Back

PREMIER DIVISION - MAY 3

PLYMOUTH'S long awaited return to the Premier Division turned into a muted affair as they lost by 28 runs in a low-scoring affair at Budleigh Salterton.

   Thirteen years after they slid out of the Premier Division, Plymouth announced their return by dismissing the 2006 champions for a just 86.

   Former skipper Dave Burke had five for 28, Andy Horrill bagged four for 30 and a last-wicket stand of 27 between Ben Slack and Matt Webb only seemed to be delaying the inevitable.

   Plymouth were in for a rude awakening though as Budleigh turned the tables on them good and proper – Webb, county captain Bob Dawson and Ian Bishop all claiming three wickets as the city side were skittled out for 58 in reply.

   Plymouth skipper Luke Minett said although the manner of his side's defeat looked bad there were positive to take from the game.

   “Having done the hard bit by bowling them out, it's fair to say we blew it when we batted,” said Minett.

   “What cost us the game was a five-minute spell before tea when we went fro 17 for none to 18 for three.

   “That made the batsman go into their shells and play negatively after tea, with the end result that we capitulated and lost game we should have won.

   “It was uphill after that once wickets started tumbling.

   “I still believe though we can be competitive in the Premier Division.

   “David Burke did what we knew he would do – get good batsmen out – and Andy Horrill bowled superbly for his four wickets.

   “I am confident in our bowling attack and happy our batsmen will be able to compete in future matches.”

   Burke and Horrill bowled too straight for Budlegh's comfort at first and when Steve Spoljaric was fifth out at 39 he had made 24 of them.

   A feature of Plymouth's fielding display were two catches well taken in the slips by Paul Thompson.

   At 39 for six – Devon's Sandy Allen going cheaply – Plymouth were looking to press home their advantage.

   Tom Viljoen (13) held them up for a while the Slack (18no) wrung a few more runs out of the tail, every one of which was to prove vital.

   Plymouth were in an almost identical position to their hosts at 35 for five after an early going over from Bishop (3-16) and Spoljaric, who took two fine catches at slip to remove Callum Whittaker and Harry Stevenson.

   Sadly for Plymouth they didn't have anyone in the middle order to shore things up.

   Webb finished Plymouth off on his way to three for five in 12 balls as their last five wickets tumbled for just seven runs.

   Plymouth now have to pick themselves up for this Saturday's meeting with Sidmouth, who opened the season in fine style with a nine-wicket win over Exmouth.

 

PLYMPTON hit the ground running at Paignton where they crushed the home side by 94 runs.

   Opener Andy Walter top scored with 63 as Plympton made 184 for eight in their 50 overs.

   Pakistani new boy Mohammed Wasim claimed four wickets and Devon old boy Keith Donohue had three more as Paignton were hustled out for just 90 in reply.

   Opener David Wrench was an early Plympton casualty, as was Lewis Gregory, Both were nipped out by Paignton's new South African paceman Kobus Pienaar.

   Pienaar is the nephew of former South African quick bowler Fanie de Villiers, who was relatively unknown when he turned out as an overseas player for Torquay in 1992.

   Walter and Jeremy Williams (10) put on 56 for the third wicket in a stand that ended when James Hudson (3-40) took a low, return catch off his own bowling to send back Williams.

   Hudson got Walter as well – stumped by Justin Mann – but not before he had pushed the score along to 123 for four,.

   Darren Rowbotham (35) and Alex Trevarthan (28) added another 49 before Stephen George (3-18) picked up a couple of wickets late in the day.

   Paignton couldn't have a worse start than the one they got – opener Seb Benton falling to Wasim befre a run was scored.

   Plympton's bowlers stuck to line and length and a succession of Paignton batsman were either bowled, caught behind or dismissed lbw.

   Surviving opener Mike Pedley (13) was fourth out on 49 when Donohue bowled him.

   When Donohue disposed of Pienaar for a top score of 18, and claimed Simon Edwards almost immediately, Plympton were in command.

   Tim Ward, a former Devon team-mate of Donohue's stuck around to make 16, but Wasim, Arwyn Jones and Karl Prescott were nipping out his partners at the other end.

   Ward was last man out when Wasim came back for a final spell and needed just for balls to have the former Devon all-rounder caught behind by Rowbotam.

   Plympton will be eager to get stuck into defending champions North Devon when the two sides meet at Harewood Park this Saturday.

 

SANDFORD skipper Richard Foan's fears proved unfounded as his side stormed to a 135-run win over visiting Torquay.

   Torquay are in danger of being the whipping boys this season having suffered a mass exodus of players during the winter.

   The side new skipper Justin Yau took to Creedy Park only contained three genuine survivors from last season's side – plus spinner Kris Davis, who would have been a regular had he been available more often.

   Torquay didn't have the bowling to bother Sandford unduly as Richard Foan and David Lye both hit half-centuries or more in a total of 236 for three declared.

   Foan feared getting Torquay out might be a struggle so he declared four overs early to buy some extra bowling time.

   Torquay's batting proved as fragile as their bowling though and a seven-wicket haul for veteran spinner Richard Coupe sent them packing for 101 with almost 20 overs to go.

   Adrian Small made 31 of the first 48 on the board for Sandford, then Richard Tucker (41) and Foan (50) added 83 for the second wicket without too many problems.

   Foan and Tucker went in quick succession to Davis (2-62), which proved a mixed blessing for Torquay.

   David Lye smashed 72 off 43 balls – he larruped four fours and six sixes while he was at it – and with Trevor Anning making 26 not out another 92 went on the board in the final 12 overs.

   Torquay got a reasonable start – Usman Malvi (25) and Tim Western (23) making runs – but from 60 for three there was a steady decline to 101 all out.

   Jack Thompson's nine was the best of a sorry set of scores as Coupe (7-42) and Lye (2-72) picked off the bottom half of the order.

 

NEIL Hancock blasted an unbeaten century as Sidmouth thrashed Exmouth by nine wickets in the derby clash on the Fortfield.

   Runs were hard to come by on a slow, early season wicket with Exmouth labouring to 133 for eight in 50 overs.

   Mike Paine made 22 at the top of the order, James Burke crawled to 40 off 139 balls and Arul Suppiah reached 26 when Exmouth batted.

   Somerset staffman Suppiah tried to make up for lost time when he arrived at the crease and was caught at long-on having a slog.

   Hancock was miserly for 11 overs at one end, allowing Scott Barlow (4-37) and Will Murray (3-31) to pick up wickets when Exmouth tried to play their shots.

   Sidmouth had the best of the batting conditions, racing to victory with more than 15 overs to spare.

   A first-up stand of 105 between Hancock and Anthony Griffiths broke the back of the chase. Griffiths (16) was happy to be towed along by Hancock.

   Hancock was on 95 with the scores level and only had one way to reach his century – to hit a six.

   Suppiah served up a juicy full-toss that Hancock launched on to a nearby tennis court!

 

THERE was a nail-biting finish at Instow where Exeter failed by two runs to beat defending champions North Devon.

   North Devon were all out for 132 with an over to go – a target that looked well within reach of Exeter's batsman.

   Exeter got down to the final over from Tom Allin requiring seven to win, they needed three of the last balll and only made one so had to settle for the draw at 131 for nine.

   Stuart Rhodes top scored for North Devon with 66. Next best with 19 was Mark Hedden.

   Simon Bird (3-31) took the bowling honours for Exeter. Dan Poulson had two for 33 and Jon Tipper two more for 20.

   Skipper Tipper was still trying to work out yesterday how his side failed to knock off the runs and finally came up with failing to pay attention.

   “It was a hard wicket to bat on, but we already knew that from having watched North Devon bat on it for the best part of three hours,” said Tipper.

   “We didn't learn from what North Devon did wrong though. We saw a couple of their guys get out playing back when they should have gone forward, then went out and did exactly the same thing.

   “It wasn't all us though: North Devon bowled well in the conditions.”

   Although Exeter were disappointed not to win, they could easily have lost, which seemed the most likely outcome when they were 93 for seven, with Alex Brown out for a top score of 21.

   Martin Gear (3-19) had early wickets for North Devon with Allin (2-42) and Matt Westaway (3-31) keeping the pressure on.

   A stand of 22 between Legodi (16) and Adam Gribble (14no) put the game back in the melting pot, leading to that edge of the seat finish.

   

  

 

.