Devon Cricket Board - Torquay climb out of bottom two

Torquay climb out of bottom two

HEATHCOAT could do with something special against Sidmouth this Saturday after a 16-run defeat by Torquay pushed them closer to the Premier Division drop zone.
Torquay’s decision to bat was justified by a 50-over total of 243 for nine – Matt Thompson top scoring on 65.
Heathcoat made a decent attempt at chasing down the total, but 80 to win from the last 10 overs proved too many and they were all out for 227 with seven balls to go.
Defeat drops Heathcoat to third from bottom , five points ahead of Sandford.
Torquay went past Heathcoat, but only by three points, and the outcome of their game against bottom side Cornwood will be awaited with great interest in the Knightshayes camp this Saturday.
Thompson – third out at 161 – put on 78 up front with Nick Watkin (30), 44 with Justin Yau (27) and 39 with Fahad Iqbal (41).
Mitch Pugh (39) kept the board ticking over after Thompson went.
Jack Menheneott (3-40) just pipped Matt Hague (3-42) for Heathcoat’s bowling honours.
Toby Lochead (47) led from the top for Heathcoat, who were handily placed approaching half way at 109 for two.
Then it all went wrong in the space of nine balls.
Qassim Adams (11), Dan Powell (35) and Dylan Penberthy all fell to either Iqbal (3-32) or Pugh (2-47) as Heathcoat slumped to 109 for six.
And when Jack Menheneott was run out on 124, Heathcoat’s cause looked hopeless.
Ned Menheneott (38) had other ideas though and with Ben Pitkin (15), Jason Parr (19) and Jamie Drew (21) all chipping in the target came down.
Torquay were relieved to see the back of Drew – caught and bowled by Joe Thompson – who was last man out with seven balls to go.
Torquay have now defeated Sandford and Heathcoat on successive Saturday afternoons and are climbing up the table.
“We finally have a bit of momentum going now and it's great to be beating teams close to us,” said skipper Justin Yau.
“We had a great base when we batted but would have liked to have got to 275-plus having been 190 for three.
“We bowled well- all of the bowlers did their jobs, breaking crucial partnerships at important stages and collectively we were probably as good as we have been all season.
“There is still another 25 per cent to come and we need to make sure we are clinical against Cornwood this Saturday.”

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