Devon Cricket Board - A Division: Corns more dangerous without Cheema

A DIVISION

SANDFORD skipper Matt Theedom claimed Cornwood were more dangerous without their Pakistani pacemen Aizaz Cheema after his side lost by 20 runs to the South Hams outfit.

Cornwood Skipper Jason Hall top scored with 24, but only Kevin Willcock (15) made a significant contribution after that in a total of 104 all out.

Two wickets for Jamie Palmer (2-14) and the unfortunate demise of Richard Conn to a run-out had Cornwood reeling at 10 for three.

Hall and Willcock got the score up to 83 for five, despite good pressure from Darryn Mortimer (3-34) and Simon Ashplant (2-21), then three wickets fell for as many runs to put Sandford seemingly in control.

For Cornwood, who are without the talismanic Cheema for the next two weeks while he prepares at home for a T20 tournament, it seemed there weren’t enough runs on the board to defend.

Cornwood built pressure by bowling in good areas – Mike Wood bowled 16 overs for figures of two for 24 – and as run-rate pressure grew wickets fell.

Andy Bees (5-26) got into the middle order and from 34 for three Sandford careered to 76 for eight.

Matt Butterworth assisted with the mopping up as Sandford dipped to 84 all out.

Said Theedom: “Without Cheema they all tried that little bit harder and we suffered because of it.”

Cornwood skipper Jason Hall said: “It was a great effort from the lads on an extremely difficult wicket.

“Anything between 100-120 was what we were looking for and then our bowling and fielding was electric. A great answer posed to the questions raised by our defeat by Exeter the previous week.”

TORQUAY extended their lead at the top of the A Division to 35 points after beating Barton by four wickets in the derby clash at Cricketfield Road.

Barton were held to 132 for eight in 50 overs – Dale Adderley making a top score of 31.

The chase wasn’t a formality and Torquay were glad of their lengthy batting line up for knocking off the runs.

Knock them off they did though to make it seven wins in eight starts to pull further away from Sandford, who lost at Cornwood.

Tom Briggs (23) made early runs for Barton, then Adderley moved the score along from 73 for four to 121 for six.

Nick Watkin was the pick of Torquay’s bowlers wicket-wise with four for 34 from 15 overs against his old club.

Jan Bothma bowled 15 overs for 18 runs – 12 of which came in boundaries, which is a lot of dot balls in anyone’s language. In his final four overs, Barton only took one run off him!

Torquay reached 37 without loss before Mike Lievesley removed Matt Thompson with the first ball he bowled to him.

Former Barton captain Aaron Williams got his head down to make 47and defied the veteran Lievesley (4-45) to put Torquay on course for victory.

Support down the order came from Mickey Wilkinson with 26. Bothma and Jon Rice accrued the final 10 runs needed to see Torquay home.

Torquay skipper Justin Yau said his side got what they expected from Barton and said it had been hard work to win.

“Barton showed a great amount of passion throughout and ground out a reasonable score,” said Yau.

“Another 15-20 runs would have made it very interesting. Having said that we kept our cool well and our long batting shone though at the end.

“It is very reassuring when you have Mickey Wilkinson, Jan Bothma and Jon Rice coming in late-on, all of whom have been top-three batters in the past.

“Barton made it difficult for us but we had enough to get over the line.

“We could not have asked for a better start and we must keep grinding out these results to ensure we continue to pull clear of the chasing pack.”

While Torquay are starting to look like nailed-on favourites to go up – not that Yau likes that sort of talk – winless Barton are just two points above the drop zone.

With victory in the bag, Yau had some words of encouragement for Barton and opposite number Parker.

“ If Barton play like they did against us for the rest of the season, they will be safe by August,” predicted Yau.

“Barton have as much passion as any side in the division and will produce good results along the line, I am certain of it!

“I just hope they can do us a favour against sides close to us.”

Barton skipper Parker remains up beat even though his team are approaching the halfway stage with nothing better than a winning draw on books.

Said Parker: “Obvioulsy I was disappointed we did not have finish with a better result, but the players gave everything they could and on a another day things may have been different.

“Defending a low score we bowled and fielded exceptionally and at one stage looked like we could have pulled off a win.

“The team spirit is better than ever and I am sure our first win is going to come soon.”

NEW skipper Mark Orchard signed in with a century as Brixham trounced Alphington by 90 runs at Boundary Park.

Orchard took over last week from Chris Lanyon, who stood down owing to the combined pressures of work and family commitments.

The first thing Orchard did was move himself up the order to open the innings with George Northcott.

While Northcott didn’t last long – in and out for eight – Orchard and Lanyon got on with it.

Orchard went all the way to 108, hitting 12 fours and a six, reaching his 50 off 40 balls and his ton 44 deliveries later.

Lanyon weighed in with 75 and shared in a stand of 150 for the third wicket with his successor.

Richard Ward weighed in with 22 not out at the end to help Brixham towards s tally of 242 for nine declared

Pick of the bowlers for Alphington with four for 39 was spinner Stuart Shaw. Nathan Caton-Robertson had three for 54.

Alphington were soon in trouble against the twin threat posed by spinners Mark Gilmour (4-45) and Craig Eaves (3-23).

With overseas bowling star Anthony Marr injured, Gilmour and Eaves bore the brunt of the work.

At 68 for six Alphas were going nowhere, Then Andy Wilson arrived and did his best to salvage the game.

A stand of 54 for the ninth wicket with Tom Bath (12) gave Alphas some hope, but Wilson went for 47 at 152 to give Brixham victory with more than five overs to spare.

ABBOTSKERSWELL took the safety first route to a draw after realising they were not going to win at Braunton.

Stuart Rhodes fired a top score of 67 in Braunton’s total of 190 for eight.

Having run into early difficulties against Abbots’ seamer Rob Shergold (3-46), Braunton recovered with Rhodes, Jas Kalsi (21) and Jason Heyes (41) all among the runs.

Abbots were painfully slow from the start – 11 for none in eight overs , 40 for none at 20 and 51 without loss at halfway – with Richard Ashworth (28) the finally the first man out at 59.

Guy Harrison-Roberts (23) chipped in with a few and Josh Dowling made 35.

Abbots only started to hurry along in the last few overs when Mike Pugh played a few shots to bring up 150 and the third batting bonus point.

Pugh was 35 not out in the final total of 155 for five.

SHOBROOKE Park are back in the bottom two having gone down by 96 runs to Exeter.

Callum Still (31) and Miles Lenygon (30) were the pick of the batters in an Exeter total of 195.

Having been 94 for two Exeter stalled against Ben Stockden (5-63) and Justin Dollow (2-40), who was keen to do well against his old team.

Shobrooke were son in trouble against Richard Stevens (3-29) and when the lost three wickets in 60 – their fifth, sixth and seventh – the game was almost up.

With two run outs and a couple of wickets for Adam Gribble factored in, Shobrooke were all out for 99.

While Shobrooke work on how they are going to stay up, Exeter are starting to think about a promotion push in the second half of the season.

They are fourth now, 19 points behind second-placed Sandford.

Exeter meet Barton this Saturday looking to continue their winning streak.

“We need to focus on Barton now and making it three wins in a row,” said Exeter skipper Jon Tipper.

“Beat Barton and we will be set up nicely for the second half of the season.”