The Sweep 25 Week 14: Woolway and Butterworth block Brixham to keep the Twos Winning
- Cornwood Cricket club
- Aug 5
- 7 min read
Words: Simon Travers
Match Photos: Ivor Thomas
This weekend saw President’s Day at Oak Park, a decades old club tradition that started as a yearly fixture between Cornwood and a representative President’s XI sponsored by Major FAV Parker. Currently, President’s Day is a grand day to gather the whole Cornwood clan, catch up with club alumni and share a story over a pint and a match.
Our weekly round-up starts away from home as the Twos kept pressing for the C Division West title at Brixham. Brixham are the enigma of C Division. They are a club with the resources, facilities and tradition to play at a county-wide level and are capable of a big performances. They entered the match though on a 3 game losing streak despite their first class Pakistani pro Mohammed Shaikh scoring 231 runs in those games. With every game for the Twos now a must-win, not knowing which Brixham would turn up raised the tension.
Early signs were promising after Robin Dart elected to bat. The Twos raced 66-0 in ten overs as Harry Woolway and Robin Dart (38 from 34) punished wayward lines from the Brixham opening bowlers. The introduction of Mohammed Shaikh brought three quick wickets to make the score 68-3. The Two’s lower middle order built for attack so it was imperative to keep team resources intact for a late charge. As at Ipplepen, Harry Woolway and Matt Butterworth dug a foundation for the rest of the team. There were no more opportunities for Shaikh (9-2-12-3) to strike. Harry and Matt patiently defended through the middle third of the innings. They only scored 39 runs together between first and second drinks, but they drew the sting from the Brixham attack.
When Harry mistimed a looping top edge to the keeper, the team started to push through the gears. Josh Goodliffe looked like a man on a mission as he and Matt Butterworth put on 81 for the fifth wicket in under 10 overs. Matt reached his half century first in 86 balls before departing two balls later. Josh made 50 in 34 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes. An 11 ball cameo from Ethan Carlisle made 25* and Brixham gifted 12 extras in the last four overs. Cornwood scored 134 in the last 15 to finish on 247-7.
Brixham looked to smash their way back into the match. They won the boundary count by 29 fours and a six to Cornwood’s 19 fours and 5 sixes, but still came up 91 runs short. Harry Woolway did the damage with the ball with 9-3-30-4. Harry was the catalyst in a Brixham collapse that saw Brixham drop from 56-1 to 61-6. Young Ethan Black batted well for his 47 while old Lee Upham struck 22 from 12. However, the Twos are top of the table because of strength in depth. Robin Dart usually has another quality option to turn to and the spinners completed the mop up handsomely. Elsewhere in C Division West, Ashburton kept pace with 20 points against Paignton 2XI, while Teignmouth & Shaldon are now 22 points back after just sneaking past Kingsbridge. The Twos must keep winning to secure promotion but three of their last 4 games are at home.
At Oak Park, the Ones struggled for the second week running with the bat against Sidmouth. The team could not convert a first powerplay of 30-1 into a defendable total. Charles Finan (35 from 69) stood up well to a disciplined opening spell from Barbadian paceman Akeem Jordan (10-3-18-2). However, the rest of the top and middle order struggled to get any kind of purchase against Heathcoat transfer Noah Musikanth (7.1-1-15-3) and Sidmouth legend Will Murray (10-5-19-4). In the course of an hour, 36-1 became 82-8. The highlight of the innings was a 57 run partnership for the 9th wicket between Stanley Baker and Alex Shutt. Stanley worked his way to 23 while Alex played some powerful shots on the way to 36. It was only the fourth ever 9th wicket 50 partnership in a DCL First XI match, although it’s the second one this season. Stanley and Lee Baker got to bat together in a First XI game for one ball only as the innings closed on 139.
Alex Shutt again supplied hope for the present and the future by taking early wickets. His best first XI figures yet of 3-31 meant that Cornwood were back in the game at 26-3 and 76-5. A 55 run partnership between Luke Bess and keeper Matthew Matravers (34* from 72) shut the door on Cornwood’s chances, but not before Lee Baker provided a late surge with 3 wickets from 4 balls. Those wickets mean that Lee is currently tied with Asif Raza’s 2013 record of 31 for the most wickets by a Cornwood bowler in a Premier Division season. Lee needs just another 25 poles from the last 4 games to beat Dave Matthews’ all time DCL record. Sidmouth eventually got home by 2 wickets.
Elsewhere in the Premier Division, North Devon got up for their cup final day to thrash Bradninch & Kentisbeare, Exmouth snuck past Sandford to take second place, Exeter beat Paignton, and Heathcoat beat Plymouth to stay in touch in the relegation battle. The Ones dropped to fourth.
On Sunday, the Women’s Firsts travelled to Exeter on a poignant day. The team wore green bows to remember Kelly Luscombe, who died earlier this year, on what would have been her fortieth birthday. Kelly played 8 DWCL games for Cornwood between 2018 and 19. Her debut was a record setting day as the team bowled Sandford for 27. Kelly was consistent with the bat through a 2019 campaign when the team were often outmatched. After Covid, Kelly moved to Bovey Tracey where she excelled as a captain and run-scorer, hitting 140* against Topsham St James in 2024. More importantly, Kelly was a much-loved inspiration as a teammate. She was a ‘warm hearted and kind soul’ who brought ‘such light and joy to Cornwood’s women’.
There would be no repeat of the upset win that the Women’s Firsts scored over Exeter earlier in the season as the hosts fielded their strongest side. Cornwood were able to make early inroads into the Exeter batting, primarily due to a strong spell from Shini Al Khalid (7-0-22-2). However, there were no answers for Jessica Breban as she became the tenth woman to hit a DWCL century against Cornwood in an impressive knock of 116* from 90. That propelled Exeter to a final total of 238-4. Two early wickets killed the chase but the Women’s Firsts battled through their 35 overs. Gemma Lancaster chipped in with 30, Helly Simpson made for 23 from 52 and Sadie Goodliffe put in a shift at end of the match with an unbeaten 6* from 34 to finish on 105-8. If the Women’s Firsts can win next week at Taunton Deane, Division One DWCL cricket is assured for 2026.
The Threes won away again at Dartington & Totnes to keep their E Division West promotion push on course. Fielding first, the Threes worked hard to ensure that none of the Dartington top order were able to capitalise on their starts. Charlie Cawardine impressed with figures of 9-2-20-3, while captain Adam Whiting was also in the wickets late on. Chasing a total of 173-9, the Threes went about it the right way after a bumpy start. Ayaan Chatterjee (43 from 88) dropped anchor again in a 74 run 4th wicket partnership with Noah Carlisle. Noah then kicked on to score 61 from 82 as the team got home with 4 wickets and 4 overs to spare. A loss for Tavistock 2XI means the Threes are now 9 points ahead of Stokeinteignhead in Second.
It was a glass half full, half empty kind of day for the Fours in a 53 run defeat to PCS&R 2XI. They claimed 10 bonus points from the game, which stretches their advantage over 9th placed Chagford to 7 points. However, there was also a sense this was a match that got away. Jack Lane seized the initiative early with 3-28 from his 8 overs and the Fours reduced PCS&R to 86-5. They then proceeded drop Nur Ahmed 8 times as he smashed his way to a first century, scoring 117 from 58 with 8 fours and 10 sixes. The PCS&R total of 257 looked unreachable as the Fours top order misfired. The team did well to claim all batting points as Tom West, Edmund Goodwin, Jack Lane and Charlie Martyn all made twenties. Captain Simon Garland was the pick of the bunch though. He made an all-run 5 from the last ball of the match to reach 50*.
In midweek, there was one colts game as the Tier 2 Under 15s lost to Plympton, despite a brace of wickets each for Raff, Edmund and Henry. The Under 19s beat Cannock for the first time in three tour visits. Charlie Cawardine’s 4-0-11-2 helped restrict the tourists to 138-5 in their 20 overs. Rocky Travers got the party started in reply with 51* from 24 and Stanley Baker closed out with 36* from 26 for a 6 wicket win.
Finally, I played my first ever adult game of competitive cricket in the P&D League against Yealmpton, putting my hand up in response to an ‘all hands on deck’ fixture pile up. Cornwood batted first and I walked out to open with Will Sharp (42 from 21). Will was one of three batters on the night who had a strike rate above 200. Josh Wood made 23 from 11 and Samarpit Joshi hit a few boundaries left-handed on the way to 52* from 19. Young Robbie Wooderson took 3-33 for Yealmpton, including me for 14, as Cornwood finished on 171-7 from 18. Charlie Martyn and Phil Gibson both took wickets in their opening spells, but then some kind of wonder happened as I bowled and took 4-0-12-4. It wasn’t either that I tore through the side or that filth took wickets. It was more that, with the shadows lengthening over the Yealmpton astro, two teams stumbled into a deeply village moment that required a deeply village bowler. Sam Griffiths fielded the whole innings at slip and so was in the right place to take two chances. Matt Puttock reached for a lovely one hand catch at mid on. I audibly sighed as I let go of one ball that felt like a pie, only to watch it hit the top of leg. Cornwood won by 71 runs to make it one won, one lost, one abandoned against Yealmpton on the year. By Saturday, my right knee was melon sized with bursitis from playing. The comeback is definitely off but P&D cricket is magic.
Next week, the Ones get to challenge a surging Exmouth team at The Maer. The Twos come home to Oak Park to play South Devon. The Threes host Plympton 2XI, while the Fours play Ivybridge 3XI in Plymouth. On Sunday, the Women’s Firsts are off to Taunton, while the Fives end their SDCL campaign at Plymst**k.
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