Paignton v Exmouth
PAIGNTON seam bowler Mike Pedley smashed his own career best posted just a week earlier with an eight-wicket haul to set up an unlikely 24-run win over Exmouth.
The smart money was on an Exmouth win after they had dismissed Paignton for a measly 127 in 27 of the 55 overs available – David Court, Adam Gingell and Chris Travers all taking three wickets each.
Pedley had other ideas though and ripped through the Exmouth batting to bag eight of their wickets for just 32 runs. The former Barton and Abbotskerswell medium pacer's previous Premier best was the five for 43 in the previous match against Sandford.
Paignton skipper Justin Mann praised Pedley from the rooftops for snatching a win which few would have expected during the break between innings.
But the Paignton captain wasn't blind to some of the failings of his team that had them defending 127 in the first game.
“You shouldn't complain when you play poorly and win, but we owe a huge debt to one player for winning this game,” said Mann.
“Mike is bowling like a dream right now, which is just as well after the way we batted.
“Our batting collapsed big time, apart from James Hope sticking it out for 25 and Tim Ward doing his bit as well.
“Mike Pedley has won us the game and we have to realise we can't rely on him every week to get us out of trouble.”
Paignton also owe a debt of gratitude to Exmouth's wayward bowlers. Without the 25 wides they bowled between them it could easily have been a different story.
Paignton's batsmen struggled against the seaming ball – especially when it was pitched up to them tempting the drive – and were 37 for four after an early burst from Court (3-47) and Adam Gingell (3-43).
Hope (25) and Ward (26) put on 41, not a lot but priceless in the context of the game. The stand ended when Ward, put down in the previous over, was caught trying to swing the ball away over mid-wicket.
Hope, who came in at eight for two, went at 105 for seven trying to flick Gingell behind point and only succeeding in getting a tickle through to keeper Mike Paine.
From then on it was downhill all the way to 124 all out with Chris Travers (3-15) knocking over the tail with embarrassing ease.
Stephen George made the early breakthough Paignton didn't want when he trapped Hamish Barton lbw for four with the score on eight. Then Pedley swung into action. James Burke and Liam Lewis, who played on, went close together and George had Travers caught behind to leave Exmouth 35 for four.
The big wicket was skipper Court who, unwisely, chased a wide half-volley from Pedley and got just enough edge on the to help it on its way to Ward in the slips.
Paine and Newton Abbot rugby player Will Gingell seemed to be salvaging the situation with a stand that had reached 28 when Paine (17) was lbw to Pedley, who bowled Gingell (19) soon after.
Toby Ingham (11) and Adam Gingell delayed the inevitable briefly before Pedley got them out and Damian Price to complete a remarkable win for Paignton
Sandford v Chudleigh
CHUDLEIGH will have been glad to see the back of the last week that ended in a thoroughly miserable 10-wicket defeat at Sandford.
Chudleigh have lost overseas player Ashok Thakur, who has gone home without starting in a game, missed out on a replacement before the signing-on deadline then suffered a bad defeat all in the space of three days.
The only slight consolation for Chudleigh is they are not bottom of the table, but one off it as Exeter stay behind them having lost at Exeter.
Matt Theedom followed up his six-wicket bag against Paignton seven days earlier with five more for 30 runs as Chudleigh were bowled out for 121 in 43 of their 55 overs.
Opener Derek Perry went in the first over - caught behind off Theedom – but at 61 for two with Mark Halse (27) and Matt Hookway (14) in residence, Chudleigh appeared on an even keel.
Theedom and Anning (3-32) turned the game on its head by taking five wickets for just 10 runs as Chudleigh collapsed to 71 for seven. Mark Solway (17no) and Bhana DeSilva (14) stopped the side with a stand of 29 but Theedom's return for a second spell killed the visitors off. Some sharp catches in the slips by Sandford skipper Richard Foan didn't do any harm either.
Sandford didn't hang about knocking off the runs and had the target wrapped up early in the 16 th over with the time approaching 4.35pm.
Adrian Small led the way with a belligerent 74 not out off 53 balls which included 12 fours and a six each off DeSilva and Graeme Wilson.
Foan ticked along at the other end with seven fours in his 37-ball score or 43 not out.
Barton v Plympton
BARTON could have no qualms about claiming a moral victory from their game against Plympton that fizzled out into a draw.
Barton skipper Aaron Williams is trying to bring in a new era of brighter cricket this season - and it's clear from the scorelines that the players are responding.
Williams (55) was among the runs himself as Barton posed 231 for five in 55 overs. Imran Abbas top scored on 84 not out.
Plympton started warily, they were 36 for three, recovered to 118 for four then slumped to 124 for seven and that was them out of the game. Tail enders Dave Hyatt and Arwyn Jones had to bat out the final 20 balls to salvage a draw at 159 for nine.
Williams lost opening partner James Toms (15) with 22 on the board, but started motoring on with Pakistani professional Imran for company.
One observer reckoned Williams looked so comfortable out in the middle he could have been enjoying some batting practice in the nets!
A stand valued at 104 runs ended when Arwyn Jones (2-65) picked off Williams lbw, but Plympton couldn't turn the screw.
Jones added another wicket when former Somerset and Devon batsman Haydn Morgan fell for 16, but Barton dominated in the last quarter as Abbas and Adam Parker cut loose.
Abbas's 84 not out included two sixes off Jones that went sailing into the orchard at the top of the ground. Parker was in and out for 27 off 19 balls; caught at short cover by Jeremy Williams off former Paignton, Brixham and Stoke Gabriel all-rounder Jamie Pfeiffer.
Plympton's problem was losing too many wickets to soon which meant they were trying to limit the damage when they should have been inflicting it.
Lewis Gregory had his leg-stump twanged by Parker, the Alex Trevarthan as well caught one-handed by James Toms at slip. A tumbling catch by Abbas off Morgan at mid-off sent back Andy Walter, leaving Plympton 36 for three.
Dan Rowbothan (16) and Williams (44) recovered the situation to 86 for four and with Keith Donohue (23) giving Williams a hand Plympton were back in the game.
Any hopes of a dash for the runs in ended in the time it took Parker (4-46). Morgan (3-17) Damon Calland (2-31) to whip out Williams, Donohue and Richard Skinner. Plympton's aim at 124 for seven was survival.
Morgan, who bowled 13 overs for his three for 17, and Calland, who bowled 12, kept it tight and it was a relieved Plympton side that took home the draw.
Torquay v Budleigh Salterton
BUDLEIGH Salterton issued a ‘hand-off' warning to any teams contemplating taking the Premier title off them this season with a workmanlike five-wicket win at Torquay.
Torquay were top of the shop on Saturday morning – played two, won them both – with skipper Matt Bulbeck bullish about his side's chances.
“This is our chance to put some distance between us and them,” said Bulbeck in his pre-match comments.
It didn't work out as Bulbeck had planned though as Torquay were bowled out for 181 in the 50 th of their 55 overs and lost the game by a distance. Budleigh had more than 15 overs to spare when the post was passed.
The turning point in the game came early rather than late: around the time Torquay slipped from 28 without loss to 28 for four in the space of three overs.
Jon Rice was deceived by Ian Bishop's slower ball, Bulbeck nicked the next one to James Beeny at slip which left James Hudson to fend off the hat-trick, which he did.
At the other end Matt Webb was knocking over Justin Yau and Mike Pugh in the space of five balls and the Torquay innings was in turmoil.
Indian Usman Malvi got together with Hudson, Ed Yeo and Mickey Wikinson got get Torquay up to 100 for seven.
What Webb (2-26) and Bishop (3-26) had started, Steve Spoljaric (3-56) continued doing for a while.
Malvi isn't the most orthodox of strikers of the ball – he likes to make room for the shot he wants to play - but he was certainly effective as he went on to make a top score of 67. in Kris Davis (36), he found a willing partner between the wickets.
A stand of 54 got Torquay into the sort of territory where they had a chance of defending a total. It would have been a few more had Davis not tried to cut Andy Procter and fended a catch to James Beeny at slip instead.
Malvi, who faced 84 balls, got out soon after when he managed the unusual feat of getting a thick leading edge to a delivery from Spoljaric that carried all the way to Dawson on the deep-cover boundary!
Budleigh were troubled by Torquay left-amer Jon Baglow (2-26) briefly has he trapped Beeny and Sandy Allen lbw in quick succession.
The game got away from Torquay once and for all during the stand of 123 shared by Spoljaric (56no) and Dawson (70) which left just 30 needed to win.
Malvi had Dawson caught, claimed Jeremy Crooker lbw first ball and cleaned out ex-Torquay all-rounder Paul Brown.
Spoljaric was still there though and saw it through with Procter as Budleigh went a point clear of Sandord and two up on Torquay with three games played.
“Torquay's bowling was nothing special and we really ought to have won it for two wickets down and not five,” said Budleigh skipper Andy Procter.
“We didn't bowl that well ourselves – we slipped the too many four balls – and we could have fielded a bit better, although it's always difficult at Torquay because it is such a small ground and there isn't much room for error.
“Getting Matt Bulbeck out first ball was a huge bonus for us as he is always capable of getting a few.
“Usman batted well, and young Davis looked good at the end, but Torquay never had enough runs on the board to worry us where our next boundary was going to come from.
“It was the sort of result that sets us up nicely for Sandford at home this Saturday.”
Exeter v North Devon
TOM Gower did the job he was brought in to do to perfection as Exeter ended their patch start to the season with a five-wicket win over visiting North Devon.
Exeter captain Jon Tipper brought Gower into the side to provide some middle-order ‘oomph' something that was lacking when the city side could only draw with Barton seven days earlier.
Gower came in when Exeter were 86 for four chasing 184 to win and cracked an unbeaten 63 to clock up the first win of the season.
Said Tipper: “ Four wickets down with a hundred needed is a potential tipping point in a game- that's when it could go either way.
“Rob Holman had done a good job up to then and Tom took the pressure off him brilliantly.
“North Devon were starting to get on top at that stage, but Tom and Rob stopped them in their tracks.
“It is a shame they couldn't have seen it through between them, but when Rob got out the scores were level and we weren't going to lose it from there.”
North Devon batted first and made 183 for eight in their full allocation of 55 overs.
Matt Westaway top scored on 49 for North Devon, taking the score on after Rob Gear (24) and Stuart Rhodes (39) had made 74 for the first wicket.
North Devon's batsmen got little change out of Exeter opening bowler Simon Bird (2-46) or spinner Adam Gribble (3-33), whose control meant there were no easy runs to be had.
Exeter's out cricket was pretty respectable, too, with Mitchell Hood taking a couple of decent catches and Paul Short hanging on to a difficult caught-and-bowled chance to remove Gear.
Exeter lost openers Mike Wilkinson and Glenn Lammonby before reaching 20 and would have been in more trouble had Holman been out when he was castled by a Tom Allin no-ball.
It wasn't Allin's day as he was plagued by front-foot problems and no-balled repeatedly during his seven-over spell.
Hood (30) and Holman pushed the score along to 86 when a double strike removed Hood and Arnie Seale without addition to the score.
By the time Rhodes trapped Holman lbw with the scores level it was all over bar the shouting.
Gower duly accelerated as Tipper had hoped and spoiled by Westaway's and Gear's figures by hitting the former for 15 and the later for 14 in their final overs.