Devon Cricket Board - Premier perviews - Boase in charge of Corns

DUNCAN Boase will lead Cornwood tomorrow in their tussle with visiting Sidmouth.

The former Devon keeper-batter – he played at Lord’s for the county in the 1994 Holt Cup final win over Lincolnshire – is standing in for absent Jason Hall.

And one of the first things the temporary captain has to deal with is an availability issue as Hall isn’t the only player absent.

Keeper Mark Horwell and Adam Goodliffe are missing as well, which means Boase will be pulling on the ‘Marigolds’ one more time.

Youngsters Will Caulfield and Chris Beaumont come into the side having impressed in the 2nd XI.

Cornwood are three off the bottom of the Premier Division while Sidmouth are the defending champions.

However, there isn’t much in the side’s recent form as Sidmouth have lost four of their last six starts – Exmouth turned them over last Saturday – whereas Cornwood go into the match boosted by a win over Budleigh Salterton.

“We will be going all out to spring a surprise – and have the players with the capability to do it on their day,” said Boase.

“Sidmouth remain on of the best sides in the county and deserve total respect, but that wont stop us trying to play positive cricket.

“Our win over Budleigh and the valuable points we took at Bovey have been crucial. Now we have to build on that to keep clear of the bottom two.”

Will Murray, the Sidmouth captain, said it will be a tall order to retain the title after the recent run of results, but by no means impossible.

“We will needed to improve the way we are playing if we want to keep the pressure on the teams above us,” said Murray.

BUDLEIGH Salterton captain Joel Murphy insists the fight will go on to stave off relegation despite a 143-run pounding by North Devon.

Defeat leaves Budleigh propping up the table on 76 points, 27 behind Cornwood going into the basement clash with Bradninch tomorrow.

Glenn Querl made 92 to put North Devon in the driving seat against Budleigh.

Said Murphy: “We have to keep believing we can win a game as I am sure one win will bring others.

“We have to play better than we have been though.

“Glenn Querl can take a game away from you very quickly, but on that pitch I didn’t think they had a massive score despite his efforts.

“Some of our batting was brainless on a pretty good pitch for it – and we played some disastrous shots, which has been the story of our season.”

EXMOUTH head into the clash with Torquay on the Maer top of the table by two points after putting the squeeze on arch rivals Sidmouth to snatch pole position.

Seb Benton and Sandy Allen both passed 80 as Exmouth beat Sidmouth by three wickets to take top spot.

Bovey Tracey were top of the table on games won, but dropped bonus bowling points in their win over Cornwood, which let Exmouth go past them.

Exmouth skipper Richard Baggs wants another Premier Division title to add to his collection, but knows they aren’t won in mid-July.

“We have had a great win over a good side despite not playing at our best,” said Baggs who has won nine Premier titles with Exmouth or Sandford since 1990.

“We bowled very well but fielded poorly, although Sandy and Seb batted fantastically well.

“It is great to be top, but there is a long way to go yet.”

Toby Ingham comes in for Gary Chappell in the only change to the side.

Torquay are without Matt Hunt, who is unavailable against his former club, but have Justin Yau home as a replacement batter for the rest of the season from his job in London.

Josh Hunt, the leading run scorer in the 2nd XI, comes in for Neal Osborn.

Torquay gave themselves a hike away from the basement last Saturday when they defeated Exeter by six runs.

More of the same would be handy, although Exnouth are going to be a tougher nut to crack.

“Last week was a fantastic win for us on limited resources, and one which reaffirmed our belief that we can compete with any side in the division,” said vice-captain Matt Thompson.

“Exmouth are undoubtedly are up there with the best in this division, as they showed last week against Sidmouth.

“We have nothing to lose tomorrow, so we will go the Maer in good spirits, enjoy our cricket and see if we can't just pull off an upset… just like we did last year.”

EXETER visit North Devon looking to bounce back from a six-run defeat at Torquay which capped their winning run at five games.

The City side came unstuck against Torquay on their own ground earlier in the season and arrived at the seaside looking for revenge.

However, Exeter got down to the last over needing 15 to win and that proved too tall an order despite an unbeaten century from Blake Reed.

Exeter may have been thinking about a title push prior to the Torquay game after winning five on the trot. Skipper Tom Viljoen is a little more cautious now.

“We are trying not to look too far ahead, not yet anyway,” said Viljoen.

“We try and play each weekend as it comes.

“Saying that, we are under no illusions that we can just cruise and hope for the best, we need to be aiming high.

“I won't be alone in thinking that North Devon's team are one of the best in the league right now, but with Curtis, Blake and Holman, I think we have a very good top three.

“Adam Gribble comes back in for us, which helps immensely, and Billy Seale is bowling well, and Harry Booker’s talent will shine through.”

North Devon are the form side of the division at the moment with five wins on the bounce and have become the not-so-dark horses in the promotion race,

Skipper Matt Dart is flattered but not getting carried away.

“If we keep doing the same we won't be far away,” said Dart.

“It doesn't matter where we finish as we had such a poor start. No pressure on us so it's just a game at a time.”

North Devon are without Rob Gear due to work commitments and leave out Tom Ansell and Fergus O’Donnell.

In come Jas Kalsi and an as-yet unidentified replacement, rumoured to be one of the Overton twins.

Dan Bowser, injured for the past month, is having a comeback game in the 2nd XI.

PLYMOUTH are out for revenge against Bovey having lost to them earlier in the season – and are looking for more of the clinical cricket that accounted for Bradninh by eight wickets last Saturday.

“We lost to them earlier in the season so we definitely owe them one,” said Plymouth captain Matt Hooper.

“Bovey are flying quite high at the moment so we will be looking to make up some ground on them.

“Last year they lost a few games in the second half of the year so it will be interesting to see how they go this year.

“We want to stay in touch with the top half of the table so we are looking for a win.”

Plymouth have one change from the team that beat Bradninch on Saturday, Pasi Mawalage is injured so they give a debut to John Kerridge.

“John is an exciting and talented young player who has performed well for the second team,” said Hooper.

“He is another brilliant young player that Plymouth have and I am excited to see what he can do in the first team.

“I expect this to be the first of many games for Plymouth.”

Bovey skipper Pete Bradley said there was a definite pattern to games between the two teams, which makes him just a little wary of going to Mount Wise.

“It is always a tough game at Plymouth. – we normally win at ours and lose at theres,” said Bradley.

“We need to make sure we perform to high standards in all departments.

“Plymouth seem very similar to us. In terms of bowlers they are containers.

“Lots of runs are being scored there so it should be a good game.”