C Division East round-up – week four: Heathcoat batters Lock and Butler secure win number four
HEATHCOAT 2nd XI’s winning run at the top of the C Division East carried on with a whopping nine-wicket win at Upottery.
Upottery, finding life a little tougher this season after running away with the division below last summer, were held to 158 for nine in a 45-over game.
Opener Ryan Pulman made 55 – he was third out on 79 – and Jack Larcombe compiled 20 off 64 balls.
Spinner Jack Menheneott (3-16) posed plenty of problems during a nine-over spell. Matt Hodson (3-16), skipper Lee Dixon and Jack Tucker all operated between two and three runs an over.
Heathcoat’s only casualty on the chase was Jeremy Bedford, who was bowled by Ben Kidson for 27.
Surviving opener Tom Lock (58) and Dan Butler (63) were the not-out batsmen at the end.
Heathcoat have a two-point lead over Sandford 2nd XI at the top of the table.
BRADNINCH & Kentisbeare 2nd XI went down by 98 runs away to previously winless Uplyme & Lyme Regis.
Uplyme were always in the driving seat after nailing a batting-first total of 264 for seven to the scoreboard.
Opener Laurie Thomas made a leisurely 33 off 74 balls to help Uplyme reach 79 for three.
Bailey Lavin (31) and Sam Farrow (65) upped the pace, and there were top-up runs from Kavi Dissanayake (25) and Steve Batey (30no) down the order. Ankit Badwal (2-20) posted Bradninch & Kentisbeare’s stand-out bowling figures.
Bradninch & Kentisbeare were bowled out for 166 in the 28th total, which would have been a disappointment for skipper Eliot Acton after seeing his side reach 119 for three in reply. Losing four wickets getting from 137 for four to 139 for eight was game over for B&K.
Sam Franks made 47 at the top of the order, Badwal had 48 on the middle and Acton contributed 21. There was not a lot from the rest. Lavin (3-44) and Batey (3-54) were Uplyme’s leading wicket takers. Farrow (2-27) was not far behind.
SANDFORD 2nd XI batsman Tom Gidney clocked-up his second league century of the season so far in the 89-run win over Alphington & Countess Wear.
Gidney, who took Exeter 2nd XI for 117 two rounds ago, went, all the way to 128 not out in a Sandford tally of 322 for three.
Along the way Gidney put on 54 with veteran opener Jon James (53), then 182 with Joe Hopkins (60).
There was no respite in the final few overs for the A&CW bowlers as Shaun Hawkins lashed 38 not out from 18 deliveries while adding 42 in a rush with Gidney.
Ben Pinkney (2-63) was the only A&CW bowler with more than one wicket. Lawrence Marsh (1-40) was the only bowler to go for less than five an over.
Alphington & Countess Wear’s reply ran out of puff long before the end as they were 112 for four with 20 overs left in a 44-over game.
Skipper James Bovey went on to make 55 before he was the last man out on 200 for six. Matt Garner was still there on 42 not out in a final totting-up of 234 for six.
Sandford skipper Hawkins deployed seven bowlers in search of bonus points. Only Ryan Glass (2-53) claimed more than one wicket.
Unbeaten Sandford sit second in the table behind Heathcoat.
EXMOUTH 2nd XI are back on the bottom of the C Division East after going down to a five-wicket defeat against Seaton in a low-scoring game on the Maer.
Seaton seamer Ben Morgan helped himself to a five-for-12 haul from nine overs that helped reduce Exmouth to 27 for seven.
Tim Doulton kept the pressure on with four more for 22 to consign Exmouth to 76 all out. Best of a sorry set of scores was Andrew Murray’s 19.
Seaton looked like walking it at 35 for one in reply. Forty-one for four after trouble against Geoff Coombe (3-23), with Tris Wakeley just out for 23, was a less rosy picture. Damian Baxter (23) saw Seaton’s chase to its conclusion.
OPENER Alex Clements dug himself in for an unbeaten 82 to steer Ottery St Mary to a four-wicket win over Exeter 2nd XI.
Exeter made 181 all out in the 42nd over, which Ottery knocked off with more than three overs to spare.
Once Clements and Sam O’Nyons (25) got the chase up and running with a stand of 91. Ottery were always in control of the chase.
Muhammad Kaleem, Exeter’s Bunbury Festival graduate and Somerset Academy scholar, showed his class with a five-for-36 haul that kept the Ottery chase honest.
Clements saw off the threat from Kaleem – and eight other bowlers deployed by Exeter’s relief captain Jon Lewis-Oliver – to see Ottery over the line.
Felix Joseph top scored for Exeter with 87 and was involved in partnerships that added 132 to the running total. Opener Freddie Cockram made 31. No one else passed 11.
Pick of the bowling for Ottery were Ed Philpott (2-29) and O’Nyons (2-34).
