PAIGNTON pulled off the shock of the day in the Premier Division when they defeated defending champions Sidmouth by seven wickets.
Captains all round the Premier Division were tipping Sidmouth as favourites to win a third title in four years before a ball was bowled in anger.
There may be a rethink after Paignton dismissed Sidmouth for 177 – George Benton and George Yates the destroyers with the ball – then knocked off the runs with more than two overs to spare.
Half-centuries from opener Noah Wright and Dan Wolf underpinned Paignton’s win.
Delighted Paignton skipper Richard Ashworth said: “We have set the tone for the year and now it's all about building on that performance.
“We know we've got the talent to beat anyone in the league.
“I think a lot of it came down to belief. It was probably one of the first times in a while we have rocked up to a game against a good side with the belief we could win.
“We knew that if there was ever a good time to beat Sidmouth at their home ground it was going to be first game of the season.”
Benton – back at Paignton after nearly two years in Australia – nipped out Sidmouth openers Matt Cooke and Declan Lines before Yates got stuck into the middle order.
Zak Bess made 28 and Nick Gingell 38 on his return to the Sidmouth side after a year off, but no one else got into double figures as the champs slipped to 100 for seven.
Scott Barlow(30) and Gingell saved some face with a stand of 55 and Charlie Miles’ 13 helped the cause along.
Both were shepherded off by Rob Shergold (2-44), who polished off the tail.
“Letting Sidmouth get to 177 was probably bit too much, but we weren't helped by Connor Ashworth going off injured so we lost a bowler and had to field with 10 for a lot of the second half,” said Ashworth.
“Had you asked us at the beginning of the day we would have taken bowling Sidmouth out for under 200.
“George Benton caused a lot of problems and took key wickets at the top of the order.
“George Yates moved the ball both ways off the seam and fully deserved his four wickets.
“Rob Shergold bowled well with the new ball and deserved more than two wickets.”
Ollie Higgs missed out when Paignton batted – stumped for a duck of Barlow – but a 45-run stand between Wright (52) and Ashworth (24) got the chase going.
Wolf and Wright took the chase to136 for two during a stand of 89 that ended when Miles (2-24) accounted for Wright.
Connor Bryan (23) was the batsman at the other end with Wolf when the winning post was passed.
Wolf made 72 not out off 73 balls with five fours and four sixes.
Ashworth was quick to praise Wolf, but didn’t overlook Wright either.
“Dan batted superbly,” said Ashworth. “There must be some other very good batsman in the Devon League this year if he's not getting picked for Devon.”
“Noah Wright showed great maturity at the top of the order and played a good anchoring innings.”
Beaten captain Luke Bess said of the three elements of the game – batting, bowling and fielding – Sidmouth were only up to scratch in one.
“We batted poorly and when we bowled we missed about five chances,” said Bess.
“You are never going defend 170 when fielding that poorly.
“We bowled okay, but that was irrelevant with no back-up from fielders.”
