Devon Cricket Board - Premier prospects: Budleigh skipper hedging bets

BUDLEIGH Salterton's pursuit of North Devon at the top of the Premier Division table continues when they welcome doomed Paignton to Ottermouth tomorrow.

It's hard to see how Paignton can save themselves from the dreaded drop as they are 64 points adrift with five games to go.

If Paignton lose badly at Budleigh, and Heathcoat win at Bradninch, the Seasiders will probably be relegated tomorrow night.

The form book points to a Budleigh win, although with 27 points to make up on North Devon they will have their work cut out to finish higher than second.

Budleigh skipper Sandy Allen knows where he ought to put his money, but is clearly thinking of hedging his bets.

"I would say North Devon are still in the box seat – and if I was a betting man I would put my money on them," said Allen.

"But never say never as you never know. Both of us have some hard games coming up and it could go down to the last game of the season when we play North Devon at our place."

Paignton’s team news is that Simon Mantell is keeping wicket and will open the batting instead of Dan North who is in the seconds for some time in the middle. Veteran Justin Mann is injured.

Mark Smith bowled a good spell last week in the 2^nd XI so is in the ones.

Seb Benton should be fine to play after knocking his knee last week.

Liam Bryan is away at a JLS concert, so Ben Luck comes in for him.

Bradninch captain Gary Chappell remains confident his side can play their way out of danger before they get sucked into the relegation mire.

Last Saturday's defeat at Bovey was Bradninch's fifth on the trot and left them just seven points clear of Plympton in the drop zone as they prepare to face Heathcoat tomorrow.

There is little or no margin for error in Bradninch's situation but Chappell doesn't think it will get any worse.

"We are one of the better sides in the league and had we not had so many availability problems we wouldn't be where we are," said Chappell.

"Our batting isn't a problem as someone generally gets some runs. Brad (Cachopa) has had two hundreds recently, I have a had few runs, Tim Piper is consistently getting 30s and Joe Webb has started chipping in.

"Our bowling hasn't been great at times – I am still trying to work out how we lost to Bovey last Saturday with 267 on the board. When it matters and we have to win we are capable of pulling out a win."

Dan Hardy and Billy Wakeley return to the starting line up at the expense of Chris Acton and Nick Dean, who drop into the second XI.

Heathcoat make just one change to the team that beat Plymouth last Saturday. Tom Frankpitt replaces Jack Maunder.

Nick Gingell goes straight back into Sidmouth first XI for tomorrow's derby clash with Exmouth on the Fortfield.

Gingell has been sidelined for the best part of two months after having knee surgery, but made a superb comeback in the second XI last week when he scored 172 and took three wickets.

Jamie Wardop makes way for Gingell in what is otherwise the same side which ran North Devon close last Saturday. One more wicket and Sidmouth would have won.

Sidmouth captain Will Murray has just about run up the white flag on his side's prospects of catching North Devon, but there is just a wee glimmer of hope in the camp.

"It's almost impossible for us to catch them, but stranger things have happened," said Murray.

"We will keep going until the end, just in case North Devon slip or the weather intervenes."

Exmouth, whose skipper Richard Baggs long ago gave up the chase, are looking to bounce back from a defeat at Budleigh last time out.

"It was one of those days when we almost played well, but almost wasn't good enough," said Baggs.

"You can look back at dropped catches here and a missed run-out there and say that would have made a difference.

"The truth is we just didn't bat well enough to set a challenging enough total. Not enough of us are taking the responsibility for scoring runs. David Lye has made well over 600, I am not far off 500, but no one else has consistently been making scores.

"It is something I have been aware of for a while, which is why it was good to see Andy Buzza and Barney Huxtable get 50s in recent games."

Steve Allan replaces the unavailable Nick Folland in the only change to the side beaten at Budleigh.

Plympton skipper Andy Walter has persuaded former Devon man Keith Donohue out of retirement to reinforce his side's battle against relegation from the Premier Division.

Donohue gave up the first-team captaincy last season to 'retire' to second-team cricket with the Harewood Park-based club.

But current Plympton captain Andy Walter asked Donohue to again play for the first team, who face local rivals Plymouth tomorrow at Mount Wise (1pm).

He said: "Keith has been playing for the seconds, but when I put the question to him, he didn't even need to think about.

"He said that if I needed him, he would play.

"It's great to have somebody with that experience in the side."

Walter said he was not worried about his team's ability to stay in Devon cricket's top flight.

He said: "It could come down to the last two games of the season, when we play Heathcoat and Bradninch, who are only seven points ahead of us.

"It would be good if we could go into even the last game without worrying whether we were going to stay up or not.

"I went into this season thinking we were going to have a struggle, but to be just two points off safety at this stage is excellent.”

Plymouth captain Callum Whittaker predicted a good game.

He said: "They (Plympton) are a good side, with a lot of good players. I'm quite sure they're good enough to get themselves away from the bottom.

"We've got to do the right things like we have on and off during the season and hopefully come away with the win."