By CONRAD SUTCLIFFE

July 2, 2005

 

PLYMPTON'S Devon KO Cup aspirations came to an abrupt end when they lost by five wickets at Braunton in the second round

   An unbeaten century from Braunton's Aussie batsman Brett Gardiner proved Plympton's undoing as they tried and failed to defend a total of 226 for six from 40 overs.

   Braunton win with more than five overs to spare, although it might have been sooner had Gardiner not been four runs short of his century.

   Gardiner waited until a bad ball came along from Anees Davids, which he put away for his century and the winning runs.

   There were nine other fours and three sixes in Gardiner's 102-ball stay, which included two partnerships of 71.

   The first was with skipper Mark Lathwell, the former Somerset and England opener, who made 34. Andy Paddison featured in the second and made a contribution of 16.

   Plympton's cause wasn't helped by having a relatively young bowling attack, which struggled for line and length. A total of 62 extras – 46 of them wides – tells its own sorry story.

   Dave Hyatt and Davids had a wicket each, while Richard Skinner and David Wrench bagged a couple each. Craig Donohue wasn't spared the lash as his four overs cost 37 runs.

   Plympton's only consolation was time out in the middle for some of their batters and the compensation of half centuries for skipper Jeremy Williams, Keith Donohue and Davids, who carried on lashing away as he had done at Exeter in the league 24 hours earlier.

   Williams made 62 and put on 107 for the third wicket with Donohue after openers Keith Wilcock and Wrench both went with just a run between them.

   Donohue was the junior partner in a partnership of 72 for the sixth wicket with Davids, whose 50 came off just 23 balls and contained six fours and three sixes.

   

June 12, 2005

 

TORQUAY breezed into the quarter-finals of the Devon KO Cup with a six-wicket win over Exmouth on the Maer Ground.

  Matt Sampson hit a top score of 51, sharing a stand of 63 for Exmouth's second wicket with Nick Follland (29) and another of 57 for the third with James Hope (30).

  At 162 for four Exmouth looked well placed to set Torquay 200 plus – then the wheels fell off in a big way.

  Exmouth lost their last six wickets for just four runs as Torquay bowled them out for 166 with four overs to go.

  Matt Bulbeck (3-43) and Anthony Easton (2-19) got the initial breakthroughs, then Andy Yau finished Exmouth offf.

  Yau, making his first-team debut for Torquay, claimed three wickets for one run in 10 balls as Exmouth's tail-enders departed with the minimum of fuss.

  Torquay won at a canter with almost 10 overs to spare on the back of a half-century from Micky Wilkinson.

  Tim Western (20) and Bulbeck (30) assisted Wilkinson in getting the score up to 99 for two after 20 overs.

  Bubleck went straight after the drinks break, but Wilkinson (57) and Easton (25) took Torquay within touching distance of victory.

  When Wilkinson went on 157 for four, there wasn't much left for Kris Davis (16no) and Ashley Berry (1no) to do.

  Waiting for Torquay in the last eight are Sidmouth, who put out Barton in the last round.

 

HOLDERS Paignton cleared the second hurdle in this season's Devon KO Cup competition when they dumped Axminster out by 47 runs at Cloakham Lawn.

  Paignton were without skipper and all-rounder Neil Hancock, who was playing for Devon against Cornwall in Falmouth, but seemed to manage alright without him as they posted 209 for eight in their 40 overs.

  Opener Richard Cooper hit a top score of 69, which came off 97 balls and included eight boundaries.

  He was fifth out on 155 having   seen Alston Bobb (27) and Justin Mann (24) come and go by then.

Keith Rockett (2-25) and Gary Larcombe (2-25) were the most economical of Axminster's bowlers, although Joel Seward (3-68) did go one better.

  Axminster didn't keep up with the asking rate for long and only had two decent pairings in their total of 162 all out.Openers Darryl Monger (24) and Larcombe put on 38 while Stuart Evans (34) and Brett Garner made 34 for the sixth wicket. John Hurford made 25

  Paignton shared the wickets around with Mike Pedley, Stephen George and Bobb getting two each. They will be away to either Plympton or Braunton in the next round.

BARTON'S cup adventure came to an early conclusion at Sidmouth, where they were defeated by 21 runs. Sidmouth had plenty of bits-and-pieces scores in a total of 186 for seven – Matt Cooke's 46 the best by a distance.

  There were some fireworks at the end when Tikku Partidar went from six to 30 in one over from Damon Calland who, unitl then, had bowled seven overs at a cost of just 16 runs.

  Wicketkeeper Nick Watkin whipped his pads off to bowl a spell and was rewarded with a three-for-42 haul.

Barton were bowled out for 165 in reply, although they could probably trace their downfall back to Calland's run out when he was on 25.

  That was 108 for three with 12 overs to go and the asking rate just got too much for them, despite Nick Watkin going on to make 55. Adam Parker (24) was also among the runs.

SEATON, 71-run winners at South Devon, will face Exeter, who were handed a walkover by Dawlish & Teignmouth.

  Matt Hewer (94) just missed out on a century as Seaton amassed 275 for seven. He shared a stand of 138 with Mike Cottam (60) and another of 64 for the sixth wicket with Dave Cottam. South Devon topped up the total with 54 extras.

  South Devon gave Aussie quick bowler Chris King a chance to open up and he responded by making 43. Danny Johnson (43) and Richard Brown (50) made a fist of the fight before Seaton ground them down at the end.

  The last five wickets went for 23 runs – Rob Hutchings taking two of them – as South Devon were vanquished for 204.

  Already through to the third round are Budleigh Salterton, who won by 116 runs at Bovey Tracey seven days earlier.

RESULTS

  Plympton 226-6 (J Williams 62, K Donohue 61, A Davids 50; E Yeo 2-30, J Higgs 2-25, J Baglow 2-40), Braunton 230-5 (B Gardiner 100no, M Lathwell 34; R Skinner 2-28, D Wrench 2-35). Braunton bt Plympton by 5 wkts.

  Exmouth 166 (M Sampson 51, J Hope 30, N Folland 29; A Yau 3-1, A Easton 2-19, M Bulbeck 3-43), Torquay 168-4 (M Wilkinson 57, A Easton 25, M Bulbeck 30; J Hope 2-14). Torquay bt Exmouth by 6 wkts.

  Seaton 275-7 (M Hewer 94, M Cottam 60, D Cottam 36no, extras 54; D Johnson 2-30, J Windeatt 2-45), South Devon 204 (C King 43, D Johnson 41, R Brown 50; R Hutchings 3-29, D Field 2-33, M Cottam 2-18). Seaton bt South Devon by 71 runs

  Sidmouth 186-7 (M Cooke 46, T Patidar 30, J Bess 26, A Griffiths 20; N Watkin 3-42), Barton 165 (N Watkin 55, D Calland 25, A Parker 24; M Webb 3-31, S Barlow 2-33, W Murray 2-36). Sidmouth bt Barton by 21 runs.

  Paignton 209-8 (R Cooper 69,A Bobb 27, J Mann 24; J Seward 3-68, K Rockett 2-25, G Larcombe 2-25), Axminster 162 (S Evans 34, D Monger 24, J Hurford 25; S George 2-25, M Pedley 2-29, A Bobb 2-21). Paignton bt Axminster by 47 runs.

  Budleigh Salterton 214-7 (A Procter 31, P Holland 50, D Telo 49, P Escott 26; C Bradley 3-34), Bovey Tracey 98-8 (P Bradley 24, B Ayres 14, I Bishop 2-12, R Newman 3-26). Budleigh bt Bovey by 116 runs.

  Exeter v Dawlish & Teignmouth. Dawlish & Teignmouth withdrew from competition.

  Sandford 189-8 (R Baggs 59, M Theedom 46no; A Walter 2-16, D Petherbridge 2-28), Cornwood 76 (D Boase 24; S Priscott 4-8, A Theedom 2-10, R Baggs 2-13). Sandford bt Cornwood by 113 runs.