A YOUTHFUL Topsham St James 2^nd XI were beaten by 76 runs in the derby clash with Woodbury & Newton St Cyres.

Topsham St James fielded four 14 and 15 year-olds, plus the slightly older Louie Ferraro. It was very much Louie who led the way as Woodbury elected to bat first, Ferraro achieved a couple of early breakthroughs, including the amazing dismissal of Max Weston, who was caught by dad Adrian Ferraro at second slip via the boot of a collapsing Mike Davison at first.

That left Woodbury reeling at 16 for 2, but that was as good as it got for Topsham. Woodbury skipper Ian Hughes (35) kept one end shut, while Andy Smale (51), Anil Chouhan (46) and Andrew Cork (52) all scored their runs at rather better than one per ball, enabling their side to close on 233-6 from their 35 overs.Mention should be made of Chouhan's dismissal – a lightening stumping of the highest quality by Jeremy Tojy.

Louie Ferraro finished with a well-deserved 4 for 37, three of whom were clean-bowled. Younger brother Charlie took the other two, for 49 runs, and Billy Knightley bowled a good tight opening spell, and finished up by far the most economical of the bowlers. Jon Hull, on a welcome return to the side, found it hard going, as did young Morgan Maynard.

When Topsham batted they lost another returning veteran, Mike Davison, early on, but then skipper Adrian Ferraro (22) and newcomer Simon Curran (33) settled into a useful partnership, before both were brilliantly caught (in contrasting styles) and bowled by Paul McCutcheon.

After that, there were some nice little cameos from Mark Ross (15, retired injured), Paul Robins (14) and Louie Ferraro, with a hard-hit 18. The youngsters, for the second week running, all looked capable batsmen. Charlie Ferraro and Billy Knightley were unlucky, but the last-wicket partnership between Jeremy Tojy and Morgan Maynard was as good as anything that went before. Neither looked even remotely troubled, and Morgan hit a boundary that was arguably the shot of the day. They comfortably saw Topsham to a final total of 160-8, which was not enough to get anywhere near the target, but it did deprive Woodbury of maximum points.

For the visitors, the standout bowler was Chalky White, whose left-arm slows earned him 3-27. Paul McCutcheon had those two for 39, and the other wicket-takers were Max Weston, Andrew Cork and Ian Hughes.