The Sweep 25 Week 11: Beaumont Goes Supersized in Exeter win
- Cornwood Cricket club
- Jul 15
- 7 min read
Words: Simon Travers
In a full reversal of last week’s weather, the heat was on louder than the Beverley Hills Cop soundtrack across the county. Unless you were Kilmington skipper Oliver Reed, there was one course of action for Devon captains, win the toss, bat big and hide in the shade.
Elliott Staddon was back with the Firsts after a week off and did exactly that against a visiting Exeter team. Exeter had looked like early title contenders backing up last year’s strong second half with three wins from their first three games. Since then, they have struggled but their one win was against Bradninch & Kentisbeare. They brought a talented young line up with Zach Vukusic (Somerset 2XI & Academy), Mo Kaleem (Somerset Academy) and first class New Zealander Sam Mycock.
There is a wealth of cricket knowledge that sits around the boundary of Oak Park and ambles to the bar and back. However, nobody knows anything about cricket. Around 3:15pm with Cornwood imploding at 135-8, nobody knew that this innings was for the ages. Nobody knew they were witnessing the fourth highest ever First team score at Oak Park; the highest in 18 seasons. Nobody knew that they were about to see a tie for the First XI individual innings in a DCL match record. Nobody knew that Lee Baker was about to get a batting record to his name, as Lee and Ben Beaumont broke a 10th wicket partnership record that has stood since Jimmy Nail was number one in the charts with ‘Ain’t No Doubt’. I’m not lyin’, nobody knew.
As with Jay Bista’s 182* against Sidmouth three years ago in July 2022, it’s fun to speculate exactly when Exeter knew their chances had melted away. Probably not the 36th over where Ben Beaumont took 18 from Seb Linnitt including three boundaries. That was still plausibly in ‘Don’t mind that’ territory. More likely, the jitters would have kicked in at the 38th over when Zach Vukusic lost his radar and Ben, rocking the floppy hat for extra style points, capitalised with two cover drives to the cherry tree for six. Even then, Cornwood were only in par score territory at 176-8. Once Ben crashed his century with a huge on drive, he found an extra gear with 12 boundaries in 10 overs including four consecutive sixes from the last. Cornwood rocketed from 135-8 to 280-9 and Ben Beaumont’s first ton in a Cornwood shirt is, on many levels, the best ever: 182 not out in 131 balls with 12 fours and 16 sixes. Ben scored 54 of a 69 partnership with Jack Ormsby, and 67 of a record 76 run 10th wicket partnership with Lee Baker. Lee played the Jack Leach role admirably, blocking 14 balls admirably and sneaking an edge past the keeper for 4.
50 overs in the sun and the Exeter top order were toast. Their top three removed without scoring by Matt Skeemer (5-3-9-3). Charles Clist (51) and Sam Read (38) provided some resistance, but Jack Ormsby took key wickets in the middle order with figures of 3-46. Lee Baker and Ben Privett mopped up and the innings was done in 26.1 overs, with Exeter five runs short of matching Cornwood’s last two wicket partnerships on 140. Some game.
Elsewhere in the Premier Division, Bradninch & Kentisbeare almost dropped one but held on to beat Sidmouth by 3 wickets, Exmouth scarred North Devon for life with a 234 run win, Paignton rolled Heathcoat and Sandford easily beat Plymouth. The Ones are settled in Third spot with seven wins and 164 points. They are 21 points behind leaders Bradninch & Kentisbeare, while Paignton push the leaders closer in second.
The Ones pulled double duty on Sunday as they travelled to Sandford to compete in the Devon T20 Cup finals day. In their semi-final game, Cornwood came up against a determined and efficient Exmouth outfit. Winning the toss and electing to bat, Matt Skeemer was able to make 36 from 31, but no-one else was able to score more than 30 or go above a 150 strike rate. Cameron Kidd was destructive with figures of 4-17 as the Ones were all out for 137. That total was well short as Exmouth chased the runs down with 31 balls spare. Dan Pyle hit 52* from 27 and Ed Butler hit 37 for 24. It was not the hoped for result, but still overall an impressive T20 campaign. Exmouth beat Bridestowe & Belstone in a virtually carbon copy final.
The Twos travelled to Ipplepen knowing that they needed to survive the roasting conditions and continue to stand the heat that Teignmouth & Shaldon, Ashburton and Brixham are exerting on their C Division West lead. Robin Dart’s men achieved both goals with a high class performance. Probably the most pleasing thing about the Two’s work was the way they went about ensuring maximum advantage from batting first. Their innings was an old-fashioned hymn to earning the right and grinding the fielding team. The approach led to an attritional first two hours with the Twos on 101-5 at second drinks after 30 overs. Harry Woolway set up the innings with a watchful 36 from 78, while Matt Butterworth scrapped hard for 19 from 52 while Freddie Harvey posted a strong bowling spell with 3-33. Those efforts positioned the Twos to launch 127 runs in the last 15. Will Sharp was the wrecking ball with 69 from 49, while Jason Hall hit 40 from 38.
The Twos target of 228-8 was evidently a hefty ask for a flagging Ipplepen. Harry Woolway and Alex Shutt both delivered two wickets each with the new ball to put the hosts on 47-4 in 12 overs. Jacob Caunter bowled his most deadly spell of the season, including a vicious surprise bouncer. Jacob took 4-15 as Ipplepen collapsed to 89. Wins for Ashburton and Teignmouth & Shaldon keep things tight, but the Twos are still in top spot.
If the Ones and Twos had to fight some adversity, things could not have gone more to plan for the Threes against Bridestowe & Belstone 2XI. Bridestowe captain Richard Blake was one of only a handful of captains across Devon who won the toss and elected to field. The Threes went on to deliver something like the perfect innings. Ewan Horner and Evie Privett saw off the new ball and then Charlie Farmer wore down the bowlers to the tune of 44 from 76. Josh Whiting provided the middle order punch with 39 from 30 before Ethan Carlise provided the big finale. Ethan scored 73* from 32 with ample support in a 95 run partnership from Adam Goodliffe’s 45 from 21. The Threes cruised to 288-6 from their 45 overs. Bridestowe & Belstone’s batters fought to make a game. David Pemberthy scored 36 and Toby Gostling made 30. However, a spell of 4-19 from Evie Privett capped a great day in the sun for the Threes. They jump into second spot in E Division West with a 104 run win.
The Fours were comfortably outgunned away at South Brent in a 10 wicket loss that pulls them closer to the G Division West dropzone. Rocky Travers plugged away for 22 overs to reach 40 from 66 balls, but he couldn’t find a partner as the team collapsed to 84. There was 5-22 for Harry Morris and 3-10 for James Fitzpatrick. It took South Brent 9 overs to reach their target as Gareth Havard smashed 53 from 34.
On Sunday, the youth wing of Women’s Firsts were flying in both their home Super8’s Plate matches. They beat Stoke Gabriel by 61 runs, with Sofia Oxenham (33* from 47) and Frankie Lee (30* from 17) making retirement innings. Imogen Garland led the bowling with 4-0-23-2. Against Clyst St George, there were two wickets for Charlotte Shutt as the Cornwood bowlers kept the visitors down to 98-4 in their 16 overs. The Women’s First rattled through their reply at 10 an over to reach the target with 36 balls remaining. Frankie Lee again did well, scoring 31* from 29.
The Under 17s started their campaign with an impressive 14 run win away at Plymouth. Batting first, the Under 17s top four of Rocky Travers (30 from 18), Charlie Farmer (46 from 50), Stanley Baker (23 from 17) and Josh Whiting (36 from 27) all fired in a total of 161-4. Evan Burke anchored the Plymouth reply with a retirement 53* from 56, while James Hulbert kept it interesting with 34 from 23. Cornwood had enough bowling though, with Neel Shivane’s superb spell of 4-1-15 dots-13-2 tilting the match our way.
Come Thursday night, there was an instant P&D Classic against Plymouth as Cornwood won a thriller by 5 wickets. Things were tough for the Cornwood bowlers in the field. James Webb (100*) and George Atkinson (70*) put on 159 unbeaten for the second wicket, as Cornwood had to fight to restrict Plymouth to 179-1. The opening of the Cornwood innings couldn’t have gone much better as Dave Stubbs (34 in 14) and Rocky Travers put on 66 for the first wicket in under 4 overs. That gave time for a 56 run partnership between Charlie Farmer and Ollie Offer (41 from 39), before Sam Griffiths and Charles Knight coolly closed the game out with two from the final delivery.
The Fives couldn’t match the firepower of a fully loaded Plymst**k team in their SDCL match on Sunday afternoon. Needing a confidence boost after all of their three Saturday teams took a beating, Plymst**k put the game out of reach in their 35 overs with a total of 233-9. Charlie Martyn’s 3-39 and Edmund Goodwin’s 4-38 meant that the Fives scored full bowling points and took a few with them. Despite a sprightly 24* from Mark Gibbs, the Fives batting effort was rewarded with 95 runs for a 138 run loss. Cornwood are fourth in the SDCL West table but only because Plympton have two conceded wins.
As the Colts season starts to draw into the final straight, the key performance of the week was from the Tier 1 Under 15s who beat Plymst**k by 70 runs. Ayaan fired at the top of the order with 50* from 48 while Stanley crushed 51* from 22 in a score of 186-2. Plymst**k’s batters had no answers for Charlie C (4-2-7-5) or Raff (3.4-0-18-3) in a 70 run win. The Under 15s need one more win to secure their Division. Elsewhere, the Tier One Under 13s were on the wrong side of a tough loss to Plymouth. Joseph scored 23* from 13 and six bowlers took a wicket for the Under 11s in a 113 run win over Yelverton. Colts Awards Night is this Friday.
Next weekend, it’s derby time for the Ones as they travel to Mountwise to play Plymouth. The Twos welcome Paignton Twos to Oak Park. The Threes are away at Teignmouth & Shaldon 2XI, while the Fours are at home to Plymst**k 3XI. There's still time to get yourself in the prize draw at the club social on Saturday night.
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