Devon Cricket Board - B Division round-up: Clyst not down yet

B DIVISION

CLYST St George sent a signal to the rest of the B Division that they aren’t down and out just yet when they won on the chase at Dartington & Totnes.

The Darts were bowled out for 146 with Ryan Stevenson (58) and Kyle Blanchard (40) their main run getters.

It was steady as she goes for Clyst wit Chris Cook (25), Pete Andrews (22), Chris Ferro (20) and Tim Read (20) all contributing.

Tim Downer smashed a four in the last over to give Clyst only their second win of the season.

Clyst remain bottom, but only have a 20-point gap to close on Axminster to reach safety.

As Axminster have promotion chasers South Devon and Chudleigh to play yet, what price Clyst saving themselves from the drop now?

Axminster skipper Paul Miller was left to lament his side’s failure to hold catches as the Cloakham Lawns side’s B Division relegation worries increased after a seven wicket home defeat at the hands of Tavistock.

The in-form Gary Larcombe (60), Daniel Murnane (41), the skipper (45) and a helpful 38 extras took Axminster to a close of 240-5.

The Tavistock reply ought to have been in trouble but both openers were put down in the early exchanges of the reply and both went on to punish the soft hands by making big scores that ultimately led to Axminster’s defeat.

Ian Gray made 80, Aaron Churchill had 72 and their stand of 159 buried Axminster.

Miller said: “Catches do win matches and we put down no fewer than five including both openers – one on nought and the other on two.

“The defeat is a tough one to swallow, for, at tea, I really felt our 240 was a healthy total, and one we were very capable of certainly not losing the match with.”

With four games to play Axminster are most certainly involved in a relegation battle. Their last four games offer little hope of them escaping the drop and, if they do survive they’ll have done it the hard way.

They begin the run-in with a visit from Barnstaple and Pilton on Saturday. They then go to Chagford before ending with a trip to Chudleigh followed by a last day home game with South Devon. Those last two games are against the sides currently second and third in the table!

Miller says: “It’s going to be tough, and we realistically need to win two of those four and pick up decent points in the other two games. Clearly the critical one is the Chagford trip in two weeks but we simply have to bank points this Saturday against Barum.”

Chagford sprung one of the shocks of the season when they went to Plymstock and won by four wickets.

On paper it was a home banker as Plymostock have been top of the table since week two and Chagford have barely been out of the bottom three since then.

Billy Searle (4-32) and Jeremy Christophers (3-38) bundled Plymstock out for 144. Dave Orchard (61) and Rory Coultham (34) made 49 for the fifth wicket to rescue them from 50 for four.

Colin Mortimore (47) and Arnie Searle (44) fronted the run chase largely untroubled by the Plymstock bowling.

Skipper Del Lammonby snicked a four through slip to win it by four wickets.

Thorverton won for the second week running when they dispatched Barnstaple & Pilton by 67 runs.

Ali Fury (46) and Paul Fielder put on 80 for the first wicket and with Will Denford (44) and Blake Charlton (39) chipping in a total of 225 all out was reached.

Spinners George MeEndoo (4-36) and Steve Moore (3-42) took the bowling honours for B&P;

Barum got away to a 51-run start thanks to openers Andy Barton and Lawrence May, then went into a steady decline as Gwillam Crouch (3-41) and Jack Choules (3-15) wheeled away.

Take out 40 extras and there was not a lot from the batters as B&P subsided to 158 all out.

Chudleigh pulled off an unlikely three-wicket win over South Devon to snatch second place off their long-running rivals for promotion.

The two sides have been going at it hammer and tongs all season behind Plymstock and with four games to go there are only 10 points betw en all three of them.

It looked like South Devon’s day after they reduced Chudleigh to 79 for six in reply to their own 145 all out.

South Devon hadn’t bargained on Chudleigh captain Jon Martin’s will to win though.

Martin slammed 63 not out to win the game and reserved his biggest hits for predecessor Mark Hulse, who quit Chudleigh for South Devon during the close season.

In the gathering gloom at Kate Brook it wasn’t possible for South Devon to use Kiwi pacer Peter Vorster, so Hulse was wheeled on to bowl. His three overs cost 27 runs, 21 in one over to Martin that went: four, six, four, six, one!

Shaun Newland (11no) was towed along by Martin as the runs were wiped off.

Earlier, Hulse had taken his old team for 61, and shared in a stand of 53 with Dave Baldock (20). Left-arm spinner Jack Vittles again showed his use to the side with four for 37.