Devon Cricket Board - Premier reports and reaction

PREMIER DIVISION

NORTH Devon are one win away from lifting the Premier Division title for only the second time in their history after routing relegation-haunted Heathcoat by 10 wickets at Instow.

Heathcoat were bowled out for 104 with Glenn Querl leading the way with five for 27 in the absence of England U19 pacer Jamie Overton, who was under orders not to play due to an ankle injury.

Neil Bettis then cracked an unbeaten 68 and Rob Gear hit 30 as North Devon knocked off the runs in the 16th over.

Victory puts North Devon 40 points clear of second-placed Sidmouth with 60 to play for.

If North Devon win big at Plymouth this Saturday, they won’t be caught in the last two games.

Gwynne Jones, North Devon’s cricket manager, said it was a thoroughly workmanlike display by the side.

“Tight bowling from Glenn Querl and Craig Overton created the pressure and soon wickets began to tumble,” said Jones.

“Max Curtis bowled a good spell of off -pin extracting bounce and turn from a placid pitch.

With little appetite or application from Heathcoat their innings folded in 42 overs – and a highly aggressive innings from Neil Bettis, well supported by Rob Gear finished the match in quick time just before the rain set in.”

Heathcoat are 19 points adrift of safety at the bottom of the table as Plympton increased their lead over them by taking a winning draw off Exmouth.

Exmouth put 224 on the board with Barney Huxtable (51), Lawrence Greenway (43) and county star David Lye (45) all chipping in.

Had it not been for Imran Ali Pasha (3-58) and Keith Donohue (3-54) slowing them up, Exmouth probably would have hit 280 territory as they were 83 for one after 20 of their 50 overs.

With Richard Skinner (41) and Dan Robotham (31) bossing the middle order, Plympton were well placed at 153 for five.

Losing three wickets for nine runs to Lye (4-41) changed the game and from them on it was safety first.

Plympton were 197 for nine when their overs ran out, a result which earned them 10 points and put 18 between them and Heathcoat in the second drop spot.

Winless Paignton – they were embarrassed by 10 wickets at home to Bovey Tracey – are officially relegated now. It looks like Heathcoat will be going with them, although Plympton skipper Andy Walter remains conservative in his outlook.

“With Exmouth getting off to a great start I was happy to keep them to 224.

“Great bowling from Imran and Donners again slowed Exmouth up.

“Rich Skinner batted well and at one stage we needed 100 off the last 20 with seven wickets in hand.

“Because of that mini collapse we ended up having to play out for the draw in the last six overs.

“With Heathcoat getting stuffed we are in a good position, but there still a lot of cricket to be played.

“Having said that, I Would rather be in our position than theirs!”

Bradninch were on the ropes against visiting Plymouth, but refused to throw in the towel and ht back to earn a respectable draw.

When Bradninch were 75 for six in reply to Plymouth’s 212 for eight there only looked one possible outcome.

Bradninch had other ideas though and the dad-and-lad combination of Chris (42) and Eliot Acton (35no) shored up the bottom half of the order.

Sam Stein (3-33) finally prised out Chris Acton when he returned for a second spell. Eliot batted through to the close as Bradninch reached 184 for nine in reply.

“If we were going to win it we needed someone to bat through – and at 26 for four there was not much chance of that,” said Bradninch skipper Gary Chappell.

“To get a good draw from being 26 for four was a great result for us though. It showed the strength of batting in the side.

“When we needed 75 off the last 10 we decided to have a go for it, but once Chris got out it was time to shut up shop.

“We had worked hard to get back in the game and there was no point throwing it way.

Callum Whittaker top scored for Plymouth with 76 and batted through to the fall of the seventh wicket at 196 when he was caught at mid-wicket.

Along the way there were stands of 56 with Steve Luffman – caught on the boundary for 23 – and 41 with Matt Hooper.

Hooper made a bright and breezy 24 and made a point of going after Sean Nowak (1-56).

Pick of Bradninch’s bowlers by a distance was Ross Acton with four for 30. Chappell had two for 50 from 15 tidy overs.

Bradninch were in early trouble when opener Ross Acton was lbw to Dave Burke fourth ball.

It didn’t get any better as Tim Piper, Brad Cachopa and Joe Webb all fell to the Burke (3-48)-Stein axis as Bradninch nosedived to 26 for four.

Dan Hardy (23) stared the comeback and after Charlie Hill snared him lbw the Actons and Nowak (17) kept Plymouth at bay.

Chris Acton faced 93 balls for his 42, which was easily the difference between defeat and a draw.

Plymouth skipper Callum Whittaker said although they didn’t win, it was one of the city side’s better performances this season.

“We batted well as a unit with some gritty partnerships through the middle, which is what has been missing in patches this season,” said Whittaker.

“Sadly we could nor finish them off, even though we bowled well.

“Even so 15 points up there is still a real result – and I was made up by the fight shown by all the boys.”

Bovey Tracey’s 10-wicket win over doomed Paignton was something of a non-event.

Paignton were bowled out for a paltry 45 with Matt Kidd (5-17) and Dan Childs (3-15) doing most of the damage.

Paignton opener Mark Smith lasted nine balls, Conor Bryan managed one more and George Benton only faced one from Kidd – and hit it straight to Charlie Carter.

Only Seb Benton (12) and Steve George (11) registered double-figure scores as Paignton crashed from 12 for four to 21 for seven and on to 45 all out.

Bovey needed just 9.5 overs to knock off the runs, led by skipper Pete Bradley with six fours and a six in his 38 not out.

Bovey (4th) have their sights set on a second-place finish and as they have Budleigh (3rd) and Sidmouth (2nd) still to play they may well do it.

Paignton have bee resigned to relegation since the halfway stage in the season and this result confirmed it mathematically as they are 85 points adrift with 60 to play for.

Sidmouth stayed on course for a second-placed finish in the Premier Division after beating Budleigh Salterton by four wickets in the derby clash at Ottermouth.

Budleigh were held to 119 for nine in 50 overs - not one of their better batting displays – and were glad of 41 not out at number ten from Lloyd Murrin for getting anywhere near a hundred.

Will Murray led the bowling effort for Sidmouth with three for 15 and there were two wickets each for Josh Bess, Will Gater and Neil Hancock.

Sidmouth didn’t have it their own way on the chase – 51 for two became 67 for five after a three-wicket burst from Charles Morris – but they were seen home by Luke Bess (42) and Will Gater (31no).

By the time Joel Murphy got Bess out, the target was one to win and it was game over.

Victory lifted Sidmouth above Budleigh into second place, but only by two points. Skipper Murray said Sidmouth intend to stay there for what’s left of the season.

“If we can’t win the league this year, at least second is something to show for our efforts,” said Murray.

Looking back on the game, Murray said Sidmouth totally outplayed Budleigh and the performances of his rising stars were encouraging for the seasons ahead.

“We got their top three county batsmen all out for six between them and at 41 for seven, I thought we would run through the rest,” said Murray.

“Our young Devon players – Josh Bess and Will Gater – got Budleigh’s big names out.

“Lloyd Murrin chanced his arm a bit, but he hit the ball well and we ended up chasing 120, which I would have settled for at the start but at 59 for eight was expecting less.

“James Burke produced a couple of great yorkers to get out Josh and Neil Hancock, but Luke (Bess) and Anthony Griffiths got us going again.

“Charlie Morris had that good patch in the middle, but it was nice to see our own Devon players of the future – Gater and Zac Bess – take us to victory.”