- South Dartmoor back to winning ways in cups
- Tom Allin tournament raised more than £5,000 for air ambulance
- Taverners kit bag delivered to Sri Lankan youngsters
- Devon trying to contact the class of 56
- Paceman Tshepo running in Virgin London Marathon
- Five Devon women in Western Storm squad for Kia Super League
- Registration night for all ages at Topsham on Monday
- Lots pouring in for auction at Allin Memorial tournament
- Thames Valley Gentlemen Cricket Club
- Bradninch add Argentinian flavour to Devon League
- Ipplepen youth registration night on Friday
- Final call for Groundsmans first seminar this year
- Devon League official tackling London Marathon for charity
- Bovey on familiar territory in Aaron Printers Cup
- Brockman Cup - Cup Kings lie in wait for holders
- Shepherd Trust helps Kingsbridge build for sustainable future
- DCL - Umpire Appointments 2016 (May 7th - July 2nd)
- Long standing records beaten
- North Devon see off Paignton chase
BRADNINCH skipper Tim Piper remains confident his side can claw away from the Premier drop zone despite going into the second half of the season one place and two points away from danger.
Title-chasers Exmouth visit Bradninch this Saturday, where a side beaten by 145 run by leaders Bovey Tracey is waiting for them.
A plus point to come out of the final round of matches in the first half of the season was that some of the other struggling sides lost as well.
Cornwood (77pts) remain below Bradninch (79) after they lost at Exmouth, while Torquay (93) are no further ahead after North Devon turned them over.
But bottom side Budleigh Salterton (66pts) narrowed the gap between all of the bottom three to 13 points by defeating defending champions Sidmouth.
Said Piper: “Everyone is beating each other at the moment and results are hard to predict, so who knows what will happen?
“We need to concentrate on our games and controlling what we can.
“There are some games in particular that we are targeting as must wins.
“If availability is good for us then I think we can finish mid-table. However, it could be one hard slog.
When Chappell, Tweddle, Milligan and Golding left close season, we lost 30 overs of bowling, three of our top-five batsman, our coach, our captain and our keeper.
“No matter where we finish, when we avoid relegation this year it will show the fight we have in the team.”
Exmouth stuffed Bradninch by 194 runs on day one, but away from home skipper Richard Baggs expects a different game.
“Bradninch is a difficult place to go and I am expecting a tough game, a game we must win to keep pressure up on Bovey and Sidmouth at the top,” said Baggs.
“It will be nice to play there with decent, dry weather for a change.”
Seb Benton is back from holiday and comes in for Vamshi Parvarthanini.
CORNWOOD, at home to Budleigh Salterton in the Premier Division basement clash, welcome back batter Ryan Rickard.
Ben Warren makes was for a game Cornwood must win to prevent Budleigh inching ahead of them in the battle to stay up.
Budleigh are bottom, Cornwood are one place and 11 points above them so there is no margin for error, which isn’t lost on sidelined skipper Craig Harris, who is out for the season.
“It’s been a challenging first half but now we have played each team we know what we are up against,” said Harris.
“We had a good result against Budleigh in the first week but as they have just won their first game they are a team to watch with caution.
“We need to play well to get results, so hopefully the added bonus of playing at home will help us, as we will be coming out up for the game.”
PLYMOUTH get a busy weekend under way with a trip to North Devon tomorrow.
North Devon were well beaten at Mount Wise on the first day of the season, but have improved over the last month as Tom Allin and Glenn Querl have been made available to them.
Allin is home from Warwickshire at weekends while Querl is no longer assisting Hampshire 2nd XI.
Plymouth have to get back on course after the disappointment of being all out for 89 at Exeter last Saturday and losing by five wickets.
“We had a good first half of the season but it could have been better and we want to get back to winning ways,” said skipper Matt Hooper.
“We have Dave Burke back in as he is fully fit now and George Stephenson is back as well.
“The forecast is good for Saturday as well but we will all be packing our jumpers for North Devon.”
North Devon captain Matt Dart hasn’t forgotten that opening game and is out for revenge if he can get it.
“Hoping to be a lot more competitive than the first game of the year,” said Dart.
“It is going to be a tight game and a high-scoring one, I'm sure.
“The outfield is like glass and a flat pitch is guaranteed.
“James Toms and the Marnus Labuschange are massive wickets and ones we need early.”
It’s off to Ivybridge on Sunday for Plymouth to play Plymstock in the final of the Ivor Dewdney’s Plymouth T20 competition.
With Callum Whittaker away playing for Devon, Plymouth have recalled Henry Bennett.
“Henry is a bit of a 20/20 specialist and is playing against his former side,” said Hooper.
“We beat them in the 20/20 at their place quite easily so we are hoping for the same again.”