Contributed reports from correspondents in the E, F and G Divisions

The Bideford 2nd XI that defeated Axminster – see story

E DIVISION EAST

TIM Cooke and Tom Stone were the star men with the ball for Bideford 2nd XI in a seven-wicket win over Axminster Town.

Three wickets each for Cooke (3-21) and Stone (3-14) helped skittle Axminster for a modest 112.

Opener James Hayter then struck an unbeaten 65 as Bideford cruised to victory. Keith Berry chipped in with 56.

The Bideford team: Back (left to right): Bill Newey (umpire), Alex Cox, Olly Keates, Darren Willcocks, Tim Cooke, Keith Berry, Tom Stone, Richard Stone (scorer); fromt: Pete Stevens, James Hayter, Ian Hayter, Julian Hayter, Jim Keates

E DIVISION WEST

LEWDOWN lost for the third time this season when Plymouth CS&R trounced them by eight wickets.

Jack Williams (65) and Charlie Hughes (40) were Lewdown’s prime run getters in a 45-over total of 178 for nine.

Matt Trevorrow (2-20), Matt Ball (2-31) and Nathan Bulley (1-29) gave Lewdown little to go after in their nine-over allocations.

The Gaylard brothers – Rob and Brian – made light work of the chase, which was completed with exactly six overs to go.

Brian Gaylard made 72 and Rob was unbeaten on 72 when the winning runs were scored. The pair put on 168 for the first wicket, which killed the game stone dead.

Five games into the season Lewdown are rooted to the foot of the E Division West table. 

G DIVISION EAST

AFTER such a dire start to the season, Topsham St James were delighted to welcome both the sun and Woodbury to their magnificent new home at the Exeter University ground. 

The pitch was, not surprisingly, a little on the slow side, but everything was in superb condition and a real credit to the ground staff, who had triumphed over everything Mother Nature had thrown at them.

Topsham's stand-in skipper, Alex Davison, won the toss and elected to bat. Father Mike opened, together with another veteran, Paul Jenkins, but both departed very early. In Mike's case it was due to a bizarre injury to his upper arm, engendered by shock waves from the ball hitting the very end of his bat. 

Topsham subsided to 4-2 and 16-3, but Mike Davison then returned and battled through for a worthy 18, providing good support to Narender Dhayal, who played with maturity and no little skill to end up with a well-earned 40. That was twice the next-best score, 20 by Alex Davison, who took the family honours for the day with a battling knock which showed real character. 

Youngsters Alan Peter and Morgan Maynard showed their potential with a few nice shots, and Topsham were able to get to 127-9, just denying Woodbury a fifth bowling point.   

For the visitors, the standout bowler was young opener Oliver Brealey, whose first three overs were maidens, and who ended up with 3-15, a just reward for consistent accuracy and aggression. He was well supported by all his colleagues, notably Chalky White, whose left-arm slows earned him 2-18. 

When Woodbury batted it was a very similar story. Both opening batsmen failed to trouble the scorers, as Maynard consistently troubled them with pace and movement, while Narender Dhayal had five maidens and a wicket in his first six overs. Morgan ended with 1-24 Narender, undoubtedly the man of the match, with 1-15. 

Ian Edworthy led the recovery, but when he was out for 21, Chalky White and Chris Collyer both went cheaply, and Topsham were markedly in the ascendant. That, however, was as good as it got for the home side. Tom Sunderland came in to join Leighton Dayman, and they both batted sensibly to slowly take the game away from Topsham Sunderland ended 29 not out, and Dayman reached exactly 50 with the winning boundary.

Topsham St James' problem was essentially one of availability: batsmen aplenty, but a distinct shortage of bowlers. After the openers, Gary Salter bowled very well to take 2-25 and keep things very much under control, and Jenkins, pressed into service, exceeded his own expectations with 1-15 off four overs before the unaccustomed strain took a muscular toll. After that, there was nobody – pressed into the breach, Alan Peter and Alex Davison did their best, but not even the outstanding fielding of Elliot Eady could keep the batsmen within the required bounds.

F DIVISION WEST

SOUTH Devon 2nd XI’s batting had a collective day to forget in a 119-run defeat away to F West leaders Torquay 2nd XI.

Josh Hunt hammered an unbeaten 107 for Torquay who reached 240 for four after 40 overs.

Hunt put on 44 with Daniel Western (37), 64 with Mike Pugh (38) and 84 with Niall McCarthy (22).

None of the South Devon bowlers took more than one wicket. Cheapest to operate was Josh Hammett, who only went for 18 runs in five overs.

South Devon lost James Stacey and Ryan Maunder cheaply to Blaise Baker (3-20) early in proceedings, but recovered to reach 91 for three thanks to Jonty Tupman and Richard Beaumont.

After Tupman was cleaned up by Beau Rider it was downhill all the way for South Devon as seamer Dinesh Giri ploughed through the middle order en-route to figures of five for 28.

Beaumont (63) was seventh out on 123. Giri and the returning Baker finished the job by dismissing South Devon for 131.

Matt Kitto, the South Devon 2ndXI captain, said the result should be put into the context the selection problems and lack of time in the middle due to bad weather.

“With some availability issues and one two guys playing despite injuries, it wasn't a bad effort with the ball and in the field to keep really strong opposition to  below 250,” said Kitto.

“Our batting looked understandably short of match practice and hopefully that will improve.

“Fortunately, Rich Beaumont was on hand to push us towards some valuable bonus points.”

South Devon are at home to Paignton 3rdXI this Saturday.

F DIVISION EAST

EXWICK emerged victorious from their trip to Honiton 2ndXI after some excellent performances with bat and ball.

Despite the warm sunshine and gentle breeze, there was still plenty of moisture in the wicket and skipper Jamie Withers was disappointed to lose the toss and be asked to bat. 

Honiton’s opening bowlers made a tight start, before an excellent 70-run partnership between Steve Forbes and Philip Walker took the visitors to 100-2. Opener Forbes was eventually dismissed after a fine 51. Consecutive half-centuries marked a confident start to the season for Forbes.

The partnership had come at a good rate and ‘Wick were revising their target from 160 to 200 at this stage. However both Walker and Withers fell for 27 after looking to get going, and Mike Nunns came and went without troubling the scorers. 

Debutant Raghav Mishra was joined by Richard Forbes at 141 for five and Honiton looking to wrap up the innings. However, the batsmen had other ideas and not only blunted the attack, but started to accelerate the run rate, largely thanks to some risky running between the wickets.

A 49-run partnership ensued before Forbes was caught after scoring 18. 15-year-old Mishra ended 27 not out and Exwick had posted a competitive 192-7, assisted by 37 extras.

Honiton came out playing their shots. Walker was the tighter of the opening bowlers, managing two maidens, but Nunns was taken for a few boundaries, including a big six. Withers brought himself and Dan Groves into the attack, and it was the youngster who made the breakthrough, bowling Potter for a quickly made 26. The bowling partnership had strangled the scoring as well, and while Nathan Groves and then captain Hext looked to be timing the ball well, they were struggling to pierce the field.

After five tight overs, Withers replaced himself with spinner Jenkins. D J made the instant breakthrough, after Hext went to use his feet, but could only scoop the ball harmlessly to Rich Forbes at point. Rishi Mishra, a slightly older debutant than his son, came on at the other end, and this was the bowling partnership that would gut the Honiton innings.

D J ended up with 4-41 and Mishra 3-19, with only Peter Matravers (22 from 22) and Blackwell (19 from 26) making any in-roads into the target. Megan Thompson-Summers ended up with a couple of dismissals, a stumping off the bowling D J and an edge off that of Mishra. Walker picked up the last wicket with Honiton falling 57 short of the target.