NORTH Devon captain Barney Huxtable believes Bradninch are the team to watch out for in today’s Servicemaster Clean T20 play-off day at Sidmouth.
The morning semi-final sees Bradninch in action against Plymouth at 10.30am, followed by Torquay against North Devon at 1.30pm.
The final is scheduled for a 4.45 start, but could be brought forward if either semi-final finishes early.
Huxtable feels his side are well equipped for the competition format, but is award Bradninch pose a threat.
Premier sides Exmouth, the defending county champions, and Sidmouth both fell to Bradninch in the area final two weeks ago so Huxtable may have a point.
‘I think Bradninch are the team to watch out for as they have some seriously destructive batsmen,’ said Huxtable
‘They are a similar side to us - and have youth on their side.
‘We have the strongest Twenty20 side we can put out with the added strength of having Jack Popham back.
‘Josh King and Ed Yeo are suited to T20 cricket and should give us a massive boost in the batting department.’
Bradninch skipper Tim Piper is relaxed going into the play-offs, understandable after their successes getting there.
‘We can challenge ourselves against more of the county’s best sides, after beating arguably the two best teams in the last rounds.
‘It is T20 and it can go either way at any time.’We’ll be enjoying ourselves whatever happens.’
Josh Cann and Thom Bunker are added to the squad.
Plymouth were the last team to qualify for finals day, beating Lewdown by 18 runs in a Wednesday night showdown.
Opener Jamie Walsh thumped 58 off 37 balls as Plymouth made 177 for eight in 20 overs.
Leon Horn (2-23) and Matt Witcher (2-16) were the pick of the Lewdown bowlers, both going for less than six an over.
Lewdown were behind the clock at the midway stage – 61 for four when Witcher (25) was caught behind but accelerated in the second half.
Fifty-eight off the final three overs proved a bit too much thought and Lewdown were 159 for eight when the overs ran out.
‘We had a few players who couldn’t travel but we completed a professional job,’ said captain Sam Stein, who was a member of the Plymouth team who lost the 2012 final to Bovey Tracey.
‘James Walsh and Jake Luffman batted superbly and got us off to a flyer. Then some late hitting took us to a good enough total.
‘The game wasn’t as tight as it looked. It was just a bit of late-order hitting in the last few overs as a late cause.’
Torquay annihilated Ipplepen by nine wickets in the South Devon play-off to reach finals day.
It is the only silverware Torquay have a chance of winning this season and skipper Justin Yau wants to go hard for it.
‘We have done well in the Twenty20 format so far, but it will be a completely different challenge this time around,’ said Yau.
‘All teams will be strong and hopefully we can play well for a couple more games.’
The winners at Sidmouth go through to a regional finals day involving the champions from Cornwall, Somerset and Wales.
Win that game and the next stop is the national quarter-final against for a place in finals day, which this year is at Derby on Tuesday, September 6.
