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PREMIER DIVISION

 

PLYMOUTH buried the memory of their nine-run defeat at Budleigh Salterton on the opening day of the Premier season with a rumbustious eight-wicket win over visiting Sidmouth.

   Sidmouth arrived at Peverell Park in high spirits following a nine-wicket win over Exmouth seven days earlier, but were brought down a peg or two as Dave Burke and Andy Horrill bowled them out for a measly 55.

   Plymouth needed just 15 overs to knock off the runs needed for victory.

   For skipper Luke Minett it was a huge relief to win on the rebound so emphatically. Two defeats on the trot would have installed Plymouth as favourites for an immediate return to the A Division.

   Said Minett: “Had we failed again it would have been something to worry about and a few questions to answer among ourselves.

   “The only questions being asked though were by Dave and Andy – and Sidmouth's batsmen didn't have many of the answers.

   “Dave and Andy bowled full and straight and we took the catches.

   “Sidmouth are a decent side so to beat them so emphatically was a good day for us.”

   Plymouth had Sidmouth in trouble early with Horrill bowling dangerman Neil Hancock, the hard hitting Devon all-rounder, and Burke mopping up Anthony Griffiths and Josh Bess with only 19 on the board.

   A mini-recovery led by Trent Ovens, who made the top score of 12, got Sidmouth up to 37 for four. From then on it was downhill all the way.

   Burke nipped out the middle order then   Horrill took Simon Sobczak and Will Murray in successive deliveries;

   Scott Barlow denied Horrill a hat-trick, but fell a few overs later anyway, the last of Horrill's victims in a tally of four for 31.

   Burke, trapped Sidmouth's last man Marc Jenkins to finish with six for 23.

   Plymouth had one minor setback when opener Chris Barr came and went without troubling the scorers.

   Opener Callum Whittaker (18no) and Mark Thompson (36) got the scores level, leaving Josh Bryan to clout the winning boundary.

 

PLYMPTON skipper Keith Donohue dismissed title talk as premature following the 60-run win over North Devon that installed his side as the early leaders in the Premier Division.

   A rapid-fire 50 low down the order by Wasim Mohammed helped Plympton reach 161 all out after they had been becalmed at 111 for eight with the overs fast declining.

   Arwyn Jones and Lewis Gregory then claimed three wickets each as last season's Premier champs were dispatched for 101 with six overs to go.

   Plympton are three points clear at the top off the table from Budleigh Salterton who, as expected, defeated bottom side Torquay.

   It's a great position to be in. But Donohue isn't talking about titles yet.

   “We are only two games into the season and there is a lot of cricket to be played yet,” said the former Devon all-rounder.

   “All we are doing is sending out a message to the other teams not to take us lightly – which won't make it any easier to win games.”

   Plympton round runs hard   to come by against North Devon's three-man seam attack and started losing wickets alarmingly when they tried to up the tempo.

   Opener Dave Walter made a steady 20 and Gregory had a patient 42 off 77 balls with four boundaries in it.

   North Devon were on top during the period when Plympton slumped from 73 for one to 87 for six – Matt Westaway (3-45) among the wickets – but couldn't finish Plympton off when they might have had the chance.

   At 111 for eight it looked dicey for Plympton, which was when Wasim and Craig Donohue, the son of the   captain, embarked on a rescue mission.

   Wasim made 50 off 61 balls with six fours and a six, while Donohue junior kept his end up for 14 not out. Their stand of 42 proved crucial in the context of the game.

   Donohue senior (2-15) removed both North Devon openers, Dan Pickard and Rob Gear, then Wasim (2-28) and Gregory (3-12) got stuck into the middle order.

   Stuart Rhodes (36) resisted longest, but Wasim came back for a second spell and picked him off at 79 for seven. Jones finished off the tail enders with three for 22.

 

BUDLEIGH Salterton tucked themselves in behind early leaders Plympton in the Premier Division when they completed the anticipated win over bottom side Torquay.

   Torquay might have their problems this season – any side would after losing seven regulars from their first-team squad – but they put up a respectable performance to bowl Budleigh out for 180.

   Where Torquay are struggling is the batting department, which showed as they collapsed to 72 all out.

   Victory leaves Budleigh three points behind Plympton, who defeated champions North Devon by 60 runs at Harewood House.

   Steve Spoljaric played the early order anchorman for Budleigh with 59, which came off 94 balls and include five fours and a six.

   After Spoljaric departed the bulk of Budleigh's runs came from Sandy Allen (31) and Tom Viljoen (30).

   Budleigh ran into two lots of trouble against Usman Malvi, who had braces in both spells finish with four for 51 from 15 overs.

   Ben Orr, the left-arm spinner signed from Yarcombe & Stockland, was bowler of the day for Torquay with four for 41 off 15 overs.

   Highlight of the fielding performance by Torquay was a superb tumbling catch at mid-on by Matt Thompson to send back Mike Cliff for a duck.

   Torquay were soon having problems against Ian Bishop (2-11) and Spoljaric (3-32) and at 44 for five the writing was on the wall.

   Tim Western stuck around to make 22, but no on else made more than Malvi (10) in the 26.4 overs Budleigh needed to bowl out Torquay.

   Matt Webb (4-15) was on a hat-trick as he flushed out the stragglers, claiming Joe Thompson and Joe Crooks one after the other.

   Seamus McKenna kept Barlow out, but he won't have been too disappointed by having all for of his wickets in the space of nine balls.

 

SANDFORD were given a reality check by Exeter as they slumped to a six-wicket defeat on the County Ground.

   Having handed out a 135-run drubbing to Torquay seven days earlier, hopes were high in the Sandford camp.

   Exeter shot out Sandford for 150 with more than eight of their 50 overs to come and cruised home with 10 overs to spare on the back of an unbeaten 70 from Rob Holman.

   Sandford's problem was an obvious one: they didn't score enough runs.

   No one in the first five made more than Adrian Small's 24 against one of his former clubs.

   The only outright failure was Trevor Anning, who made one.

   Too many of the first five got in, got settled then got out trying to hit the ball over the inner ring and finding a fielder instead.

   From a promising 82 for two, Sandford dipped to 97 for six as Jon Tipper (2-34) and Dan Poulson (2-33) thrived, backed up by Adam Gribble and Alvin Pollard.

   Gribble (3-28 off 15) and Tscehpo Legodi (2-18) administered the last rights to the Sandford innings.

   The only Sandford batsman who looked comfortable was Devon U17 rising star Shane Evenden, who was unbeaten on 32.

   Evenden's problem was he went in at number eight and didn't have too many partners to work with.

   Exeter wanted maximum points which meant keeping risks down and taking their time to preserve wickets on the chase.

   Opener Mickey Wilkinson was bowled by David Lye for a duck and Marshall Hood (20) scored ever y run in stand of 20 for the second wicket with Aaron Williams before Lye bowled him too.

   Williams (30) and Holman nudged the score up to 82 then Alex Brown and Holman got the target down to 42 to win.

   It was downhill all the way from then on with Holman, who hit 11 boundaries, and Glenn Lammonby (12no) knocking off the rest.

 

EXMOUTH bounced back from their mauling at Sidmouth on day one with a comprehensive seven-wicket win over visiting Paignton.

   Paignton made a respectable 214 for five in their 50 overs – Kobus Pienaar top scoring on 61 – but could have done with another 20 or 30 on the board.

   The shortcomings of the total were underlined as Exmouth cruised home with almost three overs to spare on the back of a handy stand of 132 between Arul Suppiah and Richard Baggs.

   Paignton lost opener Mike Pedley early and Mark Gilmour soon after in a running total f 29 for two – both wickets claimed by veteran seamer Mark Woodman.

   Surviving opener Seb Benton (46) and James Hudson (54) advanced the score to 75 when Suppiah teased Benton out after an 85-ball stay.

   Hudson and Pienaar rattled up 75 for the next wicke twith Hudson, who hit three fours and two sixes, leading the way.

   Pienaar upped the pace to finish his 61 from 54 balls with four fours and two sixes.

   Paignton's Tim Ward was embarking on one of those quickfire cameos he does so well when he was hit on the knee by Carson Lederle and had to retire hurt for 17.

   Exmouth got away to a 48-run start through Mike Paine (14) and Ed Yeo (26), then lost both in quick succession to Pedley (2-26).

   Somerset staffman Suppiah soon settled into the grove and found Baggs to be a willing partner in crime during their match-winning partnership.

   By the time Pienaar returned for a second spell and broke the stand by getting Baggs out for 68, which came off 82 balls and included six fours and three sixes, the game was up.

   Suppiah went on to reach an unbeaten 86 and had 10 fours and six among the 93 balls he faced.