Devon Cricket Board - C Division: Clements sees signs of improvement

C Division: Clements sees signs of improvement

OTTERY St Mary’s worrying start to the season continued with a five-wicket defeat by early pacesetters Axminster.

Ottery were shunted out for 114 by Matt Pyle (4-28) and Nick Taylor (3-37) after collapsing from 72 for four to 72 for seven.

Trevor Griffin scored the early runs and Mark Woodman was 22 not out when the last wicket fell.

Axminster won at a gallop with 14 overs to spare. Gary Larcombe hit 35 and Joel Seward 30 despite the best efforts of Ottery skipper Jody Clements to slow them down.

Having been well beaten at Bideford seven days earlier, Clements said this defeat was an improvement.

“Although we got less points I don’t see that as a negative,” said Clements.

“It was not an easy track to bat on, but I felt we were 40 short and that might have made the difference.

“Axminster were always in control of the chase. We put some pressure on when they were three and four down. But didn’t have enough runs to play with.

“I will be looking for another improvement at Kingsbridge this Saturday.”

IPPLEPEN came a cropper against visiting Bideford who chased 192 to win with more than eight overs to spare.

Matt Nicholls hit a top score of 43 for the Pens, whose total of 191 for six always looked on the light side.

Nicholls was fourth out at 72 – one of three scalps for Paul Shepherd – and after he went Adam Peters (29) and Matt Quartley scored the bulk of the runs.

Quartley nailed 37 not out from 29 balls with five fours and two sixes.

Fred King (0-19), J Atkinson (1-22) and James Ford (1-32) all bowled tight spells for Bideford.

Bideford raced to 150 without loss inside 30 overs - Josh Ford (72) and Matt Allin (79no) blazing away.

Sam Wakeham – one of eight bowlers used by skipper Keith Wakeham – trapped Ford lbw but James Gilmour (17no) helped Allin knock off the rest.

KINGSBRIDGE came away from Clyst St George with an unexpected win to maintain their unbeaten start to the season

Clyst appeared to be in the driving seat after reducing Kingsbridge to 128 all out – James McGregor (5-34) and Mark Johnson (3-34) doing the damage.

James Westlake (32) and Bhanu deSilva (31) had the only scores of note for Kings, who were staring defeat in the face as Clyst cruised to 72 for one in reply.

Kingsbridge then turned to spinner deSilva and the effect was dramatic.

While de Silva bowled eight successive maidens at one end, and picked up wickets two wickets as well, James Rosewarne (3-17), James Shepherd (2-29) and Dan Hardy (2-36) where whittling though the batting at the other,.

Alan Welsh made 26 and skipper James Meredith 25, but when the captain went 14 to win with three wickets intact proved too many and Clyst were all out for 116.

“We should have won,” said Meredith “In fact at halfway we were nailed on.

“The good news was we played better than we did at Axminster – and James McGregor bowled really well for his five wickets.”

DARTINGTON & Totnes need to buck up in the middle order if they want to win matches.

So said skipper Harold Stevenson after the four-run defeat by Plymouth CS&R at Foxhole.

There were two wickets each for Jonno Colgate, James Howrihane and Dave Carter as Civil were bundled out for 165.

Jason Williams (79) and Andy Hawker (24) made the only scores of note for Civil.

Bertus Loots (38) and Brad Mitchell (27) made early runs for D&T when all looked rosy.

A middle-order collapse cost D&T the game and the efforts of Angus Wilson (31) and Howrihane (27) couldn’t repair the damage done by Dan Windsor (2-12_ and Ciaran Ellard (3-47).

“We were 75 for one then lost wickets in a hurry,” said Stevenson.

“Our middle order batsmen scored 4, 2, 0, 3 and 7 – and that’s where we went wrong.”

FATHER-and-son due David and Paul Penberthy steered Chagford to a five-wicket win over visiting Yelverton in the Dartmoor derby.

Skipper Richard West (61) and Vivek Kothari (29) shared in a stand of 86 for the sixth wicket in Yelverton’s tally of 206 all out.

Big hitter Steve Luffman went first ball – a bonus for Chagford – but Geoff Brain made amends with a useful 41.

Pick of the bowlers for Chagford were Derek Lammonby (4-13) and Luke Mortimore (3-36).

Divan Marais (64) pointed Chagford in the right direction before the Penberthys took over.

Dad Paul made 52 and lad David 39 as Chagford eased to victory.

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