Devon Cricket Board - D Division - Seaton beaten + Feniton struggling

FENITON suffered another disappointing day as they went down by 48 runs at Halberton and Sampford Peverell.

A season that looked to have great promises for a good side at Acland Park looks set to be one of struggle as they have now lost five of their seven D Division games this term and go into this Saturday’s home meeting with Seaton sitting joint second bottom just four points better off than basement side Honiton!

The Mid-Devon side batted first and closed on 216-8. John Pyle continued his fine form with the ball taking 3-34 and Mark Kingdon bagged a brace.

The total might not have looked too many for another strong Feniton batting line-up. However, wickets tumbled at regular intervals with only Chris Palfrey (32), Mark Kingdon (26) and skipper Graham Tucker (20) making any impression with the final wicket falling on 168.

Skipper Tucker said: “We really are not getting the rub of the green right now.

“That said we cannot look for excuses for we have the nucleus of the side that Mark (Kingdon) got to finish in the top four the last couple of seasons.

“I don’t think we are a bottom three side, certainly not on paper.

“We’ll keep working hard and look to try and turn what are consistent decent starts by individuals to get the 20’s and 30’s, but we need to then maximise those opportunities and turn those knocks into 70’s and 80’s, that’s what you need to chase down 200 plus scores and indeed set decent targets when batting first.”

Mark Kingdon misses Saturday’s game with Seaton and Tucker says: “There’s no panic here as there’s plenty of cricket left.

“Seaton are heading into Saturday’s game after a defeat and so it’s now a bigger game than it might have been owing to the situations at opposite end of the D Division table.”

Seaton slipped to a second D Division defeat of the season, beaten at home by 34-runs by Shaldon Optimists.

A score of 147 is the magical number sought by all snooker players; for that is the total for a complete clean-up, but 147 was not the score Seaton wanted when they began their run chase to try and defeat the visitors who had earlier been restricted to a total of 181-9 with James Berry (4-42) and Mike Wheeler (2-33) taking the majority of the wickets.

Only Steven Pritchard with 35 and skipper Ben Morgan with 23 were able to last any length of time at the wicket as the first time visitors to Seaton left with the victory as the final home wicket fell with the score board showing that 147.

Skipper Ben Morgan said: “We got what we deserved, absolutely nothing. I am afraid that, on the day, we were outplayed in all departments.

“Any side that puts down as many as seven catches, two of them real dollies, will be beaten.

“We did not bowl particularly well and our batting was certainly not good enough. It’s a case of us all needing to buck our ideas up to get us back on track.

There’s no serious damage done with a defeat like this at this stage of the season.

However, we don’t want to be slipping into bad habits and I’ll be looking for a response from all against Feniton on Saturday.”

Uplyme and Lyme Regis were comfortable eight wicket winners at Countess Wear.

The home side were bundled out for 126 after a fine all-round performance for the visiting bowlers.

It was fourth change Alex Taylor who returned the most impressive figures of 4-9 in four overs.

Four other bowlers claimed wickets led by Steve Batey (2-22 in seven) and Neil Price (2-33 in nine) whilst there were single wickets for Rhys Davies (1-18 in five) and Rod Homes (1-19 in five).

The first innings was all over inside 35 overs.

The reply took considerably fewer deliveries as an eight wicket win was wrapped up in 27.3 overs.

Opener James Dunford carried his bat over the finishing line unbeaten on 34 whilst fellow opener Rob Thom struck 36 before he was out.

Jedd Whittington, on his return to action, scored 34 from the number three slot and the other not out batsman at the close was Tyler Wellman with seven.

The win lifts the side up to fourth in the D Division and they sit just nine points behind second placed Seaton.

Next up is Saturday’s home game with third placed Ashburton who will start the day just four points above them.

Honiton claimed the result of the day as they defeated visiting Filleigh by 45 runs at Mountbatten Park.

It was also a big result for new skipper Adam Holmes, taking charge of the team for the first time following the resignation of Kev Kelly.

Whilst the win, only their second of the season, does not lift them off the basement spot, they have closed to within four points of the two teams immediately above them, Feniton and Halberton and with the latter at home this Saturday, they could be out of the bottom two by the end of the month!

After losing the toss Honiton were asked to bat and fine knocks from Nathan Groves (76) and former skipper Kelly (56), led them to a very respectable 237-7.

Skipper Holmes said: “It was very satisfying to get past 200 for the first time this season.

“Nathan and Kev batted very sensibly in what were difficult conditions to bat in.

“Although the wicket was dry the outfield wasn’t and it was horrible weather to be playing in, certainly not cricket weather!

“However, we did what we had to do and got the job done.”

The skipper claimed 3-27 and Phil Tansley took 2-27 as Filleigh were bowled out for 192.

Next up is the meeting with a Halberton & Sampford Peverell side that also picked up a second success of the season when they defeated Feniton.

Holmes says: “As long as we are all as positive as we were against Filleigh then I am sure we’ll soon start to climb the table.

“It’s a big game this one as we have the chance to climb above them (Halberton) and even possibly be out of the bottom two come stumps on Saturday.”

John Hext is unavailable so it will mean one change from the XI who despatched Filleigh so confidently.

ASHBURTON’S dip in form continued when they went down by five wickets at Clyst Hydon.

Dhanuda Haturusingha (4-22) got among the early order as Ashes slipped to 42 for four.

Ashley Harvey (42) and Ashley Berry (31no) put on 80 as Ashes recovered, but once Sean Devine accounted for Harvey it was downhill all the way again.

Kevin Sercombe picked up two wickets in the lower half of the order as Ashburton were dismissed for 153 in the 42^nd over.

Hydon stumbled after a positive start, losing Ian Sutton (23), Tom Devine (14) and Rick Martin (0) getting from 37 for none to 43 for three.

Graham Trude (28) kept Clyst going forward and when he went Haturusingha finished the job with 44 off 24 balls, including six sixes and a four.

Gordon Colwill (3-23) and Harvey (2-35) were the pick of the bowlers.