Devon Cricket Board - A Division: Heathcoat trounce Paignton

HEATHCOAT handed out a 145-run hiding to Paignton in the A Division top-of-the-table clash at Knightshayes.
Something had to give in the meeting between the only unbeaten teams left in the division, but Paignton will be disappointed by the size of their defeat.

Heathcoat are now 14 points clear at the top going into this Saturday’s game at Barton.

Heathcoat recovered to reach 256 for nine in their 50 overs – brothers Ned and Jack Menheneott digging them out of a hole with a stand of 101 for the seventh wicket.

Paignton bowlers Aaron Hearn (2-33) and Rob Shergold (3-47) had put the squeeze on Heathcoat, who were 132 for six with 15 overs left when Jack Menheneott came out to join his brother.

Ned made 96 with nine fours and four sixes before he was last man out off the penultimate ball to George Yates (3-41).

By then Jack was history having been bowled by Yates two overs ealier for 34.

Paignton reached 34 without loss before Paul Elliott caught and bowled Fanie deVillers (22) to part the openers.

Yates went next – caught behind off Jason Parr - and 50 for two became 70 for six in no time as Parr cut down the middle order en route to figures of five for 35.

Skipper Connor Bryan (18) and Shergold (20) resisted for a while, but the damage was done.

Jean Rossouw (2-9) mopped up the tail as Paignton were hustled out for 111.

Heathcoat captain Sam Smith said without the Menheneott brothers it could easily have been a different story completely.

“The top five again made starts and did not go on, but the Menheneott brothers batted with cool heads and made it look very easy,” said Smith.

“Ned put together his best innings in a Heathcoat shirt and only came up four short of 100 because he was hitting out for the team with balls to spare.

“The bowling performance was what I now expect from our attack and we looked a good side.”

Defeat drops Paignton from second to fourth as Plympton and Sandford both won to go past them.

Paignton captain Connor Bryan’s verdict was short, sharp and to the point.

“It was not a good result for us,” said Bryan.

“We started well, however took our foot of the gas when we had them under pressure.

“We will look to bounce back at home to Plymstock this Saturday to put that right and get back on track.”

SANDFORD beat bottom side Braunton by 103 runs to move into third place in the A Division rankings.

A second-wicket stand of 155 between Russell Discombe (67) and George Greed (66) pointed Sandford towards an eventual total of 279 for eight.

Linton Terblanche worked the ball around for a breezy 62 in a fourth wicket stand of 58 with Scott Tremayne, who made 15.

Braunton’s bowlers suffered the lash at times with Mike Cashmore taking three for 72 and Lawrence May two for 54.

Braunton went off in hot pursuit with Jon Higgs (49), May (33) and Tom Mitcham (31) helping them reach 150 for five when Higgs was dismissed.

Higgs went for the big hit against Matt Theedom (3-55) and was caught in the deep.

Braunton’s last three wickets tumbled for 26 runs as they subsided to 176 all out.

Terblanche took two for 16 as part of the mopping-up process. Braunton’s cause wasn’t helped by three run-outs.

Sandford play Hatherleigh this Saturday with five points to make up if they want to take second place off Plympton.

Braunton are at home to Abbotskerswell.

BARTON ended their losing streak with a comfortable seven-wicket win over Hatherleigh at Cricketfield Road.

Jack Cherrington hit a top score of 55 and shared in a stand of 82 for the third-wicket with Gareth Tidball (31) as Hatherleigh recovered from nine for two to reach 181 for nine. Mark Lake (39) chipped in.

Adam Parker (3-35) and Tom Porter (2-28) took wickets while Andy McViegh and Alex Hunt kept the pressure on with mean spells.

Husain Badat led the run chase for Barton with 77 not out, sharing in a partnership of 81 for the first wicket with Shaun Needham (36).

Adam Parker chipped in with 45 as Barton won at a canter with nearly 15 overs to spare

ABBOTSKERSWELL inflicted more gloom and doom on Brixham by sending them home six-wicket losers from Two Mile Oak.

Brixham have only won once all season and the odds on win number two looked slender after they were bundled out for 123.

Having been 89 for three with Kyle Schroeder (48) going nicely, Brixham slipped to 90 for five against Toby Codd (4-13) and Marcus green (3-24) and on to 123 all out.

Abbots new boy Charlie Garratt led the run chase with 53 not out. Although Paul Heath (2-26) posed the odd problem, Dickie Acton (15no) saw it through with Garratt with 13 overs in hand.

Brixham captain Richard Ward said other than an improvement in the field there was little to take from the game.

“Ours was a poor batting performance on a pitch which has already had a game played on it,” said Ward.

“On the plus side we finally learned how to do the long barrier method, something which has been evading us so far.”

Brixham are at home to Abbotskerswell this Saturday. Abbots go to Braunton.

PLYMPTON made light work of Plymstock in the city derby at Dean Cross.

Plymstock skipper Seb Jordan’s decision to bat first backfired as his side were skittled out for 96.

From 30 for none they subsided to 30 for three – Wes Hartslief (3-17) doing most of the damage – and from them on it was downhill all the way.

James Nicholls hit a six into the car park and got out next ball – and the best total in a sorry set of scores was Morgan Parkinson’s 15.

Josh Mailling collected three for 15 to speed Plymstock on their way. There was an impressive spell from 17-year-old spinner Jamie Lee, whose seven overs returned figures of one for nine.

Plympton’s chase wasn’t without it’s dramas, something skipper Jeremy Williams had feared all along.

Mark Abbott (2-28) helped reduce Plympton to 55 for four and another wicket then may have made it interesting.

Hartslief and Williams both survived confident shouts for lbw when Dave Orchard was bowling and the break through didn’t come.

Williams was 23 not out and Hartslief unbeaten on 24 when the winning post was passed.

“I was surprised when Plymstock wanted to bat first as I would have bowled first anyway on that track,” said Williams.

“In my head I saw it as a 160-track, but everything we did worked for us and we got them out for a lot less.

“I told our blokes they had to be positive batting second as the pitch was starting to deteriorate and sooner or later they would get a ball with their name on it. That worked.”

For Plymstock it was a first defeat in three league outings and not an easy one to take.

“They bowled well, we batted badly at times and there is little more to say,” said vice-captain James Nicholls.