Devon Cricket Board - Premier round-up: North Devon stretch lead

PREMIER DIVISION – WEEK SIX

RYAN BOUGOURD was the man of the moment for Bovey Tracey as they trounced Paignton by nine-wickets in the basement battle on the Recreation Ground.

Paignton collapsed like a pack of cards against Bougourd and Chris Bradley, who bundled them out for 56 almost on their own.

Bougourd took five for 24 from 13.5 unchanged overs – a personal best in the top flight for the big-hearted seamer.

Bradley spun out three more for eight runs, including top scorer Seb Benton for 12, and the wickets he didn’t take were claimed by run-outs executed by brother and captain Peter Bradley.

Next ‘best’ after Benton was Stephen George with seven. Four batters made nothing at all, which helps explain why Paignton lost their last six wickets for 15 runs.

The best Paignton could hope for was a bowling bonus point or two, but even that was denied them.

Steffan Kelly did get opener Charlie Carter out for 14 of the first 15 on the board, but you need two wickets for a point and the second wouldn’t come.

Carter lashed Kelly for three successive fours, then fell next ball to a slip catch having another swipe.

Peter Bradley (28no) and Zaid Joseph (9no) had victory secured by the end of the 13th over.

Paignton were bottom going into the match – and with fellow strugglers Plympton and Bovey winning as well are now 26 points from safety.

Bovey moved up a place to seventh with an eight-point cushion between them and the danger area.

Skipper Pete Bradley said Bovey picked the right game to rediscover some of the form that took them to fourth in the table last season.

“This was an important tame and a good one to win,” said Bradley.

“We fielded like we have in past seasons, with two run outs and no dropped catches, which is what it takes to start winning.

“The bowlers kept it tight and there were no easy runs to be had.

“All but one wicket was poor shot section or decision making by Paignton due to the pressure we were putting on them.”

Paignton player-coach Andy Kingdon, who was with Bovey last season, said his old side comprehensively outplayed his current one.

“We did have two or three umpiring decisions which cost us, but Ryan Bougourd and Chris Bradley bowled very well and our shot selection was poor, “ said Kingdon.

“Boogie’s first five-wicket haul was well deserved as he does a fantastic job for Bovey every week by bowling a good line and length waiting for batsman to make a mistake.

“You can’t play the shots we did on Bovey’s wicket. You need to be more patient and with Bovey fielding well as a unit we looked out of our depth.

“Bowling was a non-event with too many four-balls being bowled.”

THE feel-good factor generated by their epic Devon Cup win at Bradninch helped Plympton to a useful five-wicket win over visiting Exmouth.

When you have just chased 301 to win in 40 overs a target of 223 in 10 more overs is a mere bagatelle!

Plympton certainly made it look easy as they knocked off the runs with almost four overs to spare, thanks largely to Dave Wrench’s 86 not out.

And that was despite losing cup win centurion and opener Duncan Hefford for a duck to Devon paceman Trevor Anning.

Plympton captain Andy Walter is convinced the Bradninch cup victory has been a turning point in the team’s fortunes.

“It was a brilliant performance against a good Exmouth side,” said Walter.

“I think the run chase last Sunday has given the lads a bit of belief that we can score runs and take bowlers on.

“Dave Wrench looks in the form of his life, and I just hope he can carry it on.

“Chris Bunney has found some confidences and batted well for his 38 before playing a rash shot to get out.

“This result keeps us in touch with Heathcoat and Bovey, so a couple more performances like this and we'll be away from the drop zone.”

Exmouth’s total of 221 all out in the last of their 50 overs was constructed around a solid effort from the middle order.

Although openers Barney Huxtable (11) and Steve Allan (8) missed out, David Lye made 30, skipper Richard Baggs hit 40, Anthony Radunovic made 38 and Lawrence Greenway chipped in with 32.

Baggs pushed the score along by 103 while batting with Lye and Radunovic. The bowling figures were modest, apart from Imran Ali Pasha’s four for 45 from 15 overs.

Plympton only had one wobble on the way to victory, which was when they lost Dan Robotham (23), Richard Skinner (0) and skipper Andy Walter (0) getting from 78 for one to 86 for four.

All three wickets fell to Lye, who is carving out a reputation for himself as a genuine all-rounder having been regarding as a batter who bowls occasionally in the past.

Wrench, who hit 13 fours, calmed the situation by adding 71 for the firth wicket with Christian Bunney (38).

Baggs cleaned out Bunney on 157, but an unbroken partnership of 63 between Wrench and Imran (41no) saw Plympton through.

Plympton remain in the bottom two, but are only five points away from safety now.

Premier master

PLYMOUTH’S pursuit of North Devon at the top of the table suffered a minor diversion as they were held to a winning draw by Bradninch.

Doug Hewitt (40) and Nick Read (36) were the leading run getters as Plymouth hoisted 242 for nine in 50 overs.

Bradninch were 212 for six when their overs ran out, which looks a safe enough distance behind.

Ten overs out Bradninch required 143 to win with six wickets in hand and looked like getting nowhere near it.

Then Louis Storm (42no) and Sean Novak (43) started to flog the bowling around in a stand of 68 for the sixth wicket.

In one three-over rush the pair added 47, with Kevin Davis and Nick Read both tasting the lash. Nowak clubbed three sixes in quick succession when the assault was in full cry.

The clock was always against Bradninch though and once Novak went to Chris Hadfield (1-38) the visitors shut up shop.

Earlier, Plymouth had been pretty consistent down the order with veteran Steve Luffman the only batter to miss out completely.

Skipper Callum Whittaker was caught behind for 26, James Toms made 12 before Novak got him, Hewitt was the first of three scalps for left-armer Ross Acton and Jake Luffman fell lbw to veteran Paul Nott (2-32) having added 65 with Hewitt for the fourth wicket.

Plymouth slowed ujp for a while and were glad of some lower-order impetus from Dave Burke and Davis (24) for helping add 56 for the last two wickets.

Budleigh Salterton’s win at Sidmouth means they move past Plymouth into second place and leave the city side 30 points behind the leaders.

Whittaker said the game proved not all draws are dull.

“It was a good game that only fizzled out into a draw right at the end,” said Whittaker.

“We batted well in patches with people getting in then out!

“They bowled well to keep us to 240, then we bowled well with our new ball and tied them down to get them behind the run rate.

HEATHCOAT crashed to a 184-run defeat against Premier leaders North Devon that leaves them too close for comfort to the drop zone.

Neil Bettis struck a top score of 85 as North Devon negotiated their 50 overs to make 234 for seven.

Heathcoat, hampered by an chest injury to skipper Liam Lewis sustained while he was bowling, nosedived to 50 all out.

No batter made a double-figure score, three made nothing at all and opener Peter Randerson’s seven wasn’t bettered by anyone coming after him.

Somerset prospect Jamie Overton took five Heathcoat wickets for 11 runs while Glen Querl had four for 12.

Lewis, who came in a number 10 instead of the top four due to his injury, said: “Jamie Overton bowled as quickly as anyone I have ever seen at Knightshayes – and Querl was there or thereabouts from the start.

“That wasn’t the entire story. Our frontline batters played some very poor shots and three of them probably got themselves out when they ought to have known better.

“Pete Randerson nicked one to slip early and Chris Small was caught third ball by their keeper down the leg-side, which was unfortunate.

“When Joe Smith was lbw to Overton we were 18 for three and you could see then which was it was going.”

Bettis was the anchorman North Devon batted around and he soldiered on until the score reached 220 for six when Small had him caught at cover.

Rob Gear was bounced out by Paul Elliott and when Craig Overton was caught behind off Lewis before he pulled up North Devon were 51 for two. Dan Bowser (24),

Jamie Overton (20) and Querl (24) were all involved in sizeable stands with Bettis. The best was one of 80 for the fifth wicket with Querl.

Defeat drops Heathcoat to third from bottom, only five points clear of Plympton who beat Exmouth.

Bovey Tracey whipped Paignton by nine wickets to move ahead of Heathcoat, which should make this Saturday’s meeting between the two clubs lively.

Exmouth skipper Richard Baggs was pragmatic in defeat, saying there wasn’t too much wrong with the way his side played.

“The pitch looked awful, but played a lot better than anyone expected and thought 221 was going to be enough,” said Baggs.

“In hindsight another 20 or 30 may have made a difference, which meant one of our batsmen going on to make 70 or 80.

“No one actually got a 50 and the difference between the two sides was DaveWrench.

“He batted superbly for his 86 and that was how they won the match.”

SIDMOUTH’S prospects of retaining the Premier title for a fourth successive season suffered a setback when they lost by four wickets in the East Devon derby against Budleigh.

Sidmouth’s total of 160 all out in the last of their 50 overs – Ben Gledhill making a top score of 58 - always looked a little on the light side.

So it proved as Budleigh got over a hesitant start which saws them nine for two and 46 for four to win it with nearly eight overs in hand. Former Sidmouth favourite Scott Barlow top scored with 34 against his old clubmates.

Defeat drops Sidmouth down to fourth in the table as Plymouth and Budleigh have both gone past them.

It’s points differences which matter most though and Sidmouth now trail title pretenders North Devon by 27.

Sidmouth made a scratchy start with James Burke and Scott Barlow reducing them to 19 for three, Burke bowled Griffiths then had Josh Bess caught at mid-wicket while Barlow dismissed Devon captain Neil Hancock caught behind for a six-ball duck.

Gledhill and Saj Patidar (35) stopped the rot with a stand of 66 for the fourth wicket. It ended when Patidar was bowled round his legs by Joel Murphy (3-33).

Gledhill kept going until the fall of the ninth wicket when the returning Burke (3-24) cleaned him out.

Murphy and Burke finished with six wickets between them, but Barlow with one for 29 off 15 overs clearly enjoyed tying his old team-mates down.

Budleigh got off to the worst start possible when opener and captain Sandy Allen was bowled by Bess first ball.

Bob Dawson and Burke both went cheaply – Will Gater bowled Dawson for nine and Burke was caught hooking off Bess – and when Neil Murrin was caught at slip off Gater Budleigh were 46 for four.

Charles Morris (29) and Barlow (34) gave Budleigh the platform they needed to get back on course.

By the time Will Murray bowled Morris Budleigh had reached a hundred. Barlow went the same way at 134, which left Murphy (30) and Lloyd Murrin (7no) to wrap it all up.