Devon Cricket Board - Torquay start scrambling towards safety

Torquay start scrambling towards safety

EXMOUTH’S dismal league form continued when they went down by 11 runs to Torquay.
Last season’s champions long ago gave up chasing Sidmouth at the top and after this latest defeat are 31 points behind second-placed Plymouth in fourth position.
Torquay were hungry for a win in their scrap to dodge the drop and now have a 25-point cushion between them and Cornwood in the second relegation place.
Matt Thompson and Fahad Iqbal were joint top scorers for Torquay with 40 each in a total of 196 for six in 40 overs.
Thompson got early runs – he was second out at 72 – then Iqbal kept the board ticking over with Mitch Pugh (32) in a stand of 59.
Justin Yau (22) and Joe Thompson (28) got it together to rattle up 50 in five overs before the end.
Gary Chappell (2-28) was the only Exmouth bowler to keep the runs below four an over for Exmouth.
Exmouth’s chase was led by Bob Dawson, who went in at 12 for one and batted for the next 38 overs of 77.
Along the way there were stands of 43 with Richard Baggs (32), 51 with Sandy Allen (22) and 34 with Andrew Buzza (13).
With Dawson in residence being fractionally behind the asking rate wasn’t a massive problem at first.
A target of 32 to win in the final five overs proved just too many and wickets tumbled trying to make up ground.
Dawson was out with three balls to go with 14 needed and that was the end of that.
Pick of the bowlers for Torquay was Faisal Iqbal with four for 28. Jack Richardson, Joe Thompson and Pugh all bowled tidily.
Skipper Richard Baggs said Exmouth didn’t play badly, but didn’t have a lot of luck either
“We didn't play badly, but dropped catches cost us and Torquay caught everything,” said Baggs.
“It seemed Lady Luck didn't go with us as we felt we had run-out Thompson and had very straight lbw against one of Torquay’s overseas players given not out, which would have made them 40 for three.”
Skipper Justin Yau described Torquay’s performance as ‘brilliant’, adding: “To beat that side with eight past and present Minor Counties players was magnificent - and the pleasing thing was that everyone contributed.
“After Cornwood won last week, it would have been really easy to drop our heads.
“But we've come back stronger and put ourselves into a great position to avoid the drop.
“It was a complete team performance by us and we need to carry it on for the next few weeks.”

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