Speaking after his side’s washed out meeting with Upottery, Kilmington skipper Brett Garner said: “We had a couple back which made us stronger in terms of the eleven we fielded against the same opposition the week before.

“Winning the toss helped for, with rain about, I always prefer to be chasing and so knowing what you need to do.

“The sad thing is that we were well placed to go on and win the game when the rains arrived to wash away any hope of us getting a result.”

He continued: “Ollie [Reed] bowled very well and gave us a great start with the wicket in his first over.

“With the game being 35 overs, we were hoping to keep them to around 160, so they did get a few more than I hoped to hold them to, but then we suffered the early loss of a wicket only for Tom [Olive] to do what he does best which is act as an ideal foil for the likes of Josh [Short] who quickly got into his stride.

“When he is in the mood, Josh can take a game away from the opposition in double quick time and Tom did his job very well.

“But the weather gods were against us and we’ll have to move on to the next game.”

Garner then turned his attention to the competition in general as he said: “In a short, four team - eight game competition - getting a first game win under your belt is a must and so it is disappointing, from our point of view, that we could not ‘finish the job’.

“That said, it is what it is and we move on to what will, I think, be the first of two home games with Sidmouth II as apparently they cannot use their pitch so are coming to us twice.

“You are never quite sure what sort of strength Sidmouth II are going to be but we look forward to the challenge.”

In terms of team news for the meeting with Sidmouth II, Garner says: “I am hoping to have a couple more back. No one is unavailable though we do have a doubt about Tommy [Gooding] who tweaked his hamstring fielding against Upottery and so did not risk aggravating it by having a bat on Saturday. Hopefully he’ll be OK for this coming Saturday.”