- South Dartmoor back to winning ways in cups
- Tom Allin tournament raised more than £5,000 for air ambulance
- Taverners kit bag delivered to Sri Lankan youngsters
- Devon trying to contact the class of 56
- Paceman Tshepo running in Virgin London Marathon
- Five Devon women in Western Storm squad for Kia Super League
- Registration night for all ages at Topsham on Monday
- Lots pouring in for auction at Allin Memorial tournament
- Thames Valley Gentlemen Cricket Club
- Bradninch add Argentinian flavour to Devon League
- Ipplepen youth registration night on Friday
- Final call for Groundsmans first seminar this year
- Devon League official tackling London Marathon for charity
- Bovey on familiar territory in Aaron Printers Cup
- Brockman Cup - Cup Kings lie in wait for holders
- Shepherd Trust helps Kingsbridge build for sustainable future
- DCL - Umpire Appointments 2016 (May 7th - July 2nd)
- Long standing records beaten
- North Devon see off Paignton chase
WHAT’S gone wrong at North Devon? That’s one of the big talking points in Premier Division circles this season.The Instow outfit head for Cornwood tomorrow rock bottom after going down to Bradninch last Saturday.
Budleigh Salterton were bottom, but their defeat at Bovey wasn’t as bad as North Devon’s so the two sides traded places.
North Devon were champions in 2011 and finished a respectable halfway up last season.
In both seasons they has the benefit if Zimbabwean Glenn Querl batting and bowling for them, but he didn’t feature this term until last Saturday due to a summer engagement with Hampshire.
As has been well documented already, Querl is currently suspended from bowling in all forms of cricket while his illegal bowling action is rectified.
North Devon were not a one-man team while Querl was playing, although 99 wickets and 840 runs takes some replacing.
North Devon captain Matt Dart remains confident in his side’s ability to get out of trouble before it is too late.
The key is getting runs on the board as North Devon are not scoring enough.
‘We have tried to go with a settled batting order, but the time may not be far away when that has to change,’ said Dart, a confirmed tail-ender himself.
‘We have opened with Huxtable and Curtis with Bowser at three and moved Rob Gear down to five or six, because that is what he wanted.
‘We are not getting runs at the top of the order and that is putting us under pressure.
‘No one is getting the big scores – the 70s and 80s that hold an innings together – so we are coming up short.
‘Bradninch was a prime example. Another 50-60 may have given us the chance of winning, but we got bogged down mid-innings again.’
Dart said veteran all-rounder Matt Westaway may find himself pushed up the order unless things improve rapidly – and other changes are on the cards.
‘Matt has looked as good as anyone with a bat in his hand in this season so he could go up a bit,’ said Dart.
‘I know Rob wants to come in lower down, but he does have a track record higher up and the team may need him to go back up.
‘There are other options, such as getting Rob Ayre in higher up, although that is a tricky one as he is good at coming in later and getting on with it.
‘One thing is certain. We are in the middle of a bad run and something has to change to end it.’
Cornwood, back in the top flight this season, are cruising around in mid-table after winning at Torquay last week.
Survival was the first priority for Cornwood back in the top flight and with two wins banked they are on course.”
Last week was a fantastic win for us - and real good timing for the season too,” said sidelined skipper Craig Harris.
“Being a third of the way through now and with two wins under the belt we are in a position to go further and collect some more points in the coming weeks.
"In the first third we won against Budleigh and Torquay but lost against Bradninch in arguably a game that we should have won.
“What’s important is we have put the lessons learned in to action over the past few weeks and that showed beating Torquay, setting 250 and bowling them out.”
North Devon are unfamiliar opposition for Cornwood as the two sides haven’t met since 2006 when both were in the A Division.
Whatever North Devon’s current problems are, Harris has plenty of respect for them.
“It has been a while since North Devon have played at Cornwood and our guys are feeling confident and bang up for the challenge.
“They are a decent team and we know from previous years that their league position right now doesn’t reflect the standard of their club.
“What we need to do is knuckle down on our jobs and play to our potential in order to get another positive result and distance ourselves further from the bottom two.
“These are games we need to win. As I’ve said before, points now are important so that we don’t go chasing them at the back end of the season when the pressure is doubled and all sorts of results come out.”