A DIVISION – MAY 24
BRIXHAM moved up a place to third in the table with a resounding 79-run win over Alphington.
Brixham clattered along to 249 for six in their 50 overs. The final tally was underpinned by a stand of 133 between James Fletcher (55) and Andy Pugh (72) and topped up by Farooq Iqbal with 75.
Iqbal was clearly on top of his game as in a stand of 45 for the fifth wicket partner George Northcott only made four. Mark Orchard weighed in with 19 not out at the end.
Alphington's spin bowlers took a bit of punishment due to the short boundaries at Northfields Lane.
Nick Beasant had three for 76 while skipper Paul James was collared for 24 in one over by Iqbal, who hit him for a six, four fours and a two. Having bowled 10 overs for 27 runs, it was a hard pill for James to swallow.
Alphington made steady progress to 112 for three with Sam Smith (20) and Gareth James (25) leading the way.
The game swung Brixham's way as Alphington slipped to 131 for six and from then on they declined to 170 all out with 13 balls to go.
Orchard (3-41) and Joe Hyde (3-29) had three wickets each and Iqbal had two. There was also a debut wicket for Craig Eaves, the 13-year-old called into the Brixham side at short notice top replace the holidaying Richard Ward.
Eaves, who isn't14 until July, became the youngest player to take a wicket for Brixham in a league game when he dismissed Alphington's Richard Coe for 15.
BOVEY Tracey's unbeaten start to the season in league and cup came crashing around their ears as slumped to a five-wicket defeat against Bradninch.
Bovey had a share of top spot on Saturday morning with Cornwood, but are now down to third as Bradninch went past them on the strength of this win.
Opening batsman Neil Davey, back at Bovey after a sabbatical that took him to Sandford and Exeter, top scored with 32 on his debut second time around for the club.
Ali Pasha made 29, but the next best in a disappointing Bovey total of 109 all out was eight! Pasha hauled things round after a fashion as Bovey were 47 for five at one stage.
Paul Nott led the wicket-taking effort for Bradninch with three for 23. Gary Chapple, Ross Acton and Adrian Ezquerro had two each.
Bradninch didn't have it all their own way knocking off the runs – Pasha (4-41) saw to that – but didn't crumble either when the going looked shaky at 59 for three.
Dan Hardy's 37 held things together, then Tim Piper (15) and Acton (12no) concluded the chase with a healthy margin of 18 overs to spare.
CHUDLEIGH will be kicking themselves for letting Braunton wriggle off the hook in a game they should have won, yet lost by three wickets.
Mark Solway anchored Chudleigh's total of 159 all out with a gutsy 65 and shared in handy stand of 50 for the fifth wicket with Nick Hulse. Pat Bolster made 24 at the top of the order and Mark Heather chipped in with 26 after coming in at sixth wicket down.
Andy Paddison (4-32) posed most of the bowling problems for Braunton with Mark Lathwell (2-25) and Jon Baglow (3-44) doing their bit as well.
It was smiles all round in the Chudleigh camp after Graeme Wilson (5-27) did most of the damage reducing Braunton to 51 for seven.
Former England batsman Lathwell had been and gone for 13 and Mark Mitchell was out for a top score so far of 15.
Chudleigh couldn't bowl out South Devon in similar circumstances two weeks ago, but at least took a draw out of that game.
Andy Paddison and Wayne Manning did substantially by putting on 109 unbroken for the eighth wicket to win the game with two overs to spare.
Paddison finished on 73 not out and Manning was undefeated on 33.
In 26 seasons of A Division record keeping there has only been longer stand for the eight wicket. The record was set in 2000 by Braunton batsman Steve Moore and Mitchell in a game against South Devon.
SOUTH Devon captain Henry Burningham must have had a get-out-of-jail card up his sleeve at Tavistock, where his side clung on for a highly unlikely draw.
Dave Manning clouted five sixes on his way to 110 as Tavistock posted 229 for nine in their 50-over allocation.
A 113-run stand between Manning and Steve Luffman (34) formed the backbone of the Tavistock total.
South Devon shared the wickets around with Dan Ball, Aron Owen nd Rizwan Saeed taking two each.
South Devon quickly slumped to 53 for four on the chase and were grateful to former Sidmouth and Paignton batsman Martin Swanell for holding things together with a battling 56.
Spinner Gareth Tidball (4-55) was posing all sorts of problems for South Devon, as did veteran seamer Andy Gauler (3-22).
At 118 for nine with nine overs to go and last pair Dave Baldock and Ball in the middle, Tavistock's first win of the season looked a formality. It wasn't.
Baldock, who came in a No.10, batted through to make an unbeaten 49 and with Ball nine not out at the other end the game was saved.
Tavistock's only consolation is they are at least off the bottom of the table now as their winning draw points allowed them to overhaul Alphington, who lost at Brixham by 79 runs.
They still have to catch South Devon though to get out of the bottom two.
BARTON'S hit-and-miss form in the A Division continued when they slumped to a 41-run defeat at Cornwood.
Cornwood's Pakistani paceman Aizax Cheema ripped through Barton's batting to take eight for 24 as the South Hams side snatched the leadership of the division.
Cornwood had been restricted to 150 all out in the 46 th of their 50 overs with Cheema taking the batting honours as well with a top score of 37.
Barton were always up against it after dipping to 51 for five in reply and, despite a mini-fightback sparked by Adam Parker with 33, they were all out for 109 with 18 overs to go.
Cornwood were level with Bovey Tracey at the top of the table on Saturday morning, but are now four points clear of the field.
Bradninch are now second having beaten Bovey by five wickets in a low-scoring affair.
Cornwood got off to a bright start with opener Duncan Boase (33) among the runs, then slipped into difficulties against Barton's Pakistani spinner Aqeel Ahmed.
The Corns lost three wicket getting from 56 to 57 – skipper Jason Hall (15) and Boase among them – and were glad of a rescue act from Cheema and Scott Mansfield.
Mansfield (19) backed Cheema up in a partnership worth 54 for the seventh wicket that got the score up to 130 – valuable runs as it turned out.
With Aqeel taking five for 49, and two wickets each for Jack Porter and Parker, the Corns were dismissed with four overs to go.
Aqeel, who generally bats down the order, went out to open for Barton as he had convinced skipper Ian Coulton he knew how to combat the threat posed by Cheema. He was out in the first over to a catch at slip by Hall off the bowling of his countryman.
Barton then slumped to 51 for five before Parker and Scott Adderley, aided by a generous helping of 23 extras, got the score up to 95 for six. Once the stand was broken, Barton fell apart, the last five wickets going for just 13 runs.
Kevin Willcock and Dave Petherbridge shared the two wickets Cheema didn't get.
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