SATURDAY, JULY 7
SKIPPER Andy Pugh hit a century as Brixham's unbeaten run at the top of the B Division continued with a 120-run win away to Clyst St George.
Going into the latest round of fixtures, Clyst were the only side who hadn't lost to Brixham as they held the leaders to a draw back in May.
Second time around it was a different story as Brixham amassed 223 for five then shot Clyst out for 103.
Clyst were convinced they had Pugh out caught behind for 20, but the umpire said ‘no' and the former Devon batsman went on to make 113.
To make matters worse for Clyst, bowler Ollie Whitton suffered a badly bruised hand trying to take a return catch to dismiss Pugh and took no meaningful part in the game after that.
A stand of 163 between Pugh and John Lamswood (52) was the mainstay of the Brixham innings. Richard Ward made 29 before the overs ran out. The stand was a new league record as far as Brixham are concerned.
Pugh batted for five minutes longer than two hours, faced 116 balls and hit 16 fours and four sixes. He raced from 50 to 100 in just 28 deliveries, helped by taking 25 in one over of leg-spin from Nathan Wells.
But the time he got out lbw to Chris Cooke, Pugh had passed 55 runs for the season at an average of as near to 90 as makes no significant difference.
Chris Cook and Pete Weatherhead had a couple of wickets each for Clyst, but not that cheaply.
Clyst newcomer Graham White, who has just switched from Alphington, was a second-ball casualty as the home side dipped from 42 for one to 66 for seven. Nathan Wells made 27 of them.
Nick Dubisson batted through for an unbeaten 23, but spinners Aqeel Ahmed (5-39) and Gary Spencer (2-21) bowled Brixham to victory with eight overs to go.
Brixham's lead at the top of the table over Barnstaple & Pilton is a healthy 38 points.
Alphington were second until they ran into Barnstaple and Pilton, who beat them by two wickets at the Chronicles to move ahead of the Alphas in the table.
Alphington had a job on their hands after dipping to 64 for six and did well to make 164 all out from that postion.
Matt Bamber hit a top score of 38 on his debut – he's recently arrived from Shobrooke Park – and Tom Weeks made 33.
Alphngton's batsmen seemed mesmerised by the spin of Henry McEndoo (4-14) and were completely baffled by Steve Moore, who bowled 13 overs for figures of three for 23.
Bambler (2-52), Paul James (3-34) and Simon Hathaway (2-13) ensured Barum didn't have it all their own way on the chase.
Moore's 20 was valuable, but not as much as Steve Wheatley's 30 not out that saw Barnstaple to victory.
Seaton made the long trip to Bideford for nothing as they went down by 15 runs to a side that hadn't previously won a league game all season.
Bideford's overseas player Sam Hughes top scored with 63 in a total of 189 all out made in 45 of the 46 overs available. Luke Kerr hit 45 and Billy Curtis 29.
Former Devon U17 spinner Dave Field (4-43) was among the wickets for Seaton, as was veteran campaigner Pete Lawson (3-39).
Seaton were always ahead of the asking rate, but at the price of wickets falling a bit too soon.
When Aaron Quatermaine was out for 51 the score was 118 for five with plenty left to do.
Dave Cottam chipped in with 31 and Sean Perry made 30 and with six overs left the target was a modest 25 to win. There were only three wickets left though and when Mark Jenkins was out for 15 it was downhill fast to 174 all out.
Alec Hodges led the Biddy bowling effort with four for 41 while Mike Clements spun his way to three for 38.
Axminster's lower-order batsmen got them off the hook against Plymouth Civil Service with a battling recovery that proved enough to earn a winning draw.
Civil held the upper hand at first as Chris Newton (3-36) and Tom Cross (3-53) reduced Axminster to 76 for five.
Axminster's comeback started with Stuart Evans (41) and Joel Seward (40) putting on 62 for the sixth wicket. Contributions from the Larcombe brothers – Danny with 43 and Gary with 26 – got Axminster up to 237 for seven in their 46-over allocation.
Civil were 86 for 13 after 13 overs which ought to have been the platform for a successful run chace.
Mark Lockyer (22), Steve Cowell (23), Mo Allam (30) and Dave Bayliss (61) all made contributions as the target was whittled away.
The turning point came when Axminster skipper Danny Larcombe turned to occasional bowler Steve Allsopp as a partnership breaker – and he duly delivered by snaring Bayliss in his first over.
When Allsopp struck a second time Civil gave up the chase and took it cautiously from 191 for seven to 209 for eight at the close.
Plymstock had no game on Saturday afternoon as it was their turn for a day off following Exeter St James decision to pull out of the league back in May.