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BUDLEIGH v SANDFORD

SANDFORD shot to the top of the Premier Division after turning the tables on defending champions Budleigh Salterton at Ottermouth.

   Skipper Richard Foan had an afternoon he wont forget in a hurry after hitting a top score of 73 in Sandford's 235 for nine, then taking four for 38 to help bowl Budleigh to a 90-run defeat.

   Budleigh, who were top on Saturday morning, drop down to fifth as Sandford, Paignton, Exeter and Torquay have all streamed past them.

   Sandford won three Premier crowns between 2001-2004, but haven't been serious challengers since Richard Baggs led them to the last of their successes three years ago.

   Foan remains to be convinced his side are contenders this season, but says he is looking forward to finding out.

    “There has been a new team top of the Premier Division every Saturday night for the past three weeks, so it's a bit early to be talking about winning titles,” said Foan.

   “At the start of the season I did not expect us to have a chance of winning it this year and I would say the same now.

   “What has changed though is the attitude we take into games and that's helped us a lot.

   “There's been huge expectations on us for the past few years because of the titles we did win, but this year no one was expecting too much of us and it has allowed us to play with a lot more freedom and that's reflected in our results.”

   Foan's overview of the win at Budleigh was of a solid team effort helped by Budleigh losing concentration when the going got tough.

   “I didn't think 235 was enough with the batting Budleigh have and knew we would have to bowl well to stop them getting it,” said Foan.

   “We bowled okay – but for every one we got out one of them got himself out by the way they batted.

   “Once we saw the back of Andy Procter, who can take a game away from you in five of six overs if he gets going, then I felt the game was won.”

   Foan bagged the early runs – he was third out at 142 – then Richard Tucker (53) batted through to the last over in Sandford's 235 for nine.

   Rob Newman marked his return to the Budleigh side after a break due to work commitments with five for 37.

   Budleigh opener Sandy Allen (41) appeared to be digging in for the anchorman role and Sandford were glad to see the back of him at 93 for five as the first of four scalps for Asa Wright.

   Bob Dawson went soon after lbw to Foan, followed by Newman also falling to the slow-left armers of the Sandford captain.

   An unfortunate run out involving Jeremy Crooker, who slipped and fell after being sent back by Procter, hastened Budleigh's demise. Their last five wickets tumbled for 18 runs as they were bowled out for 145 with more than 12 overs to bowl.

 

NORTH DEVON v CHUDLEIGH

CHUDLEIGH'S hopes of kick-starting the season against fellow strugglers North Devon came to nothing as they crashed to a 160-run defeat at Instow.

   Both sides have found life in the Premier Division hard since coming up from the A Division last season – and the size of this defeat will have given Chudleigh plenty to think about.

   North Devon raced along to 263 for seven in their 55 overs   – Devon batsman Neil Bettis making a century on his delayed debut for the club – then bowled Chudleigh out for 103 wit more than 23 overs to go.

   The man of the moment for North Devon was young spinner Matt Dart whose seven-for 31 return put the skids under Chudleigh, who lot their last six wickets for just 13 runs.

   Among Dart's victims was Chudleigh's Pakistani new boy Farhan Adil, who was in and out for just seven.

   The only batsmen to make double figures for Chudleigh were opener Derek Perry – he was lbw to Matt Allin (2-43) for 23 – and Neil White (28). White's departure at 90 for five when he was bowled by Martin Gear was the beginning of the end for Chudleigh.

   Bettis, who switched to North Devon from Sandford during the close season, missed the first three matches of after breaking a wrist playing football.

   Bettis showed he was back to full fitness, and keen to regain his place in the county side, but stroking 108 off 109 balls with 13 fours included.

   Support for Bettis came from Matt Westaway with 30 0 the pair shared a stand of 70 for the fourth wicket – and lower down from Rob Ayre (27) and Allin (21no).

   Chudleigh found wickets hard to come by, although White had two for 17 off six and Graeme Wilson proved hard to get away in 13 overs that only cost 45 runs and included the wicket of opener Stuart Rhodes.

   Chudleigh now have to pick themselves up after this drubbing for their game this Saturday against defending champions Budleigh Salterton, who are bound to be smarting after their 90-run drubbing by Sandford.

 

BARTON v PAIGNTON

PAIGNTON are up to second place in the Premier Division following a seven-wicket win in the derby clash with Barton at Cricketfield Road.

   Barton were bowled out two overs early for 152 – Zimbabwean Gavin Ewing taking four for 45 – which Paignton knocked off cautiously with just three overs to spare.

   Ewing was in at the end unbeaten on 28 when Paignton registered their second win of the league campaign to move within two points of Sandford in an all-change top five.

   But Paignton skipper Justin Mann was quick to share the around praise as he savoured the flavour of a 20-point maximum.

   “Barton's a tough place to win at the best of times and twining this one was more difficult than usual,” said Mann.

   “There was a bit of moisture in the pitch, which both sides had to contend with, then we had to fiddle our bowling as we were two short.

   “We could have got by without Rob Chandler on his own, but it didn't help when James Hope aggravated an old knee injury and could hardly run, never mind bowl.

   “It was a good effort on our part to bowl them out for 152, but what really pleased me was seeing our young lads knock off the runs.

    “Once Steve Edwards and Seb Benton got us up to 60 I couldn't see us losing the game. Mark Gilmour came in and started hitting sixes – great to see from a 15 year old – and we had Gavin (Ewing) and Riaan (Jeggels) in at the end to see us home.”

   Paignton took no unnecessary risks chasing down the total as they had seen how hard Barton had to work to set a target in the first place.

   The sight of James Toms being bowled by Mike Pedley when the ball pitched and rolled along the ground would have been fresh in few minds as well.

   Barton were 23 for two after Toms and Aaron Williams went in quick succession, which led to a period of patient consolidation between Haydn Morgan and Imran Abbas.

   Ewing and Stephen George (2-28) chipped away with wickets here and there – six of which were leg-before decisions – while Abbas and later Adam Parker picked up runs where they could.

   Parker went on to top score with 36 off 42 balls, one of which went sailing back over bowler Mike Pedley's head for a straight six.

   Pedley did have the satisfaction of delivering the wicket of the day though when he knocked Damon Calland's middle stump over with a peach of a ball.

   Edwards (34) and Benton (40) pointed Paignton in the right direction with an opening stand of 68. Benton fell to Andy McVeigh which brought Gilmour in for a quick 21.

   Edwards and Gilmour went one after the other at 106, but Jeggels (18no) and Ewing (28no) finished the job in hand without too many scares.

 

PLYMPTON v TORQUAY

PLYMPTON collected their best result of the season so far when they took the lions' share of the points from a drawn game with visiting Torquay,

   Former captain Jeremy Williams continued his explosive start to the season with 61, and there were handy chip-ins from Lewis Gregory (41), current captain Keith Donohue (31no) and Dan Rowbotham (27) as Plympton totalled 233 for eight in their 55 overs.

   New Pakistani quick bowler Saddiq Mohammad then claimed four Torquay wickets for 41 runs as the visitors were held to 184 for seven in reply.

   Plympton still haven't won a game in the league, but of three draws so far this was their best performance.

   Skipper Donohue was happy enough with 14 points and the overall performance of his side, who looked a lot more impressive than they had done at Barton seven days earlier.

   “Torquay are probably the best side we have played so far – they certainly have the best pair of new-ball bowlers – but there wasn't a time when we weren't really in control,” said Donohue.

   “It's hard to believe Lewis Gregory is only 15 when you watch him opening the batting against bowlers with professional backgrounds like Matt Bulbeck and Riswan Malvi. Until he got out he only played one wrong shot; the rest he either left or dealt with.

   “Jeremy Williams seems to be enjoying the freedom of not being captain now as he can't stop scoring runs.

   “I was pleased Alex Trevarthen   got a few – he made 25 and looked capable of turning that into 50s and 60s in the future.

   “Perhaps we aren't quite strong enough on the bowling side to bowl other teams out, but we had a pretty good go at it.

   “Saddiq looks a decent bowler from what we have seen of him in the first two games. He is not as tall as Imran Ali, who was with us last year, so he skids the ball through a bit more. But he is going to take plenty of wickets for us.

   “Overall we played some pretty good cricket against a respectable side and if we keep playing like this the results will come.”

   Gregory, Trevarthen and Rowbothan were the supporting players who helped Williams hoist the Plympton score to 164 for three.

   Bulbeck, the former Somerset and England U19 opening bowler (4-56) took two wickets in quick succession and Kris Davis a third, as 164 for three became 169 for six.

   Williams was still there though and his stand of 49 with Donohue saw Plympton safely over the hump. When Williams was out at 218 for seven he had hit 11 fours and faced 120 balls.

   Torquay didn't get the start they wanted as Saddiq whipped out Justin Yau, Bulbeck and James Hudson to leave them 44 for three. Seventy-nine for four with Tim Western stumped for 24 off the bowling of Arwyn Jones was a potential turning point in the game.

   Torquay couldn't afford to lose another wicket then and had just the man for a difficult job in former Devon opener Matt Hunt, who dropped anchor for the rest of the game.

   Hunt batted through for a marathon 162 minutes to make an unbeaten 67 off 128 balls as Torquay took the safety first route to a draw.

   Mavli (29) hung around to add 48 for the sixth wicket with Hunt before Donohue trapped him lbw.

   Mike Pugh (18) also offered handy support to Hunt as Torquay saw out the time.

 

EXMOUTH v EXETER

EXETER are up to third in the Premier Division table following their six-wicket derby win over Exmouth at the Maer.

   Exmouth, who had Somerset batsman Matt Wood opening up for them, faded from 184 for five to 198 all out, which was never going to be enough.

   Just how inadequate the total was became apparent as Exeter knocked off the runs in less than 44 overs with Arnnie Searle hitting 71 not out to hasten Exmouth's demise.

   While Exeter are on the up, Exmouth are going in the opposite direction. This defeat, hard on the heels of their reversal at Paignton seven days earlier, leaves them one of the bottom of the division after four matches.

   Wood was in and out for 19, which didn't seem a problem as James Burke (37) and Mike Paine (31) pushed the score up to 89 without further mishap.

   Taking the pace off the bowling by bringing on the spinners produced results for Exeter as Paul Short (2-43) and Adam Gribble (2-45), backed up by Simon Bird (3-30) turned 89 for one into 95 for four.

   Liam Lewis (18) and Will Gingell (41) started a fightback that James Windsor continued with 28. When Windsor was run out the tail fell apart with Gribble and Bird mopping up.

   Exeter made a solid if unspectacular start, but once Searle arrived to join Marshall Hood the result was never in doubt.

   Searle, who put away 10 fours, and Hood (33) put on 57 then Glen Lammonby (36) and Searle got the target down to 22 to win.

   Searle got most of those while Rob Holman was kept underemployed at the other end.