Devon Cricket Board - Nichols calls for rule change after run-rate defeat

Nichols calls for rule change after run-rate defeat

PLYMSTOCK skipper James Nichols has joined the clamour for league rules to be changed after his side lost a rain-affected game against Axminster on run rate.
With Dave Orchard making 60, Nichols 27 and Jason Williams 21, Plymstock totalled 175 for eight in 45 overs.
Joel Seward with four for 40 was the best of the Axminster bowlers.
Down came the rain and out came the calculators to work out what Axminster’s revised target would be.
The agreed figure was 121 in 31 overs, which Axminster got with three balls of the final over to go. Orchard, George Barnicott and Ian Whalley pushed them all the way with tidy spells.
Seward led the chase with 36 not-out, aided an abetted by Mike Wakeley (36) and skipper Tristan Wakeley (24).
A seething Nichols said: “We outplayed them in every department and came away with just seven points.
“Had we played a full 45-over game, Axminster would not have got anywhere near our total.
“They were six wickets down when they won and on a difficult deck to bat on they were struggling against our spinners.
“When it rains, run-rate massively favours the side batting second. And it means our best bowlers can’t bowl as many overs.
“The league really has to look at adopting the Duckworth-Lewis method as a fairer way of deciding rain-affected games.”
Tristan Wakeley, the Axminster captain, said Nichols had a point about the target but had missed out part of the story.
“I don't think we would have chased 175 down, but the wicket certainly suited there bowling after the rain,” said Wakeley.
“That said, if they had not dropped every catch that went their way they would have won so they can only blame themselves.”
Plymstock aren’t the first side this season to complain about the wet-weather rules, but until now using Duckworth-Lewis hasn’t been a road the league wish to travel down on cost grounds.
When it was last investigated a couple of years ago by former league administrator Geoff Coish, the license for the league would have cost £2,500 per season.
A cheaper option is to get all league scorers using laptops fitted with Total Cricket Scorer software, which does the calculations automatically. The cost is part of the software price.
However, attempts by the league management to get clubs to score electronically have not been a success. Eight out of ten Premier clubs are on TCS, seven of ten in the A Division use it and in the B Division it’s only two out of ten.
And until every club has the software, the TCS option isn’t open.
League chairman Stuart Munday said today (Monday) he hopes to get DL into the league next season.
IVYBRIDGE missed a chance to gain significant ground on the top two in the B Division after a 48-run defeat at Braunton left them back in fourth.
None of the three teams ahead of Ivybridge played on Saturday, which was a chance to gain ground.
Ivybridge picked up seven points at Braunton, one more than they would have had if they had been rained off.
Braunton made 195 all out in the last of their 45 overs – Rob Collier (51) and Jon Higgs (56) both making half centuries.
Dave Cresswell (30) and Collier gave Braunton a 77-run start then, after Harry Soloman (2-28) and Jeewan deSilva (3-28) got among the wickets for Ivybridge, Higgs and home captain Jon Baglow added 75 for the sixth wicket.
Ramesh Perera (3-35) cleaned up at the end.
Ivybridge were 104 for three when deSilva was run out for 43 and well placed with 16 overs to go. Perera had already chipped in with 32.
Then it all went badly wrong for Ivybridge. Artwell Nyambanje, Braunton’s new Zimbabwean signing, combined with Baglow to take five wickets for as many runs.
Kelvin Trent (43) and last man Jamie Bullock put on 26, but the damage had been done and Ivybridge were all out for 147 with two and a half overs to go.
Baglow finished with two for 25 and Nyambanje four for 14.
Acting captain Baglow’s overview was: “A good opening partnership between Cresswell and Collier set things up well.
“We lost a couple of quick wickets, but the situation was perfect for Higgs to play with a bit of freedom as we had wickets in hand.
“We bowled and fielded well to put pressure on then Artwell bowled very well. “We got a bit lucky with De Silvas' injury when he had to retire – we took three quick wickets – and by the time he came back we were on top.”

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