Shaldon march on as Ashes suffer setback

ASHBURTON lost ground at the top of the D Division West when they slipped to a 44-run defeat against Yelverton.

Ashes had been neck and neck with unbeaten leaders Shaldon, but are now 13 points behind in second place,

Yelverton are  third and closed the gap between them and Ashburton to three points by winning at Varwell Field.

Yelverton set off at a fast pace, reaching 40-1 in eight overs, Pat Hobbs accounting for 28 before fallingbowled to Dominic Durman.

On a pitch favouring the bowlers with variable bounce, the Ashburton spinners took wickets at regular intervals, with the exception of Rich Townsend, who made 64 not out.

With no other batsman reaching double figures, 152 all out seemed a below average total. Yelverton openers Pete Lojszczyk (3-36) and Sam Crompton (1-15) used the difficult pitch to their advantage, taking wo early wickets.

The bowlers were then pitching it too short, allowing Ashley Harvey to rush away, regularly finding the square boundary.

The introduction of Dan Keylock (1-16) and Rich West (4-34) stemmed the flow, as a succession of batsman being caught on the boundary, including the key wicket of Harvey (47).

The return of Lojszczyk and Dan Cooper (1-0) allowed Yelverton to wrap up victory inside 30 overs, with Ashburton 108 all out.

SHALDON took another step towards promotion from the D Division West when  they routed Newton St Cyres by 301 runs.

George Thomas (75) and Karl Blackburn (71) set the ton for the innings with a stand of 119 as Shaldon raced to 382 for seven in 45 overs.

Thomas and Mark Couch (61) notched 62 for the third  wicket, then Andy Lockyer (55) joined Couch to add another 87.

There was a short lull in the carnage as four wickets went for 12 runs, then it started again.

Jamie Day (34no) and Carl Woolnough (29no)  put on 73 unbroken for the eighth wicket.

St Cyres got to 64 for two thanks to Usman Mnazir (23) and Leighton Dayman (20) then fell apart as Ryan Bougourd (4-26),and Ross Aitchison (2-11) got into them.

Carl  Woolnough, who has rejoined Shaldon after the briefest of spells with Paignton, then took a hat-trick as St Cyres were bowled out for 81. Their last six wickets went for just eight runs.

Shaldon and their unbeaten record make the short trip over Haldon Hill to face Kenn this Saturday.

STOKEINTEIGNHEAD won for the third time this season when they overcame Exwick by 16  runs in a low-scoring affair.

Sreejith Sankaranarayanan top-scored for the Villagers with 73 in a total of 154 all out.

Sankaranarayanan went in at 21 for three after early problems against Kris Calderhead (3-32) and was last man out.

Along the way he shared in stands of 32 with Roger Putman (10), 35 with Andrew Thornton-Clarke (31) and 34 for the last wicket with Jim Peck.

Peck, who was on the MCC groundstaff in the early 60s, was six not out.

Exwick subsided to 26 for five in reply as Chris Prestt (2-33) and Mark Russell (2-19) got on top of the batting.

Ross Pascoe (36) and veteran Rehann Caryl (51no) put on 66, but the clock was against  Exwick by then and they ran out of overs at 138 for seven.

JAMES Gosling was in the runs for Kenn when they beat South Brent by 183 runs.

Gosling rattled up 125 not out in a total of 261 for eight.

South Brent were all out for 78 – tail-ender  Adam Cook top scoring on 31.

James Mason (4-16) and Ed Bragg (4-20) were the bowlers who did most of the damage.

TOPSHAM St James were five-wicket winners in a low-scoring game against visiting Buckland Monachorum.

Paul Edwards hit 52 for Buckland – their only score of more than nine – in a total of 79 all out.

Ross Trevleaven (2-30) did the initial damage then Ed Kirby 92-4) and Brian Jeary (4-30) joined in.

St James had a few issues – Toby Halloran (3-22) largely responsible – but Treleaven’s  27 not out got them over the line.