Devon Cricket Board - North Devon beaten for first time

PREMIER DIVISION

PLYMPTON’S revival continued with a four-wicket win at Bradninch that opened up a 21-point gap between them and the drop zone.

Pakistani pacer Imran Ali Pasha did it again with a five-for-32 haul as Bradninch nosedived from 101 for three to 116 all out.

Imran, wicketless in his first spell, took all five wickets for nine runs in his second stint as the Bradninch batting crumbled.

It was a near carbon-copy performance of the previous week’s demolition job on Heathcoat, when Imran took six wickets in a his second spell after changing ends.

Plympton are hovering around the wrong end of the table for a reason – and at 32 for four in reply it was easy to see why.

A skipper’s knock of 40 not out by Andy Walter steered Plympton to victory. Heathcoat’s defeat by Exmouth was the icing on the cake as that widened the gap between the two clubs in the scrap to stay up.

“When we were 32 for four I was beginning to think here we go again, but Dave Wrench and myself batted through to tea and that broke the back of it,” said Walter.

“Imran bowled a quality second spell – he prefers the old ball with the lacquer gone as he can grip it better – although we were helped by some atrocious shot selection by Bradninch.

“We are starting to pull away from the relegation area now but need to keep doing what we are doing as we aren’t out of the wood yet.”

There was no signs of the carnage about to unfold as Bradninch reached 69 for one without too many problems.

Tim Piper had gone for 38 bowled by Ali then a bogged down Dan Hardy fell to Ryan Skinner, who followed up by nipping out Brad Cachopa (31) caught behind.

Once the collapse started only skipper Ross Acton (21) made double figures. Among the casualties were a yorked Gary Chappell for none, Acton caught and bowled and Sean Novack for eight. Walter (3-11) mopped up the stragglers.

Novack (2-58) and Chappell, who had three for 38 from 17 tidy overs, put the pressure on Plympton from the start.

Keeper Cachopa took three catches to remind Plympton they were in a game.

Walter and Wrench (25) got Plympton up and running again with a stand of 31. Walter and Ali (19) added 344, which left Richard Skinner to knock off the rest with the captain.

PLYMOUTH skipper Callum Whittaker praised his bowlers for bending their backs to dismiss Paignton for 113 and set up a seven-wicket win.

Dave Burke steamed in to take five for 23 as Paignton were bowled out in the 44^th over.

Only three players reached double figures and of the rest three didn’t make a run between them.

Plymouth made brisk progress to 61 before Whittaker was bowled by Terry Farkins, By the time James Toms and Doug Hewitt were dismissed, the target was in single figures and the game over as a contest.

Said Whittaker: “It was a workmanlike win our part – and not one I expected in the way we got it.

“The wicket was really flat with nothing in it for the bowlers, so to get them out for 113 was a great effort.

“We bowled full and straight – and their batsmen got out.”

Paignton struggled for runs from the start – opener Connor Bryan was out there nine overs without scoring a run – and with Burke and Sam Stein bowling straight to order the wickets fell.

Whittaker took two catches behind the stumps, Doug Hewitt took one at slip and at 40 for five Burke and Stein (3-17) had hit the stumps as well.

George Benton (38) and Dan North (34) stopped the rot for a while with a stand of 65 for the sixth wicket.

The stand ended when North drove a Burke off-cutter straight to Matt Hooper at mid-off.

Burke polished of the tail-enders with the minimum of fuss. Justin Mann hit a long-hop to point, Farkins was caught at square-leg and that left Charlie Hill to remove last man Tom Field.

Toms (43) and Whittaker (23) ensured no slip ups at the start of the chase and when Hewitt was run out coming back for a second at 107 it was all over.

Toms should have scored a half-century, but in his haste to get on with it hit a ball in the air to cover with five needed to win.

Player-coach Andy Kingdon, currently sidelined due to injury, said Paignton have work to do in all departments to get themselves out of trouble.

“We again lacked any batting up front and were lucky to get to the score we did thanks to Dan North and George Benton,” said Kingdon.

“Bowling wise we bowled to many bad balls again.

“We have it all to do in the second half of the season.”

EXMOUTH grabbed a share of second spot in the Premier Division after trouncing Heathcoat by eight wickets.

Heathcoat were all out for 171 in the last of their 50 overs, thanks largely to a mid-innings rescue act from Pete Randerson. Only Sam Smith (38) made much headway as wickets fell to George Greenway, Dave Lye (2-53) and Trevor Anning (3-38).

Randerson has been opening up with mixed results this season, to skipper Liam Lewis moved him down to six with a promising outcome.

Randerson made 59 and with Jack Menheneott (23) put on 69 for the seventh wicket to haul Heathcoat round from 91 for six.

Exmouth skipper Richard Baggs (3-15) broke the partnership when he had Randerson caught behind.

The last three were in and out for just 11 runs between them.

Knocking off the runs was a cakewalk for Exmouth, who had more than 18 overs in hand at the end.

The experiment of opening with Anning didn’t work as he was lbw to Sam Wadham without troubling the scorers.

Barney Huxtable (32) and Lye (83) made a 60-run dent in the target, which left Baggs (33no) to keep and end going as Lye completed the chase.

Having been turned out at North Devon seven days earlier, Exmouth captain Baggs was pleased not just to win but by the manner of victory.

“It was a great way to bounce back after our defeat at North Devon,” said Baggs.

“We bowled well in the first 15-20 overs to put them under pressure, which meant we were always going to keep the total down.

“Barney Huxtable set the tone when we batted and David Lye batted superbly. He really is in the form of his life right now.”

For losing captain Lewis it was a case of taking the positives from the wreckage.

“Randerson going in a six worked as he stopped trying to hit every ball out of the ground,” said Lewis.

“In the last few games we have been getting to 100 for two or three, then been rolled for 120-130.

“This time we were 90 for six and I was expecting 120 all out. Instead, we battled back and got to 170.

“It is a step in the right direction and something we have to work on if we are going to get out of the bottom two.”

Exmouth are now level on points with Sidmouth, who lost by three wickets at Bovey Tracey.

Sidmouth captain Will Murray will probably be fretting for a day or two yet over how his side managed to lose at Bovey when they had victory seemingly in their grasp.

Bovey made a respectable 213 for eight in 50 overs – Andy Fairbairn (51no), Ben Ayres (66) – and Sidmouth were 209 for seven with two overs to go and Will Gater (33) still in.

Gater was run out in the scramble for the last few runs, closely followed by Jamie Wardrop being dismissed by Dan Childs (3-43), which left last man Miles Dalton facing Chris Bradley’s last over needing four to win.

The first two balls produced nothing. The third pulled Dalton out of his ground and Ben Ayres whipped the bails off.

Opener Anthony Griffiths must have felt his 70 off 130 balls to lay the foundations of the chase had been worthwhile.

When the going was going on the chase, Ben Gledhill made 34 and Saj Patidar (22) kept the board ticking over.

Pick of the bowlers with four for 78 was Peter Bradley.

Bovey’s total was constructed around a stand of 89 for the fift wicket between Ayres and Fairbairn.

Only Nick Seager (27) made much headway before Ayres joined Fairbairn as Josh Bess (5-59) and Neil Hancock (2-30) dominated with the ball.

Fairbairn played the anchorman during a 119-ball stay that included just two boundaries.

Ayres got on with it, hitting one six and 10 fours in his run-a-ball 66.

BUDLEIGH Salterton stripped North Devon of their unbeaten record when they chased 217 to win at Instow and beat the leaders with three overs to spare.

Neil Bettis made 46 at the top of the order for North Devon, who were carried along to 216 for six by Dan Bowser with 84 not out.

Bowser, who hit eight fours and two sixes, went in at 32 for two and shared in stands of 64 with Bettis and 67 with Alex Smith.

The wickets were shared around with two each for Scott Barlow (2-69) and Matt Sutcliffe (2-26) and one apiece for Charlie Morris and James Hudson.

Budleigh suffered a double blow early on when Jamie Overton (2-41) nicked out Bob Dawson and James Burke in the same over.

Skipper Sandy Allen (43) and James Hudson (37) put Budleigh back on the straight and narrow for a whilewith a stand of 37 Allen’s demise was followed by Morris going cheaply as 57 for two became 63 for four.

Lloyd White (29) supported Hudson in getting the score up too 121 for five. Two wickets went in a hurry and at 126 for six North Devon appeared on top.

Scott Barlow (39no) and Jack Dart (41no) got their heads down and put on 91 unbroken to win the match.

North Devon remain top and have a 27-point lead over Sidmouth and Exmouth, who are joint second.