Devon Cricket Board - Premier round up: Baggs backing North Devon

PREMIER DIVISION ROUND UP - WEEK EIGHT

EXMOUTH skipper Richard Baggs has backed North Devon to walk away with the Premier Division title after his side went down by six wickets on the Maer to table toppers.
With Zimbabwean Glenn Querl taking five for 60, and Matt Westaway three for 46, Exmouth were held to 226 all out.

Half centuries from David Lye (56), Baggs (67) and Trevor Anning (53) got Exmouth up to 202 for four.

Wickets tumbled in the dash for runs at the end, sparing North Devon the anticipated chase to around 300.

Opener Rob Gear hit 96 in the North Devon reply and when he was out at 207 for three the game was long won and lost. Neil Bettis (45) and Craig Overton (37) were Gear’s running mates.

“We were well beaten by a very good side who will go on and win the Premier,” said Baggs.

Gwynne Jones, the former Zimbabwe academy supremo now cricket managing at North Devon, said he feared for the team’s unbeaten record while Lye was smashing it around.

“David Lye showed his class with some pulsating shots all round the wicket, especially off the new England U19 recruit Jamie Overton.

“At 190 for four with plenty of overs left it looked we would be chasing 300, but Glenn Querl knocked over the tail, leaving a well below-par score to chase of 227.

“Rob Gear again he showed what a fine player he is with a mixture of good and unorthodox shots all round the wicket.

“He departed when the game was almost won - another match winning performance!”

North Devon are now 28 points clear of Sidmouth at the top of the table – and 39 up on Exmouth in third.

SIDMOUTH snatched an unlikely win over Plymouth by 15 runs after being bowled out cheaply.
The hard work seemed to have been done by Plymouth as they dismissed Sidmouth for 132 in 40 overs – Charlie Hill taking four for 36.

Sidmouth were 22 for four then 44 for five and only got to 132 at all thanks to a rumbustious innings of 63 from Will Gater.

Plymouth dipped to 69 for five in reply, seemed to get back on track thanks to Nick Read’s patient 30, then collapsed al over again from 109 for seven to 117 all out.

Plymouth could not have wished for a better start than removing Sidmouth opener Anthony Griffiths five balls into the match – caught at slip off the bowling of Dave Burke (2-25).

Burke followed up by removing Will Sobcjek then Hill took three in a row, including the prized scalp of Devon captain Neil Hancock to a catch in the covers by Reed.

The match turned on Gater’s knock, during which he shared stands of 42 with Saj Patidar (24) and 20 with Miles Dalton, who was last man out to Hill.

Sidmouth haven’t been champs three years running for nothing and showed why by coming out snarling to remove openers Ben Stein and James Toms for three runs on the board.

The big wicket for Sidmouth was that of Plymouth’s consistent run-getter Doug Hewitt, who was on 12 when Gater bowled him with a big leg-cutter.

Callum Whittaker (17) and Jake Luffman (21) made inroads into the target and as long as Read stayed there Plymouth were in with a shout.

Read scored 30 of the 40 runs added between 69 for five and 109 for eight so Sidmouth’s relief was palpable when Hancock got him.

Sidmouth spinner Miles Dalton finished with three for 21 from 12 overs as Plymouth were bowled out for 117 with more than 12 overs to go.

Sidmouth skipper Will Murray accepted his side had enjoyed some good fortune to win the game, but added there was more to it than luck.

“At the halfway stage I though we would have to field well to defend that sort of total,” said Murray.

“Despite dropping five catches early on – which I thought had squandered our chances – we kept bowling well to build pressure and got there in the end.

“It was pleasing result and one we had to work hard for, but it can’t mask the fact we didn’t play as well as we can.”

Disappointed Plymouth captain Callum Whittaker said having done the hard work the city side failed to follow through.

“We did well to get them all out for 132, but they were a bit to good for us with the ball,” said Whittaker.

“We needed some one in the top six to bat through. Sadly, no one did.”

PAIGNTON’S position at the foot of the Premier Division took a turn for the worse as they slumped to a 58-run defeat against visiting Bradninch
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Bradninch’s total of 204 all out – opener Brad Cachopa top scoring on 51 – was not an unreasonable target for Paignton to chase.

Paignton were never in with a serious chance of chasing down the total though after slumping from 44 for two to 60 for six in reply.

Skipper Seb Benton made a battling 68 in an attempt to save the game, but the damage had already been done.

After Benton went at 129 for eight – the fourth of five victims for spinner Gary Chappell – the end wasn’t far away as Paignton dipped to 146 all out.

It was Paignton’s seventh defeat in eight starts this season and leaves them 33 points adrift of safety.

As for Bradninch they are comfortable in mid-table with 14 points to make up on second-placed Sidmouth.

Cachopa and Tim Piper (21) gav e Bradninch a 53-run start before Terry Farkins (3-57) cleaned out Piper.

Cachopa, who fired three fours and the same number of sixes in a 61-ball stay, was finally caught in the deep having a swing at Farkins.

Wickets tumbled as Bradnich stumbled from 89 for two to 103 for five, then a sixth-wiccket stand of 51 between James Street (29) and Louis Storm (27) got Bradninch going again.

George Benton (3-39) picked off Street, Tom Field (3-68) accounted for Storm, but Bradninch came again with Chappell (16) and Tristan Wakeley (14) helping to add 43 for the last two wickets.

Veteran seamer Paul Nott had Paignton on the back foot early by trapping openers Mark Smith and Dan North lbw.

A double strike by Chappell – on a hat-trick after removing Ollie Higgs and George Benton – plus the demise of Connor Bryan to Ross Acton (2-29) saw Paignton lurch to 59 for five then 60 for six when Jason Woodcock went caught behind.

Benton, who faced 77 balls and hit 11 boundaries, staged a mini rescue act with Mike Pedley (10) in a stand of 44 for the seventh wicket.

There was no way of saving the game though and Benton’s demise signed the beginning off the end.

All Paignton can do is take comfort from the things that did go well and hope results improve before it is too late.

“Our bowling continues to improve week on week with George Benton and Tom Field again among the wickets and Terry Farkins proving he can still do a job in the 1st XI,” said player-coach Andy Kingdon.

“After the start they had we did well to keep Bradninch down to 204.

“What was disappointing was the batting. Seb needed someone to stay with him.

“Seb is timing it so well this year – I haven’t seen a better batsman in the league –and if one of two of the others had hung around a bit longer we could have gone close to the required runs.

“Seb is going to be back from university for the rest of the season and I fully expect results to start going our way.”

BOVEY Tracey made it three wins on the trot when they caught Budleigh Salterton napping to win by 82-run at Ottermouth
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Ben Ayres made 50 and there were handy chip ins from Pete Bradley (31) Zaid Joseph (42), Charlie Carter (39) and James Fulner (21no) in a Bovey total of 203 all out with ball to go.

Matt Sutcliffe was the star man for Budleigh with the ball, taking six for 31 from nine overs.

Budleigh were well placed at 88 for two and even 116 for four was not a disaster. Then it all went pear-shaped.

Bovey seamer Ryan Bougourd (4-20) got stuck in to the middle order, Pete Bradley got among them as well with three for 26 including top scorer James Burke (54) and Budleigh fell apart at the seams.

From 116 for four they subsided to 121 al out in just 27 deliveries!

Victory hoists Bovey to fourth from top, where Budleigh were going into the match. For a side three off the bottom four games ago that is quite a transformation.

Bovey’s total was founded on a solid start from Peter Bradley and Joseph – they put on 59 for the second wicket – and topped up by Ayres after drinks.

Ayres slammed five fours and a six in a 51-ball sta, which included stands of 41 with Joseph and 45 with Carter.

Carter has been moved up and down the order as needed all season to good effect. His run-a-ball 30 gave added impetus while the Budleigh bowlers flagged.

PLYMPTON are out of the bottom two at last in the Premier Division after a nail-biting three-run won over fellow strugglers Heathcoat
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It was starting to look like more gloom and doom for Plympton as Heathcoat reached 100 for two chasing a modest 117 to win.

Plympton skipper Andy Walter had one roll of the dice left and brought back Pakistani paceman Imran Ali Pasha with devastating effect.

Imran, who had taken one wicket for 27 runs in his first spell, picked up six for 17 second time around for match-winning stats of seven for 44 as Heathcoat were bowled out for 113.

Heathcoat skipper Liam Lewis will not have been at all impressed by seeing eight wickets got for 13 runs as his side slipped past Plympton into the bottom two.

Unsurprisingly, Walter could barely contain himself afterwards as he revealed that a little bit of homework had paid off.

“There is only one word to describe how Immy bowled – and that’s awesome,” said Walter.

“I brought him back for a second spell from the opposite end to the one he bowled at earlier – and I swear he was three yards quicker!

“It didn’t look great for us when they were 100 for two, but I remembered what I saw last week when Heathcoat lost at Bovey Tracey.

“Because we were rained off against Budleigh I went up to Bovey to have a look at Heathcoat and see what I could learn.

“They collapsed there as well and what I laearned was after the first four or five had been and gone they didn’t have much.

“After Immy picked up his first couple of wickets, I really thought we could win it.”

Win it they did, although Pasha’s star turn with the ball cannot gloss over the fact that Plympton’s batting let them down.

Walter and Chris Bunney were joint top scorers on 20 while Dave Wrench made 16 amnd Richard Skinner 15.

Walter was looking in good nick when he was run-out by a monster throw from Heathcoat’s Sam Wadham.

“He threw down the stumps at the bowlers end with a direct hit from fine-leg – and there isn’t much you can do about that,” said Walter,

Having seen off the Wadham brothers – Sam (2-37) and Joe (3-20), Plympton had hoped to kick on from 83 for six. Unfortunately, the lower middle order got in a pickle against leg-spinner Jack Menheneott (3-26) and the hoped for acceleration simply didn’t happen!

Heathcoat got to 100 for two without too many problems with Pete Randerson (17), Chris Small (27), Sam Smith (21) and Lewis (14) all chipping in.

Back came Pasha and with help mopping up the stragglers from Craig Donohue (2-25) Heathcoat crashed to defeat.