Devon Cricket Board - Premier Division - Exmouth look to bounce back

EXMOUTH travel to champs in waiting North Devon tomorrow keen to put a T20 battering behind them.

Exmouth’s win over Bradninch two weeks ago in the Ivor Dewdney’s Devon T20 final earned them a trip to St Just last Sunday for the regional finals.

Lying in wait for Exmouth were Somerset champions Bridgwater, who had former Budleigh Salterton and Devon fast bowler Ian Bishop in a particularly mean mood.

Andy Buzza was dismissed first ball, Bishop took two for seven in four overs as Exmouth were bowled out 53. Mike Cliff lashed Mike Coles (2-11) for two sixes on his way to a quickfire 21.

Bridgwater knocked off the runs for the loss of one wicket in just six overs. George Greenway took the only wicket to fall, caught behind by brother Lawrence.

Exmouth skipper Richard Baggs said: “I was out for ten in the tenth over, which tell you just how much they outplayed us.

“Bishy bowled brilliantly – too good for us with the side we had out – and I have no complaints on that front.

“It didn’t help we were without our Devon boys, Trevor Anning and David Lye, but that’s no excuse.

“What I still don’t understand is how the rules keep changing from round to round?

“In the county final we could play our overseas player Anthony Radunovic, but for the regional final the ECB won’t let him play. That doesn’t seem fair to me.”

Bridgwater lost in the regional final to St Just, who will go on to the televised National finals next month.

North Devon away from home will be a tough game, but one Baggs is looking forward to.

Lye, Baggs and Anning all made half centuries against North Devon first time around in a game Exmouth lost by six wickets.

“Scoring runs against them isn’t a problem, but stopping them knocking them off was,” said Baggs.

“Up there on what is usually a good batting track I wouldn’t mind batting second and having a chase.”

Budleigh Salterton will be without former Devon captain Bob Dawson for the trip to Bovey Tracey.

It’s the wedding season and Dawson is under orders to attend.

Bovey Tracey have called up Devon Lions batter Sam Wyatt-Haines in to what is otherwise an unchanged side

Bradninch entertain Paignton looking for the one win skipper Gary Chappell believes they need to be safe from the threat of relegation.

Heathcoat’s win over Bovey last time out has left Chappell just a little nervous.

“Heathcoat are 15 points behind us now as we didn’t play last week so one more win would make us completely safe,” said Chappell.

All-rounder Eliot Acton is not available so in comes Gary Newall as batting cover.

“I think we have enough bowling to get through but to have Gary coming in at seven or eight could be useful,” said Chappell.

Sidmouth go to Plymouth in a dress rehearsal for next month’s Devon Cup final, which will be played as scheduled on September 4 despite moves to shift it by a week.

Devon are likely to call up two or even three Sidmouth players for the Minor Counties final against Cambridgeshire starting on cup final day, which permits a cup postponement under competition rules.

League bosses were ready to move the game by a week, but after Sidmouth and Plymouth chatted it over between them, they decided to stick with September 4 at Bovey Tracey.

“Basically, Plymouth have their end-of-season do the proposed night of the rearrangement and it would have meant a number of their players pulling out,” said Sidmouth skipper Will Murray.

“We would rather play the best side Plymouth can put out and after chatting it over with their captain we will play on the original date.”

Sidmouth will be without Devon captain Neil Hancock tomorrow as he is recovering from surgery on a broken nose. Fit again Will Gater comes in.

It’s win or bust for Heathcoat when they face fellow strugglers Plympton at Knightshayes.

Heathcoat grabbed a lifeline to safety last Saturday when they beat Bovey Tracey by one wicket to move within seven points of Plympton and safety.

PLYMPTON face their 'most important match' since rejoining Devon cricket's top-flight in 1999 at fellow strugglers Heathcoat tomorrow (1pm).

Skipper Andy Walter's side have dropped back into the relegation mire after their match with Budleigh Salterton was rained off last week.

While Plympton were picking up six points, Heathcoat collected 16 with a squeaky one-wicket win over Bovey Tracey.

Consequently, third-from-bottom Plympton are now just seven points better off than Heathcoat in the penultimate round of the 2011 campaign.

Pragmatically, not losing against the Tiverton-based side tomorrow comes top of Walter's list, but the visiting captain believes Plympton have the players to come away with a victory.

But Walter, whose side will entertain fourth-from-bottom Bradninch at Harewood Park in their season-closer next Saturday, is under no illusions about the gravity of their situation.

He said: "This is a massive game, no question, for us and for Heathcoat, and it's a game we have to win or at least not lose. Last weekend was a nightmare for us, as losing out on points with a rained-off match was made so much worse with Heathcoat beating Bovey.

"That has dropped us right back into it, but we know what we've got to do and I reckon we've got the players to come away with a result.

"We could go into next week's game against Bradninch knowing we don't have any relegation worries, which would be really nice.

"Or, it could be that we'll be under pressure to win our final game to stay up which is what we hope to avoid.

"Hopefully, we can settle the issue at Heathcoat tomorrow and I'm confident we really can. But in my view it's the biggest match for Plympton since we returned to the Premier Division."