EXMOUTH are through to their second successive T20 finals day after defeating Paignton by 119 runs on the Maer ground.
Paignton chose to field first after winning the toss, but Exmouth were quickly in the driving seat. The six-over powerplay saw the home side reach 60 without loss, Louis Morison taking 21 from the final over of it.
The runs kept coming for Morison, who was eventually 100 and out, his dismissal coming in the 14th over with the score creeping over 150. The new man, Ed Butler, wasted no time in continuing Morison’s work, as he scored an unbeaten 60. There were nine boundaries in his 23 ball knock, eight of them went all of the way for six.
The home side’s total of 242 for four required Paignton to go at 12 an over, something that seemed more improbable after the first, as overseas Ayabulela Gqama was dismissed on the final ball of a maiden from his Exmouth counterpart, Lachlan Fisher.
Fisher tore through the Paignton top order, taking the wickets of all the top four batters, reducing the visitors to 36 for four.
MAMOUTH SCORE
There were 20s from Luke Medlock (23), Brenton Pedley (24), and captain Harry Ward (21), but Exmouth’s mammoth score was too much in the end, as Paignton ended on 123 for seven..
Stand-in Exmouth captain James Horler was full of praise for centurion Morison, as he said: “Louis put on a show, taking apart the Paignton attack and hit a well-deserved ton, which has been evading him for a number of years.
“Ed Butler got us up to a very strong total with a rapid and brutal 60.”
There was also praise for overseas player Fisher, as Horler said: “The game was effectively over in the powerplay after his [Lachlan Fisher] spell: he blew away the Paignton top order!”
Elsewhere there were wins for Bridestowe & Belstone, Sidmouth, and Cornwood.
Cornwood defeated Tavistock by two wickets to secure their spot at finals day. Devon’s Matt Skeemer conceded just 13 runs from his four overs at the top of the Tavi innings, and he also took the wicket of returning Devon man Rhys Davies.
Cornwood’s chase looked as if it would end the game early, as after 10 overs they were at 80. Some tight middle over bowling from the Tavistock bowlers meant the game reached the twentieth over, and it took Cornwood three balls of that to finally reach their target. Captain Elliott Staddon was the man to hit the winning runs.
Bridestowe & Belstone defeated Heathcoat by four wickets in their quarter-final clash. Harry Southgate top scored for the Premier Side as Heathcoat scored 133 for six from their 20 overs. In reply, the B&B batters struggled to cope with Malcolm Cloete and Joe Hancock, whose economy rates were either side of four.
Some big hitting from Brandon Horn, and eventually Tallan Burns, meant the hosts upped the run rate enough to secure victory at the end of the nineteenth over.
Thorverton left themselves too many runs to get at the end of their innings, as they lost out to Sidmouth at The Fortfield.
Jash Patidar (41) and Luke Bess (33) put on 80 for Sidmouth’s second wicket and there was a cameo of 31 runs from Robbie Powell as the hosts scored 155 for eight. An unbeaten 66 from Harry Choules wasn’t enough to see Thorverton home, as they fell seven runs short.
