Devon Cricket Board - Baggs back in charge at Exmouth after Chappell departs

Baggs back in charge at Exmouth after Chappell departs

RICHARD Baggs has agreed to return for one more season as Exmouth skipper after standing down midway through last summer to give Gary Chappell the job.

Baggs, who will be 43 this year, felt the time was right last summer to hand over to a younger man as the club looks to the future.

Exmouth are not the youngest club in the Premier Division with more players aged over 30 than under.
All-rounder Chappell, 25, was seen as the person to lead the 1^st XI into a new, younger era.
He was already T20 and 40-over captain in cup cricket and took Exmouth to the ECB NatWest national T20 finals at Cardiff last season, where they were beaten by Ealing in the final.
Exmouth were stunned when Chappell announced soon after he was leaving the Maer and returning to former club Bradninch.
Baggs (pictured) had been happy to stand down after eight years at the helm, but in the interests of the club has been persuaded to return.
“It is for one year only – nothing more,” said Baggs. “I have a young family now and different priorities.
“A year gives the club time to identify the next 1^st XI captain to lead us forward.”
Baggs has quickly slipped into the old routine, signing two new players to bolster the Exmouth squad.
First to put pen to paper is all-rounder Callum French, who was with North Devon last season.
French moved to Exeter after completing his studies at UWIC in Cardiff, where North Devon skipper Barney Huxtable became a close friend.
French, who has played Minor Counties cricket for Cambridgeshire, bowls slow left-armers and is a straight replacement for the departed Chappell.
Baggs’ second pre-season singing is Royal Navy fast bowler Shorn Bobb, who has been terrorising batsmen in the Devon League’s lower divisions for the past couple of year for Buckland Monochorum.
Alvin Pollard, an Exmouth regular, is a workmate of Bobb’s and was instrumental in getting him to sign.
Bobb, who has played at Lord’s twice for the Navy against the Army and the RAF in a T20 tournament, toured Australia with the Navy in November.
Said Baggs: “Callum is a fine cricketer who bats and bowls and I am hoping will do a similar job to Gary.
“Shorn is a bit of an unknown quantity at Premier level, but he is known to be fast and we need someone like him to sharpen our attack.”

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