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JUNE 16, 2007

 

PAKISTANI paceman Saddiq Mohammed bowled Plympton to a narrow win at Budleigh Salterton with an eight-wicket haul – and promptly earned praise from skipper Keith Donohue for his batting!

   Saddiq's eight-for-58 return – the second-best set of figures by any Plympton bowler since the club arrived in the top flight in 2000 – helped dismiss Budleigh Salterton nine runs short of victory in a low-scoring match.

   Plympton had struggled to 157 all – and only got that far thanks to Saddiq coming in at number nine and hitting a top score of 42.

   As far as Donohue was concerned, Saddiq's partnership of 65 with Tony Brown (15) proved absolutely decisive to the outcome of the game.

   “Saddiq bowled brilliantly for his eight wickets, but without the runs he scored we would not have had a chance of winning the game,” said Donohue.

   “He's not had a great run with the bat since joining us, so I dropped him down the order and it must have focussed him on his batting.

   “Before that stand we were looking at 120 or so all out if we were lucky. Because of it we actually had a total on the board we were in with a chance of defending.

   “I wasn't too sure we had enough as Budleigh are a strong batting side, but Saddiq kept taking wickets when we needed one to stop them getting away with the game.

   “Because the weather wasn't great, we kept coming off during the rain and that worked in our favour as it gave Saddiq a rest when I might have had to take him off otherwise for a breather.

   “While Sandy Allen (62) and Bob Dawson (35) were batting for Budleigh, I thought they were just about favourites.

   “Saddiq got both of them, but the big wicket was when Mike Zantiotis came on and nipped out Ian Bishop.

   “Until then I thought Budleigh might just eek their way towards the total as they only needed 30-odd and had five wickets left and plenty of time.

   “After Bishop was out and Sadddiq came back to bowl at their tail, then I felt we would win.”

   Plympton had found the going tough against Devon pacer Matt Webb (5-54) and Aussie seamer Steve Spoljaric (2-40) with none of the frontline batters making more than Jeremy Williams' 27.

   Saddiq and Brown teamed up at 92 for seven with orders to bat as long as they liked. Saddiq looked like he was there for a good time rather than a long time as he hit the lively Spoljaric for two sixes in the first over he received.

   The stand ended when Budleigh skipper Dawson turned to spinner Andy Procter, who took two wickets in 10 balls to get rid of Saddiq and Brown.

   Saddiq's eight-wicket haul is second behind Imran Ali's eight for 55 against Paignton last season in the all-time Plympton list of Premier Division performances. Ali also had a seven-wicket return last season (Tavistock) while Donohue, Karl Prescott Jamie Pfeiffer and Arwyn Jones (twice) have all had six-wicket shows in the league.

 

EXETER stay top of the Premier Division despite being rained off against bottom club Chudleigh at the County Ground.

   Only 19 overs play was possible before the rain came down and, after a two-hour delay, the game was called off.

   Exeter will have been disappointed to come off when they did as Chudleigh were struggling on 64 for six at the time.

   However, there was a silver lining of sorts for the County Grounders as they at least picked up three bowling bonus points for collecting six wickets.

   That was three more points than chasers Torquay and Sandford obtained from their total wash out at Creedy Park.

   So Exeter, who were level on points with Torquay at the top on Saturday morning, are now three points in front of their rivals. Sandford are a further two points in arrears.

   Chudleigh were 37 without loss when Tschepo Legodi made the first break through by removing opener Derek Perry for 16.

   Adam Gribble followed up by dispatching Fehan Adil for a couple – the first of five wickets to fall for seven runs.

   Mark Solway and Mark Taylor put on 18 between them to keep Gribble (2-5) and Jon Tipper (3-16) at bay until the rain came.

   Sandford's game against Torquay was called off before it started as parts of the ground at Creedy Park were underwater and there was no realistic prospects of play.

 

PAIGNTON are back in business in the Premier Division following a 25-run win over North Devon on a damp day at Queens Park.

   The early season frontrunners had hit a trough in form after losing to Exeter then Torquay on successive Saturday afternoons.

   But they made up plenty of ground on the teams above – three of whom were rained off and one of whom lost – to edge up to fourth 14 points behind leaders Exeter.

   Paignton were bowled out for 172 in the 51s over with Gavin Ewing hitting a top score of 55 and Mark Gilmour chipping in with 38.

   Gutsy James Hope batted on with a runner to make 34 after pulling up with a hamstring strain.

   Hope and Ewing put on 41 for Paignton's fourth wicket, with the runner on almost all the way through.

   Earlier, Simon Edwards had gone in the first over for a duck, Seb Benton had been trapped lbw by the lively Matt Allin, who them made it three in a row on his way to a five-wicket haul by dismissing Riaan Jeggels before he had got off the mark.

   South African star Jeggels shaped up to drive Allin through the on-side and was well caught by Matt Westaway at mid-in.

   Hope finally went caught behind off Stewart Rhodes and was followed almost immediately by Tim Ward for a second-ball duck.

   Ewing, who hit seven fours, found a handy batting partner in Gilmour in a stand of 38 that stopped North Devon turning the screw any harder.

   Ewing finally fell to left-arm spinner Matt Dart, but Gilmour batted through to the end and put on what he could with who was left after the fall of the seventh wicket.

   Mike Pedley made 15 coming in at number nine and his partnership with Gilmour worth 34 proved crucial when the final tottings up were done.

   Pace bowler Allin, who made his full Devon debut last week, returned for a second spell to blast out tail enders Stephen George and Liam Bryan for the fourth and fifth no scores of the Paignton innings.

   North Devon's reply ran into early difficulties against seamer Pedley, whose stats of three for 36 off 17 overs say it all really. Opener Rob gear made 31 of the first 43 on the board, but no one else made double figures as the visitors slumped to 48 for five from 43 for one.

   Martin Gear and Rob Ayre appeared to be getting North Devon back on course with a stand of 32 so Paignton were glad to see the back of Gear when he hit a Seb Benton long-hop straight back at him. Bonus wickets like that can make all the difference in tight games.

   Ewing (3-34) had already removed Mark Hedden and Westaway before he had Ayre lbw to leave North Devon 98 for seven. Allin came and went quickly – skipper Justin Mann claiming a stumping off Benton – and at 111 for eight it looked all over.

   No one had told Ross Burbidge (17no) or Richard Screech (20) that they were supposed to roll over quietly and their stand of 32 had a few alarm bells ringing in the Paignton camp.

   Steve George, wicketless in his first spell, was redeployed and got instant success by bowling Screech. Last man Dart was no problem and in eight balls George had taken two wickets for four runs and it was all over.

   Beating North Devon was hugely important for Paignton, who were in danger of dropping out of the reckoning if they lost again.

   Mann wasn't too carried away by it though as the batting display was again too patchy for his liking, although the damp conditions were a mitigating factor.

   “When we were 85 for five I felt 170 was the absolute minimum we could win the match with and, thanks to Gavin and Mark Gilmour we just about got there,” said Mann.

   “Tom Allin is an opening bowler who wants wickets and he made it hard for us early on. I was very impressed with him.

   “In Mike Pedley and Stephen George we had the ideal bowlers for the conditions and that was probably the difference between the two sides.

   “It' is significant though that they were without Neil Bettis in their early order as he could easily have got the 25 runs that would have made a difference.

   “You can only play what's there though and after the bad run we have had we needed this win and played well to get it.”

 

BARTON put a little distance between themselves and the Premier Division basement when by bringing a winning draw home from their meeting with fellow strugglers Exmouth.

   The gap isn't huge – just eight points separate Barton from Exmouth in the second relegatio slot – but at least it is a step in the right direction.

   The man of the moment for Barton was all-rounder Adam Parker who starred with bat and ball, scoring runs when they were badly needed and picking up key wickets when Exmouth batted.

   Barton, not for the first time this season, were in early difficulties at 29 for three with Haydn Morgan, James Toms and Imran Abbas all out cheaply.

   The rot stopped with skipper Aaron Williams and Nick Watkin, who put on 56 for the fourth wicket.

   Former Cornwall U19 spinner Matt Coult broke the stand when he had Watkin caught behind for 23 and there was a danger then the Barton revival could be nipped in the bud.

   Enter Parker, who made a brisk 37 at one end while Williams made sedate progress to 54 at the other,

   Parker's stand with Williams was worth 74, which proved crucial runs in the context of the game. Parker was run out late in the day, but Williams carried on until he was last man out in a total of 180 for eight.

   The Barton captain batted 157 minutes and faced 139 balls for his 54, just four runs of which came from a boundary. Williams was just eight runs short of making his first not-out score in the league since joining the club from Torquay six years ago.

   Exmouth made a confident start with James Burke (21) and Liam Lewis (36) putting on 48.

   Jack Porter (2-45) made some inroads and Haydn Morgan accounted for potential dangerman David Court as Exmouth dipped to 87 for four, three wickets falling for just nine runs.

   The wicket Barton wanted was that of South African Ryan Canning, the Western Province wicketkeeper-batsman who flew in last week with he intention of helping Exmouth get away from the drop zone.

   Parker came up trumps when he bowled Canning for 15 and from 113 for five Exmouth lost their momentum.

   Richard Baggs made 26 on his comeback – he has been out all season until now getting over a back operation – but Parker got him as well.

   Will Gingell fell to Parker at 139 for seven and after that Exmouth shut up shop.

   Parker, who finished with four for 25, and Morgan (2-25) took one more wicket each to leave

    Coult and Mike Paine to negotiate 2.4 overs at the end as Exmouth reached 157 for nine at the close.