Devon Cricket Board - Cornwood's last chance of survival vanishes

Cornwood's last chance of survival vanishes

CORNWOOD’S last chance of Premier Division survival went out of the window when they went down by 128 runs at Torquay.
Torquay were the side Cornwood had to catch to stay up – and with a 25-point lead going into the game the odds were always stacked in the Seasiders’ favour.
So it is back to the A Division next season after two years in the top flight.
Cornwood have been this way before – they were in the Premier between 2000-2002 last time round – but don’t intend staying in the A Division 12 years before going back up.
“We hope the squad of players at Cornwood can use the 2015 season in the A Division to consolidate and build for another attempt at Premier cricket in 2016” said chairman Nick Goodliffe.
“There is a great squad camaraderie, which has been evident throughout the season, and providing this continues and we look to strengthen in a few areas, then there is no reason why we cannot make an immediate bounce back to where we want to be.
“Our club infrastructure is in place to match the other top sides in the county and we will continue to strive to achieve that status.
“Having the 2nd XI promoted to the Premier 2^nd XI competition and our 3rd XI retain their position in the B Division will help the club towards that objective.
“It’s still very much onwards and upwards from our perspective.”
Losing at Torquay may have been the end of the line, but Goodliffe said relegation was down to results before they go there.
“With several regular players unavailable it was always going to be a challenge to gain the points needed to overtake Torquay in the remaining two games, but it was disappointing in the way that we were beaten by a stronger team on the day,” said Goodliffe.
“Jason Hall’s team has performed well on occasions this season, with some noteworthy victories along the way, but have lacked the consistency needed to survive at this very high standard.
“We are all very disappointed to have slipped down, but now have to start looking forwards.”
Torquay, boosted by the appearance of Somerset’s Max Waller on a day Cornwood were without professional Jackson Thompson, made 224 for eight in 50 overs.
Star man with the bat was Faisal Iqbal with 96 at run-a-ball rate.
By the time Iqbal was out to 202 for six, he had been involved in partnerships totting up to 164. Matt Thompson (41) stayed with him longer than anyone.
Pick of the bowlers for wickets was Byron Langley (3-46). Hall and Matt Skeemer both bowled tidy spells of less than four an over.
Cornwood were all out for 96 in reply and other than Ryan Rickard (31) no one made more than 20.
After a 30-run opening between Ben Warren (10) and Rickard, Cornwood went into a steady decline,
Skeemer’s 18 was the best of the rest as Waller (4-10) mopped up behind Mitch Pugh (2-20).

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