a good effort considering the start they had!”

On the prospect of the chase, Walter said: “We were happy with the chase, but we knew there was rain around and it soon came, so it’s just one of those things.

“If we could have got through Brett’s opening spell one or two down we’d have been in pole position to win the game, and we were going okay.

“But equally if they got a couple of quick wickets it’d have got interesting.”

Holsworthy welcome second-placed St Minver on Saturday with the visitors having won three and lost three of their opening six games.

Walter said: “They’re a bit of an unknown this year, but have some good players and their overseas is supposedly handy, so we’re looking forward to it.

“We had a couple missing on Saturday and it’ll be the same again this week, but we’re at home where we always fancy our chances.”