By CONRAD SUTCIFFE

FORMER 1st XI captain Steve Luffman has insisted he won’t be leaving Tavistock again after signing on the dotted line for the Moorland club for the third time!

Luffman, 56, has been a hard-hitting batsman for Tavistock, Plymouth and briefly Yelverton since graduating into adult cricket as a teenager back in 1979.

He has been first-team captain at Tavistock and Plymouth a Devon Cup winner with both and has won numerous promotions with all three clubs along the way.

Plymouth carried on picking Luffman to play Premier cricket in the Tolchards Devon League until he was 54, easily making him the oldest regular player in top-flight cricket. Only North Devon’s Rob Ayre (then 48) came close in the veteran stakes.

If league cricket returns to an 18-game format in 2021, Luffman hopes to carry on playing A Division cricket with Tavistock for a few more seasons yet.

Having led Plymouth 2nd XI to the Tier Two title in last season’s cut-down Devon League programme it may seem a strange time to be leaving Mount Wise for pastures not so new. But Luffman said it is the right decision.

“I live in Tavistock now and the round trip to Plymouth was becoming too much of a drag,” said Luffman.

“Because I coach Devonport Services ladies rugby team as well, I have been going to Plymouth after work for training virtually all year round as well as matches at weekends.

“I have been lucky to have had a long career at fantastic clubs and won a few things along the way. Now it makes sense to play for my local club and enjoy it as much as I can.”

Eric Jarman was the Tavistock captain when a 15-year-old Steve Luffman made his debut first time around for Tavistock in 1979. 

The 80s were an interesting decade for Tavistock with peaks such as appearances in Devon Cup finals - they won in 1985 against Paignton at South Devon CC – and the trough of relegation from the top division of the league in 1988.

“Paignton defeated us in the final the year after we beat them – and we were back again in 1988 when we lost to Hatherleigh at Plymouth,” said Luffman.

“Beating Paignton in my first final was special as they had all two Tolchard brothers and both the Twose boys in the side and they were red-hot favourites.”

Jeff Tolchard played professionally for Leicestershire for eight seasons, brother Ray was a Devon regular, Richard Twose also played for Devon and his younger brother, Roger, became a pro with Warwickshire and later played more than a hundred international games for New Zealand.

Another special feature of the game was that the Tavistock team also included Steve’s dad Bob, who died last year.

Luffman stayed with Tavistock until 1991 when he reluctantly left for his first stint at Plymouth.

“We had been in the A Division for three years by then without looking like going back up and I wanted to play Premier cricket,” said Luffman.

Luffman’s first stint at Plymouth lasted six seasons and also featured highs and lows.

“You could say 1994 was an ‘interesting’ year as halfway through we looked certain of being relegated and by the end of it we stayed up with a bit to spare and I had captained the side to victory in the Devon Cup final,” said Luffman.

“We had a dreadful run – when we lost at South Devon in mid-June we had gone eight games without a win – and I was invited to take over as captain from Dave Tall.

“We managed to drag ourselves out of trouble and by the end of the season were in the Devon Cup play-offs at Exmouth, where we defeated Braunton in the semi and Bovey Tracey in the final.”

Luffman led the side again in 1995 – a relegation year – 1996 and 1999.

Plymouth CC was mired in off-field issues during the late 1990s, including problems related to the multi-sports use of their Peverell Park ground, which had passed into commercial ownership.

Leading players such as Tall, Keith Donohue, Duncan Boase and Martin Cooksley had either left or were going to and the playing prospects looked bleak.

So when Tavistock approached Luffman to return to the Ring as captain at the end of the 1999 season, he did not need much persuading.

“They asked me to go back as captain and get them back up into the A Division and we did it in my second year,” said Luffman.

Luffman served three seasons as Tavistock skipper during a decade that saw fluctuating fortunes all the way through.

By the time Luffman left for Plymouth at the end of the 2009 season, Tavistock had won the B Division (2000) been relegated from the A Division (2002), earned promotion from the B Division again (2003), went up to the Premier Division as A Division champions in 2005, been relegated from the Premier Division (2006), were relegated from the A to the B in 2008 and finished on a high by winning promotion from the B Division back to the A Division in 2009.

The motivation for Luffman’s return to Plymouth was to give son Jake the chance to test himself at Premier level for the first time.

“It probably wasn’t going to happen at Tavistock so we went back to Plymouth where I hoped Jake would get first-team cricket and I would turn out mainly for the 2nd XI and possibly captain the side,” said Luffman.

“What I did not expect was to be thrust back into the first eleven, where I hardly missed a game for the next three seasons.”

With his 50th birthday on the horizon it was time for Luffman to ponder his cricket career and that of those around him.

“Plymouth wanted me to play in the 1st XI, but I felt I was denying one of the many bright young cricketers at the club the chance to have a go,” said Luffman. “So I went to Yelverton for a couple of seasons.”

Luffman was Yelverton’s top run-getter in 2012 with 471 as they hurtled to promotion from the DCL D Division. He was the leading run scorer again in 2013 (571) when they were relegated from whence they came.

It was back to Plymouth again after two summers at Langton Park, which brought a new role as stand-in first-team wicketkeeper.

“Instead of helping the youngsters in the 2nd XI, which I thought was the plan, I played where needed in the firsts or seconds, sometimes as captain and sometimes keeping wicket,” said Luffman.

“I kept wicket in the firsts occasionally up to 2017,  but from then on it was a regular gig if I was in the first team.”

Luffman’s last role at Plymouth was to captain the 2nd XI to victory in in the Tier Two play-off final against Thorverton last September.

“As I was second team captain one season (2018), but only played in half the games, it was satisfying to play all our games and win something,” said Luffman.

Luffman’s replacement as Plymouth 2nd XI captain will be all-rounder John Kerridge.