Devon Cricket Board

BOVEY Tracey skipper Peter Bradley blazed away to his maiden Premier Division century as his side beat Budleigh Salterton by 74 runs to snatch top spot.

Bradley hit 119 off 142 balls, caning Budleigh for a dozen fours and two sixes, in Bovey’s tally of 255 for five.

Support came from brother Chris and former Devon captain Neil Hancock with a brace of 26s, before the centurion was dismissed at 220 for four.

It took a running catch on the boundary by Gammy Amarasinghe to remove Bradley and give Lloyd Murrin his second wicket.

Budleigh were well adrift on 181 for nine when the overs ran out.

James Burke top scored with 50 and skipper Joel Murphy constructed a patient 34 after coming in at 111 for six.

The bowling star of the show was Matt Kidd with five for 38.

Victory puts Bovey two points clear of Bradninch at the top of the table, although that could change in a hurry as the sides meet each other this Saturday.

Bradley said he was proud to have scored his first ton while his parents were watching – and the icing on the cake was batting with brother Chris at the time.

“Everyone else seemed more excited about it than I was,” said skipper Bradley.

“I was conscious that I had to stay focussed on captaining the side as making a hundred would not mean a lot if we went on to lose the game.

“We had enough runs on the board to be confident, provided we kept doing what we had been doing in our previous games, which was bowl and field tightly.

“Matt Kidd’s extra pace gave us an edge when we bowled and once we got Burkie out I couldn’t see how they could win it.”

Budleigh captain Joel Murphy will be looking for some sizeable improvements all round when the Otters go to Sandford this Saturday.

“When you lose you try to find positives, but there were not too many,” said Murphy.

“I suppose we didn’t bat too badly, but our bowling and fielding needs to improve.

“There is a standard required in the Premier Division and we are not hitting it.

“We bowled too many no-balls and especially wides and our catching wasn’t brilliant.

“It is all very well saying we have a young side, but if players aspire to premier cricket we have to cut down the mistakes. They have cost us heavily once, we don’t want that happening again.”

EXMOUTH skipper Richard Baggs breathed a huge sigh of relief after his side overwhelmed defending champions North Devon by 83 runs.

It was Exmouth’s first league win of the season so far and was constructed around a century from David Lye.

Lye helped himself to 107 not out off 98 balls with seven for and three sixes and featured in a significant stand of 135 for the third wicket with his captain.

Getting Lye out did little to stem the run rate as Andy Buzza (37) and Trevor Anning (37) put on 70 in the last seven overs.

Glenn Querl’s three for 36 was as good as it got with the ball for North Devon, who were all out for 198 with more than four overs to bowl.

Too many of North Devon’s early order batsmen got in and got out without making the big score needed to anchor the innings. Ollie Hunt had 26, Querl 28 and Rob Gear 15.

A stand of 66 for the eighth wicket between former captain Rob Ayre (53) and Jason Hayes (35) came too late to make a difference.

The Anning brothers – Trevor (2-28) and Phil (2-20) knocked over the stragglers. Pride of place in the bowling figures went to Max Curtis with three for 35 including Ayre to wrap it up.

As a former North Devon player, Curtis had a point to prove and made it.

Said Baggs: It was a great performance all-round and earned a win we really needed.

“David Lye batted superbly with good support from the others.

“We have reinforcements arriving this week. Hopefully we can kick on now.”

Sandford got off the mark in the Premier Division at the third time of asking thanks to a six-wicket derby win over Heathcoat.

Neither side had won a match going into the game so something had to give.

Heathcoat skipper Chris Small admitted later his side’s total of 169 all out wasn’t enough.

As Sandford won it with nearly ten overs to go, Small was spot on.

Victory lifts Sandford to fifth in the table while Heathcoat are rock bottom and already 12 points away from safety.

“We were at least 30 short and probably a few more,” said Small.

“Too many of our batsmen got starts – myself included – and did nothing with them.

“We struggled against their spinners, who tied us down. Adrian Small took three catches at slip and things like that keep the pressure on.”

Heathcoat’s top scorer was Jack Menheneott, who came in at 96 for six and made 34.

Among the other bits and pieces were a 29 from Joe Smith – one of Adrian Small’s three victims – and 22 from Andrew Birt-Mitchell.

Spinners Simon Ashplant (2-37) and Ryan Glass (1-16) tied Heathcoat down for 20 overs. Skipper Matt Theedom and pacer Luke Wright both picked up a couple of wickets.

Sandford had a bit of a wobble early on as Russ Discombe and Neil Bettis went cheaply.

Small (33) and George Greed (45no) saw Sandford over the hump then Theedom (35) and Wright (18no) kept the board ticking over en route to victory.

BRADNINCH beat Torquay by eight runs in a see-saw encounter between two previously unbeaten teams.

A below-strength Bradninch team made 166 all out – which skipper Gary Chappell didn’t think was enough.

Tim Piper (19) and Ross Acton (34) got Bradninch as start, but a devastating spell from Callum Wilson (5-34) put Torquay on the front foot.

When Torquay were 105 for two in reply it seemed as though Chappell was right.

Dan Milligan’s return for a second spell and some wickets from Chappell as well turned the game Bradninch’s way.

Torquay lost five wickets for 28 runs and were bowled out for 158 with more than five of their 50 overs to go.

“After our middle order collapsed we recovered through Mark Tweddle (43) and Will Squire (26) and scraped to 166,” said Chappell.

“It was well below par, and we knew we would have to perform brilliantly in the field to win.

“Matt Golding ran out their overseas opener (Brandon Handley) early on, but their top four dug in and at 105 for two they were cruising.

“Another direct-hit run-out and a great second spell from Milligan (3-35) got us right back in the game.

“We were patient and waited for mistakes from their batters, which kept coming.

“It was a great win, especially considering we were two or three players short.”

Torquay skipper Justin Yau said the defeat highlighted a number of areas where the team had to up their game.

“We got ourselves in winning positions many times, but just couldn’t grab the game by the scruff of the neck and finish them off,” said Yau.

“Callum Wilson was exceptional and looks a great signing, but we bowled too many extras and didn't apply ourselves well enough when we batted.

“We need to move on and get ourselves geared for next week against Sidmouth.

“We must learn from this defeat very quickly as it is not going to be an easy league.”

JAMES Toms smashed a rapid 129 to lay the foundations for Plymouth’s 34-run win at Sidmouth.

The pressure was on the Mount Wise outfit after two successive defeats – but they had a break in the first over when Toms was dropped before opening his account.

Big hitter Toms then made Sidmouth pay by going from nought to 50 in 38 balls, 50 to a hundred in another 49 and going on to 129 from just 122 deliveries.

Along the way Toms hit 17 fours and a six and was particularly brutal on Nick Gingell (5-0-76-1) and Matt Cooke (5-0-40-3). The last 10 overs saw Plymouth put on 103 runs!

Cooke got Toms in the end though, stumped as he charged down the track.

With Chris Barr chipping in with 64 – he was stumped off a wide – and Jack Bryant making 37 – Toms had plenty of support.

Plymouth’s final product of 316 for six is the fourth highest in the Premier Division since records started being kept properly in 1984. Only Sidmouth (327), Exeter (334) and Exmouth (340) have scored more.

Sidmouth have dominated league and cup cricket in Devon for the past five seasons – winning leagues, cups and T20 competitions with boring regularity – and showed why with a battling performance in reply.

There were runs almost all the way down the order for Josh Bess (36), Peter Randerson (36). Sam Anderson (39) and Will Gater, which kept the Plymouth bowling honest.

Barr (2-51) and Matt Hooper (2-55) appeared to have done the hard work by sending Sidmouth from 190 for five to 212 for nine.

Getting that final wicket proved harder than it looked though as Sidmouth’s last pair of Will Murray and Miles Dalton wouldn’t budge.

Dalton, who as an opening batsman has a Premier ton to his name against Heathcoat in 1999, plays as a bowler these days. But he made 27 not out while Murray was making 45 in a 70-run stand for the last wicket.

Sam Stein (2-47) got Murray out in the last over.

Skipper Callum Whittaker agreed luck had gone Plymouth’s way, but added cricket is all about taking your chances.

“James could have gone for nothing, which was good fortune for us and a lofty blow for Sidmouth,” said Whittaker.

“Sam Anderson, who dropped the catch at slip, was hit in the eye as the ball went through his hands and had to go to hospital.

“As he was due to open the bowling at the other end, Sidmouth had to change their plans, which won’t have helped them.

“James batted brilliantly after that –he clearly felt it was his day. Once he got on the front foot and started drilling the ball through mid-wicket he looked like getting a big score.

“We have been dying to get on a good track this season to show what we can do – and this time we had one and did.

“For us it was a good win over a side that is traditionally strong and showed it.

“For the first 90 overs we dominated, but for the last 10 the boys took their foot off the gas and Sidmouth punished us. This time we had enough runs, but there is a lesson there for other days when the game is a bit tighter.”

Sidmouth captain Will Murray said the injury to Anderson was a blow he could have done without.

“Josh Bess had to bowl his 10 straight through, which would not have been the original plan.

“We were a bit disrupted by the goings on, and didn’t help ourselves by not bowling line-and-length either.

“To win it we needed one of our top four to make an 80, or 90 or 100, but we had four 30-odds then someone got out.

“Miles and were never going to win it, but we were determined to keep Plymouth out there and I was pleased we kept them waiting until the last over.”