Civil glad of Grandad's Army for honouring fixture against D West leaders Stoke Gabriel

PLYMOUTH Civil Service dragged two senior citizens out of retirement to honour their fixture against leaders Stoke Gabriel, rather than concede the game.

Mike Whitting and Paul Smith could have used their pensioners’ bus passes to get to the game after answering an SoS request for players.

“As it was we only had 10, but we felt we would rather play and lose than have 10 points knocked off for cancelling,” said match captain Adrian Vickery.

“Although we lost by 10 wickets, we saw that as 13 points earned as we didn’t give away 10 for crying off.”

Vickery was glad to win the toss, get into bat and get the game done and dusted.

“The nightmare was Stoke batting first and setting a new league record against us,” said Vickery, who top scored with 27 in his side’s total of 115 all out.

Jack Tolley took three for 17 for Stoke and there were two wickets each for Jake Robinson and Andrew Ball.

Stoke needed just 10 overs to win by 10 wickets – Tolley smashing the bowling to all parts on his way to a rapid 94 not out.

Civil stay off the bottom of the table for at least one more week as relegation rivals Barton 2ndXI lost heavily to second-placed Plymouth 2ndXI.

PLYMOUTH dashed along to 259 for seven at Cricketfield Road, led by Rob Bennett with 93.

Bennett and opener Ollie Parsons put on 157 for the second wicket after Richard Goldsby-West went cheaply.

Tom Hughes (30) and John Kerridge (20) both chipped in. Adrian Lipton (2-41) was the leading Barton wicket taker, other than the three run-outs.

Barton were all out in reply for 98, no one bettering the 35 made by opener Sean Adderley.

There were three wickets each for Jon Kerridge and Fahad Ali and two more for Dan Farnham.

Plymouth (208pts) stay second behind Stoke Gabriel (229), Yelverton (184) are next best in third after they won a low-scoring encounter with Whitchurch at Langton Park.

YELVERTON'S prospects did not look great after they were bowled out for 117 by Richard Potts (4-31) and Darren Sambells (3-34).  Extras (26) was the greatest sum in the runs-scored column.

Last-wicket pair Sam Crompton (17) and Dan Keylock (19) put on 37 for Yelverton, which proved to be crucial.

Whitchurch started brightly with Josh Towl (36) and Josh Meadows (26) among the runs before it all went wrong.

There were three wickets each for Crompton, Keylock and Tom Richards as Whitchurch plunged to 102 all out and a 15-run defeat.

SKIPPER Tim Ward baled Paignton 2ndXI out with the bat then made a timely contribution with the ball to a 54-run win in the derby clash with Torquay II.

Remember when? Paignton's Tim Ward in his days as a Devon all-rounderPaignton were an unimpressive 111 for seven when Ward went out to bat and an early tea looked likely. Ben Passenger (2-28) and Matt McCann (2-29) had been dominant with the ball for Torquay.

There was a reason why Ward was a Devon all-rounder in his younger days – playing 54 times between 1987-97 – and he showed why against Torquay.

Ward’s 57 not out helped Paignton reach 200 for nine. Along the way there was a stand of 74 with Rory Medlock (15).

The wickets were shared round as Torquay slumped to 111 for eight in reply. Without Max Brewer (26) and Passenger (25) they would not have got that far.

There was a delay while the tail enders hung around until Ward brought himself back into the attack. He bowled Harry Passenger with his fifth ball to dismiss Torquay for 146 and finish with figures of three for 20.

SOUTH Devon won for the first time in three starts when they beat Kenn by three wickets.

Back-to-back defeats by Stoke Gabriel and Whitchurch had left South Devon too close for comfort to the drop zone.

South Devon are back in the top half of the table now and will be aiming to start a winning run when Yelverton visit Marsh Road this Saturday.

Ed Bragg (39) and James Gosling (39) were the leading scorers for Kenn in their total of 176 all out.

South Devon spinner Rob Stephens took four Kenn wickets for 16 runs and there were two each for Joe Kitto and Allan Kerr.

Former captain Dave Knowles marked his return to the side after a break with 58 to get the chase up and running. Dinesh Raheja (45no) steered South Devon over the line.