- 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
ST JUST captain Gareth May is keen for another crack at the ECB T20 finals after two near misses in the past.
It’s regional finals day in the competition today at Sidmouth, where the three county champions from the far West take on Port Talbot Town, who are representing South Wales.
Finals day should have taken place last Sunday at Sidmouth, but was called off due to bad weather.
St Just have been this way before, going through the zonal finals into the regional play-offs and all the way to the televised finals in September.
Sky screen the finals live and St Just have been on twice, only to bow out in the semi-final
“It’s quite an achievement for a club like ours from the tip of Cornwal l to get on to Sky TV and that is one of the attractions of the competition,” said May.
“We lost at Cardiff in 2008 then Chelmsford in 2011 and this year we would like to go all the way.”
St Just are on first against Devon champions Exmouth at 10am. Taunton St Andrew play Port Talbot in the lunchtime semi-final with the final due to start around 4pm.
May knows a fair bit about Exmouth through the Conrwall county players past and present such as Gary Thomas who have briefed him on their Devon counterparts in the Exmouth side.
“Just like us Exmouth have a quite a few players who have been with the county and we know quite a bit about the likes of David Lye, Sandy Allen, Bob Dawson and Trevor Anning,” said May.
“They probably know a fair bit about us too.”
May believes St Just have the batting strength in depth to see off Exmouth and aren’t heavily reliant on one player.
“Batting is our forte thanks to our aggressive shot players, starting with the George brothers at the top and working down,” said May.
One player St Just can’t field is Aussie First Grader Harry Medhurst as overseas players are banned by ECB in the national rounds of the competition.
Callum Donnelly has been added to the squad to make 12.
Gary Chappell, the Exmouth captain, has done his homework on St Just and is confident of getting past them in the morning semi.
“I know quite a bit about St Just thanks to Bob and the other Devon boys who have played with or against a lot of their players before,” said Chappell.
“I am confident we can qualify, but only if we are on top of our game and execute our skills and game plans.
“Our T20 form has been much better than on Saturdays in the league, but any slip-ups and we won’t get away with it against better opposition. “
Exmouth have been harmed by the week-long delay as Devon pacer Trevor Anning has dropped out to play for the county.
Opening batsman Richard Baggs can only play in the morning semi-final as he has to attend his daughter’s first birthday party in the afternoon. Matt Coult and Lawrence Greenway come on.
It could have been worse as there were work-related doubts over Sandy Allen and Seb Benton, both of which have been resolved.
Taunton St Andres were surprise seven-wicket winners over Bath in their county final and will be appearing in the zonal final for the first time.
Skipper Kevin Parsons took a depleted side to Bath in the Somerset final and even he was a little surprised by the outcome and the manner of it.
“On paper we were four short and they were definitely stronger, but we held them to 143 then James Regan made 81 and we won comfortably with an over and a half to spare,” said Parsons.
May describes his side as strong on batting and Chappell would too if pressed.
Parsons is happy with his batting line up, but feels there is a bit more to his side than some crash-bang-wallopers.
“Our batting is strong and I will be looking for the four or five the top to get the bulk of the runs,” said Parsons.
“We have three good seamers, then three quality spinners in the Poole brothers and Rob Contereras to attack with.”
St Just: G May, N George, N Curnow, M George, G Thomas, J Stephens, G Edwards, D Mitchell, P Nicholas, J Semmens, R Harvey, C Donnelly.
Taunton St Andrew: J Regan, R Contreras, K Parsons, L Alley, S Jenkins, D Reading, M Jenkins, T Poole, A Grundy, L Poole, J Wadham.
Exmouth: R Baggs, D Lye, B Dawson, S Benton, S Allen, G Chappell, A Buzza, L Greenway, M Coult, I Bishop, J Tapper, F Marks.