E Division West review – week 17: Five-wicket haul for Draper (pictured) helps Plympton to narrow win
SEAMER Matt Draper collected a five-wicket haul that helped Plympton 2nd XI to an 11-run win in a close-run affair at Abbotskerswell.
Abbots, chasing 167 to win, looked down and almost out at 83 for five with top-scorer Richard Harmer (37) among the casualties.
A gutsy stand of 57 between Ben Cowdry (31) and Graham Catley (18) forced Abbots back into the game and at 140 for five with 10 overs to go it was game back on.
Draper, who had two wickets in his opening spell, was called back into the attack by skipper Keith Willcock with instructions to make something happen. He certainly did that.
Three balls into his second over back Draper bowled Catley – and in his next over he knocked-out Cowdry and Chris Meikle in the space of four deliveries.
Isaac Rowsell and Olli Goulder picked-off a tail-ender each as Abbots subsided to 155 all out.
Draper took three wickets for six runs in three overs for match figures of five for 30 as Abbots lost five for 15 on the way to defeat.
Plympton’s total of 166 all out was platformed by a stand of exactly 70 for the second wicket between father-and-son pair Jeremy (44) and Callum Williams (22).
The middle-order batting was a bit of a let-down as Abbots reduced Plympton from 106 for two to 116 for seven. Abbots’ spinner Riley Treloar (5-23) did most of the damage.
Keith Willcock (23) and Josh Willcock, another father-and-son combination, put on 30 for the eighth wicket. In the context of a low-scoring game it was a crucial contribution.
WHITCHURCH Wayfarers scraped a two-wicket win over Bovey Tracey 3rd XI in a low-scoring encounter.
Bovey were all out for 128 in the 39th of their 45 overs and were glad of Harvey Brown (34) and Ben Handley (28) for getting that far.
Handley was one of five wickets to fall in the time Bovey collapsed from 108 for four to 115 for eight on the way to 128 all out.
The stand-out bowler for Whitchurch with five for 12 from 8.3 overs was Berren Royce-Rogers. Marc Kerswill’s none for 13 from nine overs was a masterclass in miserliness!
Whitchurch did not find run-getting any easier at first – Gethin Williams (2-24) largely responsible for them being 16 for three – but Mark Gibbs (20) got the chase going again.
The game was won and lost by Nigel Barriball, whose 26 not out down the order got Whitchurch over the line.
Josh Hill (2-22), Ollie Briddock (0-16) and Abbie Lockett (1-6) all impressed with the ball for Bovey, who remain in the bottom two with one game left to obtain three more points than Chagford to avoid relegation.
TAVISTOCK 2nd XI crushed doomed Kingsbridge by nine-wickets in a one-sided affair at the Butts.
Kingsbridge captain Mark Hammett (24) and Jai Singh (36) were the principal supporting acts to Clive Clark, who went in at 65 for three and was still there on 59 not out in a total of 189 for seven.;
Ryan Burke (3-41) accounted for Hammett and Singh in his figures. No one else claimed more than one wicket. Jack Bellamy, Marc Lewis and the everlasting Andy Gauler all bowled cheaply.
The only wicket Tavistock lost on the chase was that of opener Steve Luffman, who was on 97 when Singh rapped him on the pads.
Burke (38no) and Ben Russell (25no) had wiped-off the rest before the end of the 29th over.
PLYMOUTH Civil Service & Roborough lost for the first time this season when relegation worriers Chagford turned them over by seven wickets at Manadon.
Civil, already confirmed as divisional champions, were skittled out for 95 by the Chagford trio of Jack Brijnath (3-12), Neil Rowlands (3-23) and Rahul Brijnath (2-22).
Take out Paul Butson’s 24 and chip-ins from Nathan Lister (19) and James Carlisle (17) and there was not a lot from the rest.
Stuart Lipo then struck 48 not out to see Chagford to a much-needed win with more than 16 overs to spare.
Victory lifted Chagford out of the bottom two at the expense of Bovey Tracey 3rd XI, whose defeat by Whitchurch has placed them in relegation jeopardy.
