Devon Cricket Board - C Division - Clyst find some form

CLYST St George will hope some of the form they showed to beat Plymouth CS&R last time out by six wickets rubs off for their trip to Axminster.
The East Devon side are right up there in second place fighting it out for promotion.

Clyst remain bottom of the table despite beating Civil, although favourable results elsewhere mean they are only seven points from safety now.

Andy Hawker top scored for Civil with 69 in their tally of 219 for seven. John Meredith and Chris Cook claimed two wickets each for Clyst.

Skipper Meredith then slammed 81 and Matt Cook made 43 as Clyst romped home.

Axminster are looking good after thumping Dartington & Totnes by 182 runs.

Johnny Hurford sroked his way to a second league century this season, hitting a superb 126.

Hurford’s first fifty took 54 balls, but the second was off just 23! There were supporting acts from Robbie Prior (44), Joel Seward (38) and skipper Tristan Wakeley (23 not out) in a home total of 283-6. Prior hit his runs from just 22 deliveries!

The visitors plundered 27 off the first two overs, but Prior knocked over the middle stump of the hard hitting bertus Loots and the die was cast for a comfortable home victory.

Prior, despite carrying a shoulder injury, finished with figures of 5-25. Gary Larcombe and Nick Taylor both bagged a brace of wickets each as Dartington and Totnes were bowled out for 101.

Axminster have already beaten Clyst once – when Hurford took a double ton of them. However, Wakeley isn’t assuming anything.

“We will not embrace any form of complacency,” said Wakeley.

Johnny (Hurford) hit a double century against them on the opening day so he’ll be looking for more of the same!

“We have done very well in the first half of the season, suffered just the two defeats and we have to keep winning and hope Bideford slip up.”

YELVERTON slipped to a disappointing eight-wicket defeat at the hands of visitors Ottery St. Mary on Saturday at Langton Park.

Asked to bat first by the visiting captain Jody Clements, Yelverton lost opener Mark Symes for 4 bowled by Jody Clements. Remaining opener Rich Townsend followed with the score on 29 caught by Dan Flower off the bowling of Joe Birch.

Veteran Geoff Brain and Dave Scott set about repairing the innings and added 53 for the 3rd wicket before Brain was bowled for 27 when he missed a sweep at Matt Reed.

Scott was joined by James Harrison and they added 25 at a run a ball before Harrison was adjudged LBW for 16.

Skipper Richard Goldsby-West added 28 with Scott for the 5th wicket but just when the partnership appeared to be flourishing, West top edged a pull off a full toss from Reed and was caught at Square Leg.

Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals and Yelverton were unable to build a substantial partnership to boost their total despite the efforts of Dave Scott (69) and a bright and breezy 21n/o from Iain Cunningham as the Bohemians were bowled out for 205 on the last ball of the 44th over.

The score looked to be below par by about 50 to 60 runs. Joe Birch (3-20), Jody Clements (2-31) and Matt Reed (3-34) all bowled well for the visitors.

In reply, Ottery openers Dan Flower and Sam Tennett made good use of the Powerplay overs in an aggressive opening stand of 82 for the first wicket to break the back of the chase.

When Flower was bowled by Goldsby-West for 43, ex. Devon all-rounder John Tierney joined Tennent in the middle and after a short reconnaissance of the bowling, blasted a quickfire 53 in a partnership of 107 for the 2nd wicket to take Ottery almost over the winning line.

Tierney top edged a pull off Iain Cunningham and was caught by James Harrison with the score on 189 to give Yeleverton a solitary bowling bonus point, but then Tennent (62 no) and Prichard (9 no) saw Ottery to 206-2 without further alarm.

CHAGFORD will be hoping to get over a 140-run defeat by leaders Bideford when they resume their own promotion push with a home game against Kingsbridge.

Skipper James Ford opened the batting and went on to make 109 in a Bideford total of 247 all out.

Ford, who faced 132 balls and hit 16 fours, shared in key stands of 102 with Reece Stanbury (31) and 68 with Alex Crisp (44) before he was sixth out at 226.

There were three wickets each for Chagford seamers Derek Lammonby (3-46) and Jon Wright (3-430.

Chagford were all-out for 107 in rely, lasting just 26 out of their 45 overs.

Fred King (2-19) got into them Chagford early on then Josh Atkinson (2-22) picked up two more as Chagford dipped to 45 for four.

Martin Stewart (3-28) scythed through the middle order, leaving Josh King (2-2) to knock over the stragglers at the end.

Only three Chagford batters reached double figures: opener Chris Filor (15), skipper Lammonby (17) and Duncan Manners-Chapman, who was 29 not out.

Chagford are down to fourth, 33 points behind second-placed Axminster with a home date against Kingsbridge coming up.

Bideford are 29 points clear of Axminster at the top of the table heading for Ottery St Mary this Saturday.

IPPLEPEN skipper Keith Wakeham is enjoying the thrill of the chase in the C Division, which continues this Saturday with a visit from Plymouth CS&R.

The Pens reached halfway last Saturday by beating Kingsbridge by seven wickets, a result which keeps them third in the table on 135 points behind Axminster (149) and Bideford (178).

Wakeham almost accepts that Bideford will be going up, but says it is wide open for the runners-up spot.

“We’ve won seven on the bounce now and are definitely going for it,” said Wakeham.

“There are other teams thinking the same as us so when we meet Axminster, Chagford and Bideford as well they are going to be big games.”

Kingsbridge were bowled out for 158 with Steve Bowden (4-33) and James Wotton (3-39) doing most of the damage. Ashley Treeby (32) pipped James Fletcher (29) for top scorer.

The Pens romped home with 18 overs ro spare on the back of a stand of 78 between Dave Harris (44) and Tom Dyer (29no). Earlier, Rachit Lakhmani made 36.