Devon Cricket Board - Binns bags five as Barton stumble

A DIVISION ROUND UP

SANDFORD got off the mark in the best possible fashion with a five-wicket win over visiting Barton.

Depleted Barton were all out for 111 which was never enough to trouble Sandford.

Barton’s nemesis was Gary Binns, who took eight wickets in the corresponding game last season and had five more on Saturday.

Other than a stand of 41 for the third wicket between Andy McVeigh (37) and Alex Hunt (7), runs were hard to come by. Next best individually was Parker senior with 17.

Binns finished with five for 35, which included Hunt and Adam Parker in the same over - while Andy Theedom took three for 43.

Sandford made steady progress towards the target, led from the start by Ryan Glass (36) andd Russ Discombe, who put on 33.

A 41-run stand between skipper Matt Theedom (24no) and Mike Durrand (26) left just a handful of runs to get.

Damon Calland took such bowling honours as there were for Barton with two for 25.

Sandford captain Matt Theedom said: “We will have tougher games than this, but by the time we meet Barton again they will be stronger and so will we.

“We had players missing so it was nice to see the local lads likc Russ Discombe, Simon Ashplant and Ryan Glass do the business.

Opposite number Parker wasn’t too dispirited, commenting: “Although we lost there were encouraging signs for the season.

“With a number of first-team regulars out, the players who stepped up performed well and showed good promise for the rest of the season.”

EXETER suffered a last-over defeat against Braunton as their attempt to bounce straight back into the Premier Division made a faltering start.

Aussie new boy Callum Still hit a top score of 59 in an Exeter total of 191 for nine.

The target was a test for Braunton, but they got there with three balls and three wickets to spare.

It wasn’t the start skipper Jon Tipper was looking for, but he was far from despondent.

“We played pretty well in difficult conditions due to the rain and were desperately close to winning it,” claimed Tipper.

“Another 20 would have been enough and on drier days we should be posting the sort of scores that will challenge opponents.

“We bowled and fielded fantastically well so not too many complaints at all.”

Still and the impressive Mat Medway (30) were Exeter’s main run getters. Andy Paddison and Jon Baglow had three wickets each.

Paddison then made 43 on the chase, before handing over to Tom Mitcham to see Braunton home with an unbeaten 53.

TORQUAY signalled their intent to get up among the promotion chasers with a hefty 110-run win over Shobooke Park.

Matt Thompson sent a message to the Devon selectors who overlooked him for yesterday’s game against Wiltshire with a top score of 60 in Torquay’s total of 212 for seven.

An all-round bowling effort, led by Jonathan Rice (3-22) helped send Shobrooke on their way for 102.

Torquay want their Premier place back this season and for skipper Justin Yau this win was a great start, but nothing more.

“There are 17 more games to go and while it was good to start with such an emphatic win we can’t afford to be complacent,” said Yau.

“There were several good things about our performance, the main one being that every player contributed in some way with either bat or ball. We didn’t drop any catches either.

“Joe Thompson barely bowled last season due to injuy, so I was pleased to see him take a wicket on his first bowl.

“Crucially, we got runs in the middle order at last, something Torquay sides have struggled with for a number of seasons. If we can keep that up we could have a good season.”

Although Rice went cheaply, Torquay’s second-wicket pair Thomspson and Yau (23) moved the score on by 67.

Scott Baldry signed in with 29 following his move from Paignton to the Rec and put on 51 for the sixth wicket with Joe Thompson.

Shobrooke’s innings never really got out of second gear as they struggled to 48 for seven. Rice knocked over dangerman Ben Stockdon (24), the new overseas player at Shobrooke, then had on Jon James and Sam Reddick in successive balls in his three-wicket haul.

Ben Passener, Joe Thompson and Jan Bothma had two wickets each as Shobrooke faded out of contention.

Ninth pair Richard Pyle (25no) and Peter Steer put on 27 to delay the inevitable.

ANTHONY Marr made an instant impact for Brixham with a match-winnning 71 not out in the six-wicket win at Abbotskerswell.

Abbots were dismissed for 138 long before the end of their 50 overs – and 60 of them came in extras.

Brixham generously bowled 50 wides, which represented the top score for Abbots. Best off the bat was Marcus Green with 15.

“The conditions weren’t easy as it was wet and it can be hard bowling across the slope at Abbots, which was our experience,” said Brixham captain Chris Lanyon.

Lee Upham and Mark Gilmour had three wickets each and there were two for Craig Eaves.

Marr, newly arrived at Brixham from Australia for the season, thumped his 71 off 83 balls with three fours and two sixes.

Abbots’ captain Mike Pugh said it was a disappointing way to start the season, but one that had highlighted certain deficiencies.

“We didn’t score enough runs, and that was because we didn’t bat out our overs,” said Pugh.

“A par score was around 170 and had we got that it would have a much closer game.”

Opposite number Lanyon saw it differently.

“We bowled really well and backed up the bowlers in the field,” said Lanyon.

“On a drier day we could even have knocked off the runs without loss.”

ALPHINGTON only got as far as the tea interval in their game at home to Cornwood before the weather intervened.

It wasn’t a great day for Alphington as they were all out for 149 in the 43rd of their 50 overs, having seen a great start slip away.

Dave Haysom (33), Andy Codling (23) and Mark Porter (38) were all among the runs as the Alphas reached 108 for three.

Wickets tumbled to Elliot Staddon (2-28) and Aziz Cheema (3-440 as the bottom half of the batting order did a vanishing act!

Four batsmen made nothing at all as the last five wickets went for just 25 runs.