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A DIVISION

 

BRADNINCH crushed Tavistock by 141 runs to keep the pressure up on Cornwood at the top of the A Division table.

   Bradninch kicked on to make 229 for seven in their 50 overs – Adrian Ezquerro smacking a top score of 81 not out.

   Ezquerro, who hit six sixes, shared in a stand of 69 for the fifth wicket with Ross Acton (28). Earlier, Dan Hardy (40) and Ryan Butterworth (42) had put up 62 for the third wicket.

   Tavistock's bowlers, Lee Baker (3-37) excepted, didn't have much success. Gareth Tidball's 10 overs cost 53 runs while Andy Gauler went for 47 in nine.

   Tavistock's reply started badly with opener Ian Gray out first ball – caught behind by Dan Hardy off Ross Acton.

   Acton went on to take four for 46, and Ezquerro had two for 31, as Tavvy dipped to 43 for six and on to 88 all out.

   Steve Dembitzer (18) delayed the inevitable for a while until Bradninch skipper Joel Murphy (4-5) put and end to the Tavvy's misery by bowling the tail out with more than 24 overs to go.

 

BRIXHAM remain tucked in nicely behind top two Bradninch and Cornwood after routing Braunton by nine wickets in a one-sided encounter at Kelsey.

   Braunton were bowled out for 92 in 31 of their 50 overs by Mark Orchard (4-25) and Farooq Iqbal (3-10). Tim Robinson (2-18) got in on the act as well.

   Seven days earlier Braunton had been 51 for seven against Chudleigh, but went on to win the game thanks to a rescue act by Mark Lathwell and Andy Paddison.

   A week later when Braunton were 51 for seven again, Lathwell wasn't playing and Paddison went cheaply, so there was no happy ending.

   Mark Mitchell made 26 and Ted Cuming had 19, but it was never going to be enough.

   Andy Pugh smote 47 not out and Chris Lanyon had an unbeaten 21 as Barton took their time – 31 overs – knocking off the runs.

   Jon Baglow took the only wicket to fall on a day when Braunton didn't do enough to earn a point!

 

SOUTH Devon lifted themselves into the top half of the table with a seven-run win in a low-scoring affair at Alphington.

   Conditions were not ideal for batting – as Alphington discovered during the 50 overs it took them to put 138 for eight on the board.

   Opener Fred Quirk made a top score of 35, but no one else had much joy as the Alphas crawled along to 77 for six.

   South Devon's Pakistani paceman Rizwan Saeed (3-23) was a handful at one end with spinner Chris Metters (3-46) containing well at the other.

   Ed Brown (24no) and Matt Bamber (18) put on 37 for the seventh wicket in an effort to give the bowlers something to defend.

   When South Devon were   23 for three in reply after running into difficulties against Bamber (2-44) and Lewis Baxter, it was game on again for a while.

   Saeed and Metters hadn't finished with Bradninch yet though and put on 110 unbroken to win the game with time to spare.

   Saeed played his shots to reach 71 not out while Metters cruised to an undefeated 38.

   Defeat leaves Alphington bottom of the pile, with nothing but defeats and one rain-off from five games played.

 

BOVEY Tracey bounced back from their defeat by Bradninch with a two-wicket win at Barton.

   Barton went to great lengths to get the game on at all in the aftermath of Friday's downpour   and really must have wondered if their efforts had been worthwhile after they were bowled out for 89.

   Having to play a man short due to a mix up over the availability of James Toms didn't help Barton's cause at all.

   After Will Grainger made 19 at the top of the order in a running total of 46 for three, Barton faded away until Aqeel Ahmed (19) and veteran Mike Lievesley (15) got a few at the end.

   Ryan Bougard (4-19) pipped Ali Pasha (3-18) in the bowling stakes for Bovey.

   Chasing low totals can be a fraught affair, but Bovey appeared to have the game in the bag at 74 for two in reply, which shows how wrong you can be.

   Pete Bradley (25), Pasha (23) and Andy Kingdon (27) appeared to have done the hard bit: then Barton bowled themselves back into the game.

   Four players came and went without a run between them and it was a subdued Bovey side that scraped home with Chris Bradley and Charlie Carter the not-out batsmen.

   Barton shared the wicet-taking around with Lievsley, Aqeel, Damon Calland and Jack Porter claiming two each.

 

CHUDLEIGH are hovering anxiously above the drop zone after losing by 45 runs to joint leaders Cornwood.

   Batting wasn't easy at Kate Brook, as Cornwood realised while they were labouring to 92 for eight.

   Kevin Willcock made 36, but the ball was definitely dominating the bat with Mark Heather (4-29) and Derek Perry (4-23) taking four wickets each.

   At one stage Cornwood lost four wickets in six balls with Perry taking three of the them.

   Petherbridge produced a cameo knock down the order worth 23 not out, which helped Cornwood past the psychologically important 100-mark.

   Chudleigh plummeted to 47 for eight in reply under pressure from Andy Bees (3-17) and Aizaz Cheema (3-25) and there was no pulling out of a slide like that.

   Jon Martin (18) delayed the inevitable, but when he went it was no time at all before Chudleigh were all out for 80.

   Chudleigh's only compensation is that Tavistock and Alphington both lost and remain below them in the table.

 

 

 

 

 

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