Devon Cricket Board - Orchard aiming for top

Orchard aiming for top

BRIXHAM – away to Cornwood on Saturday - were among the nearly men of the A Division last season and stayed in the promotion frame until they were rained off at relegated Alphington with two weeks to go.
Fifth in the table was respectable, but skipper Mark Orchard things Brixham can do better.
Although I feel the A Division is stronger than last year, we would hope to improve on 2011,” said Orchard.
“I think our depth of batting will allow us to set sides decent targets and chase most scores, but to be among the front runners were need to bowl sides out.
“We have strengthened the side by signing 19 year old Matt Stringfellow from New Zealand, an excellent early order batsman and more than useful off-spin bowler.
“Matt will improve our bowling options and complement our seam attack of Mark Gilmore, Craig Eaves, Lee Upham, Joe Hyde and myself.”
There’s one new face at Boundary Park – former Leicestershire 2nd XI batsman Andrew Lewin – and others in the pipleline.
“We hope to resign an ex-first team player and a wicket-keeper batsman who will help keep the competition for places strong during the season,” said Orchard.

CORNWOOD didn’t live up to their billing as promotion candidates in 2011, finishing a relatively lowly seventh out of 10, but with a 48-point cushion between them and the drop zone.
Losing Pakistani paceman Aizaz Cheema before halfway to international duty was a massive blow for the Corns, although getting sides out wasn’t a huge problem as Andy Bees, Matt Butterworth and Mike Wood all chipped in.
Scoring runs was at the heart of Cornwood’s problems, not helped by losing former captain Jason Hall during the season to a suspension.
Craig Harris with 274 was Cornwood’s main run getter, but the sad fact was no one had few bonus batting points than the Corns. Alphington had the same tally of 39 – and they went down.
Harris took over when Hall was suspended and has stayed on for the season ahead.
Cheema won’t be coming back, but the hugely popular Muhammad Salman is returning to Oak Park, where he was a big hit between 2005-2007.
Salman totted up nearly 1,800 runs in three seasons and took 93 wickets with his spin bowling – not bad for a lad who played Test and one-day cricket for Pakistan as a wicketkeeper!
For the past two UK seasons Salman has been playing in Northern Ireland, where his scoring touch remained intact.
“Aizaz proved to be a great overseas player for us and the club takes great pride in seeing him achieve his dream of playing for his country,” said Harris.
“Having Sal back is equally exciting. His international pedigree has also been proven and his record in Devon, as well as worldwide, speaks for itself.
“Sal is a stable, quality batsman as well as a bowling option or wicket keeper as he plays back home.”
The Corns have lost Charlie Hill to Bovey Tracey while Duncan Boase and Kevin Willcock have retired to the 2nd XI.
Harris has confidence in the players coming through, saying: ‘ I am proud to say we have a great squad in place and that the club is a great place to be around at the moment.
“Cornwood are always keen to invest in their players, and that has been proven by opening up our new £50k nets facility, as well as doing winter work on our playing squares and pavilion, hopefully giving us the best chance to succeed.
“The league is sizing up to be really competitive and shows signs of a great season.

“It looks like we have not been the only team busy over the off-season, so it’s of massive importance that we hit the ground running on May 5.”

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