Devon Cricket Board - A Division round-up -

SKIPPER James Carr claimed Plympton were the architects of their own misfortune after crashing to a 77-run defeat against A Division leaders Budleigh Salterton.

Former Somerset and Northants all-rounder Ben Phillips top scored for Budleigh with 44 off 54 balls in a total of 194 for eight.

Rob Craze made 39 – he and Phillips put on 68 for the third wicket – then captain Joel Murphy tipped and ran for a quick 30 not out at the end.

Craze,who has played for Cambridgeshire and Northants 2nd XI, has joined Budleigh while studying at the University of Exeter.

Plympton could feel pleased with their bowling efforts, especially Matt Gregory, whose three for 32 off 10 was the pick of the bunch. Wes Hartslief (1-29) kept it tight for 10 overs too.

Plympton struggled all round with the bat though, rolling over for 117 in the 29th over. Christian Bunney made 33, but the next best was Ross Farrer with 18.

Farrer’s demise was the beginning of the end for Plympton, who went from 91 for six when he was bowled by Luke Peterson (3-18) to 117 all out.

Phillips returned for a second spell to mop up the stragglers en route to figures of three for 21.

Said Carr: “We bowled extremely well and did a good job to keep Budleigh below 200, especially with the batting they have.

“I was disappointed Budleigh got as many as they did as we had them eight down for 152 so should have finished them off.

“Batting wise we were up with the run rate from the first over, but lacked application.

“To only bat for 28 overs is criminal. If we had batted 50, we would have won.

“Taking nothing away from Budleigh, they pulled it back and bowled well, they have a lot of experience and bowled their lines.

“On the positive side we were missing four players who can come in and make us stronger and I think they were at full strength.

“It looks on paper we got hammered, but we competed and their experience was just a bit better than ours on the day.”

PAIGNTON are climbing the A Division table after beating Abbotskerswell by eight-wickets in a one-sided affair at Queens Park.

Abbots were held to 187 for eight in their 50 overs – Jake Dearaugo top scoring on 42 from 95 balls.

Jamie Fulner (28) and Steve Bowman (25) chipped in.

Pick of the bowlers by a distance for Paignton with four for 32 was George Yates.

Paignton’s South African star Zubyar Hamza lashed an unbeaten century – 101 off 78 balls – to wrap up victory with nearly 25 overs to spare.

Paignton lost Mark Smith and Mickey Cousens reaching 34, but Hamza and Chris Kelmere (48no) saw it through with a stand of 157 unbroken.

Victory lifts Paignton to joint second in the table, level with Brixham and a point ahead of Barton, with lowly Chudleigh to play this Saturday.

Promotion is Paignton’s aim this season and skipper Conor Bryan is happy with the start his side has made.

“I don't think i could have asked for much more from any of the boys,” said Bryan.

“Abbots won the toss and elected to bat on what was clearly a great batting track.

“They got off to a solid start however struggled to gather momentum in the middle part of the innings and towards the end.

“We felt 188 was a gettable target on that wicket. We lost two early wickets but some great batting from Zuby and Chris Kelmere got us over the line with plenty off overs to spare.

“Twenty-one points was a great result for us, onwards to the next game now.”

Abbots, at home to Bradninch this Saturday, are on off the bottom and still looking for their first win of the season.

Abbots skipper Richard Acton said runs were a problem at Paignton – scoring them and stopping Hamza helping himself to them!

“In hindsight we should have posted more than 185, but we were positive we had a decent total to defend,” said Acton.

“Jacob DeAraugo batted well to get us to that total, however we came up against Hamza, who was different class on the day and scored a very good hundred.

“There was not much else our bowlers could do, we will re group and look to kick-start our season against Bradninch.”

BRIXHAM kept their nerve in a tense environment to beat Hatherleigh by 15 runs.

Brixham reached 201 for six in their 50 overs – former Devon and England Board XI batsman Andy Pugh top scoring on 43.

Pugh was third out at 95 –Mark Lake had him caught behind – but Brixham carried on stretching their lead with runs from Andy Lewin (31), Mark Orchard (31) and Jordan Gregory (30no).

Gregory and Tim Robinson – 23 off 18 balls – put on 51 in the last seven overs.

Hatherleigh struggled from the starts against Lee Upham (4-28) and were 48 for five when Lake went out to join Simon Gillespie

Gillespie (56) and Lake (37) hoisted 75 for the sixth wicket and it was game on despite some tidy bowling from Gary Spencer (1-21 off 8) and Jordan Gregory.

Mark Orchard (2-31) removed Lake, but Gillespie took runs where he could with the bottom half of the order.

Only when Gillespie was run out with three overs left 30 short of victory, could Brixham relax.

“We batted well to get 200 on a very slow, low wicket,” said skipper Pugh.

“Andrew, Tim and Jordan did a great job with the bat and Lee bowled 10 straight at the start and picked up four wickets.

“We need to catch a bit better if we want to be contenders as we dropped three catches in first six overs.”

Opposite number Lake certainly felt Gillespie’s dismissal was significant.

“Being 48 for five meant it was a long way back, but we got ourselves back in the game which is a positive and very nearly got there,” said Lake.

“Simon Gillespie batted really well and his run-out maybe cost us the game.”

BARTON go into the top-of-the-table derby clash with Brixham in confident mood after hurrying to a seven-wicket win over Chudleigh.

Chudleigh were bowled out for 124 in the 46th of their 50 overs – Mark Heather (31) and skipper Ed Foreman (21) making the only scores of note.

From a wobbly 90 for five when Heather was cleaned up by Tom Drake, Chudleigh crumbled against the spin of Stuart Bowker.

Bowker finished with five for 27, leaving Denovan Ekstraal to knock over last-man Ben Holmes first ball.

The target was never an issue for Barton, who had it polished off in 27.3 overs

Shaun Needham belted 40 off 35 balls and Chris Penner made 36 in a 60-run start.

Ekstraal came in at 72 for two and batted through for 37 not out to seal victory.

“It was a good result for the boys, who did a lot of things right,” said Barton captain Adam Parker.

“We applied ourselves when bowling and stuck to the game plan of restricting runs and being patient for wickets.

“Batting wise again we were patient and waited for the right ball to go after.

“There is still areas to improve on and early in the season we still have some good players that are yet to get started.

Looking ahead is another tough game when we would love to get back-to-back positive results.”

For Chudleigh, winless and rock bottom, a home game against Paignton won’t be any easier.

Foreman said the difference between success and failure can be marginal, as the Barton game proved.

“Barton's bowlers made it very difficult for us to score and took wickets at key stages,” said Foreman.

“However, we took steps forward in our batting and a lot more application in the early overs was shown.

“Our bowling and fielding took a step backwards but it is hard for young bowlers to try and contain someone like Shaun Needham when he decides to go from ball one.

“The complete performance is not far away and then results will come.”