Devon Cricket Board - Premier prospects - Elliott back for lowly Heathcoat

HEATHCOAT skipper Chris Small isn’t going to panic about his side’s position at the foot of the Premier table.
Having lost by nine wickets at Plymouth last time out in the only top-flight game played to a finish, Heathcoat are 31 points adrift at the foot of the table going into tomorrow’s meeting with Sidmouth.
From the outside it might look a desperate situation, but Small hasn’t given up hope.
“The best thing we can do is forget about where we are on the ladder and go out to enjoy our cricket,” said Small.
“I still think we can play our way out of trouble, but worrying about it won’t help.”
Something which will help is the return after injury of seamer Paul Elliott, which does Small a favour.
Small has been bowling seam up this season to compensate for a shortage of medium pacers, but may be able to revert to his favoured leg-spin now.
Sidmouth are going to Knightshayes to win, not that skipper Will Murray is taking anything for granted.
“After losing to Budleigh two weeks ago and being robbed by the rain when we almost certainly would have won at Bradninch, we need to win,” said Murray.
“We have been a bit ordinary in some of our games this season though and need to avoid that to steer clear of a banana skin.”
SANDFORD appear to be short of batting for their tussle with Torquay at Creedy Park.
Adrian Small is out with a dislocated finger and former Devon batter Neil Bettis is on a stag weekend.
George Greed and Dave Dredge are plain old unavailable, which leaves skipper Matt Theedom looking to plug the gaps.
“We might be a bit light in the batting, but I look at it as opportunities for 2^nd XI players,” said the ever-positive Theedom.
Torquay have veteran seamer Ian Baker back, lose batter Scott Baldry and are waiting to hear if Somerset want Max Waller or not.
Torquay are 28 points behind the leaders, but with 20 points for a win now and no hanging on for draws, ground can be made up by winning.
Justin Yau, the Torquay skipper, believes his side can narrow that gap.
“Everyone is beating each other and we need to keep worrying about our own points week in and week out,” said Yau.
Torquay and Sandford have had some feisty encounters in recent seasons and Yau is relishing the competitive edge.
“Looking forward to the Sandford game having had some good battles in the past,” he said.
“They are similar to us all round and I have no doubt whoever plays the better cricket on the day will win.”
BOVEY Tracey skipper Peter Bradley is looking for a change of fortunes when his table-topping side visit defending champions North Devon.
Bovey are nine points clear of second-placed Exmouth at the top of the table as they attempt to wrench the Premier title away from North Devon.
If Bovey can win at North Devon, who are 20 points back in third, it will underline their title claims no end.
“Over the last two seasons we have underperformed at North devon and that needs to change,” said Bradley.
“I hear the Overton twins are both playing and they always have Glenn Querl, Dan Bowser and Martin Gear so they will take some beating.
“With the Overtons playing North Devon are not far of their strongest from last season, when they were undisputedly the strongest side in the Premier.”
Bovey Tracey have one or two selection issues and will be forced to rain the second team. Bradley isn’t saying who is coming up, but it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise to see Mark Gribble promoted from the 2^nd XI.
Gribble was captain when Bovey won the title for the first, last and only time in 2002 but has been walkabout since then at Torquay, Exeter and Chagford before returning to his home-town club last season.
EXMOUTH entertain Budleigh Salterton in the seaside derby hoping for the chance to gain ground on leaders Bovey Tracey.
It’s not quite the fire-and-brimstone affair it used to be, but Exmouth skipper Richard Baggs said there won’t be any shortage of bite.
“The younger guys look forward to games like this a lot for the bragging rights, and us older ones always want to come out on top anyway,” said Baggs.
Lloyd Loman comes into the Exmouth side for Max Curtis, who is at a wedding.
Budleigh skipper Joel Murphy is a little more dispassionate about the game, and says most of his players are as well.
“The game we look on as the big one is Sidmouth – and we got the better of that one the last time we played,” said Murphy.
“Exmouth are a strong side, but if we can play the way we did against Sidmouth we have a great chance of a result.”
Budleigh have Devon fast bowler Charlie Morris and young all-rounder Lloyd Murrin back on parade.
BRADNINCH skipper Gary Chappell said his side’s season could be made or broken over the next two Saturdays.
Mid-table Bradninch are 15 points clear of the drop zone and 22 shy of leaders Bovey Tracey,
Chappell believes how Bradninch do against Plymouth tomorrow and Sandford in eight days time – both teams who are below them in the table – will prove significant.
“If we win them both we'll be right behind the leaders again, lose them both and we'll find ourselves at the wrong end of the table,” said Chappell.
“We need to improve our level of performance from those of the last two weeks.
“We haven’t been helped by the weather as we havent been able to train for 3 weeks and work on things.
“But we're confident of coming away with a win against Plymouth.
“I think they’re heavily reliant on James Toms and their overseas players so if we can nip them out early we'll have a real chance.”
Bradninch will be without Paul Nott and Will Squire, but welcome back Joe Webb and Max Fernie.
“Fernie is an excellent top-order batter who has played in the Home Counties League as well as representing British Universities,” said Chappell.
“Hopefully, Max will be with us for the rest of the season, which will strengthen our batting, which has been our downfall this season. “