The Sweep 25 Week 4: Cornwood Twos Keep Rolling and Two Tons for Joshi
- Cornwood Cricket club
- May 26
- 7 min read
Words: Simon Travers
Match Photos: Ivor Thomas
This week’s tour of the teams starts at an overcast Oak Park, where the Twos comfortably put away Chudleigh. Like Limp Bizkit, the Twos keep rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ through C Division West so far this year. Unlike Limp Bizkit, that’s because the Twos are actually good. It’s been seven years since Chudleigh last visited Oak Park to play the Ones. They lost by eight wickets in May 2018 as Shahzad Ahmed took 5-19 and a young James Richardson paid his dues. Chudleigh are settling into C Division life with inconsistent availability leading to inconsistent results.
Robin Dart won the toss and elected to field with rain a possibility later. Chudleigh’s early season results suggested the innings would hinge on captain Will Heather (40 from 47) and Rob Clarke’s ability to get runs. The pair assembled at 14-2 after James Richardson and Will Sharp sent the visitors’ opening bats scurrying. Heather and Clarke put on 59 in 55 balls. The Oak Park outfield was rapid, giving full reward for shots and a forgiving gloss to multiple outside edges. Over a quarter of Chudleigh’s runs went through the Third Man area. The innings was broken open by the Caunter brothers. 73-2 became 94-7 as Josiah removed Heather and Clarke and Jacob snagged a brace with a sharp caught and bowled. Yogi Yogesh hit out for 29 to push Chudleigh to a total of 154. There were two wickets each as well for Will Sharp and Jason Hall.
Charles Finan ensured that there would be no chasing complications, scoring 80* from 67 with 16 boundaries. His innings, a greatest hits package of powerful drives and deft flicks, was too strong for an unconfident Chudleigh attack. Charlie is a cheat code at C Division level; scoring 5 fifties and 2 tons in his 13 appearances for the Twos. He was assisted at the end by a confident 25 run cameo from Stanley Baker as the match wrapped in 23.3 overs. Seven years on, Chudleigh came back to Oak Park and lost again by 8 wickets. The Twos are top the Division by 5 points but June will bring more challenges. Away games at South Devon, Kingsbridge and Teignmouth & Shaldon are all banana skins recent Twos teams have slipped on, while Ashburton matches are usually competitive.
The Ones dropped their third consecutive loss on a trip to Bradninch & Kentisbeare. Samarpit Joshi was nearly able to pull off a miracle in a situation that resembled needing three snookers and a total clearance. Credit must be given as Bradninch & Kentisbeare have consolidated themselves into a perennial title contender with a talented, experienced core of players. On Saturday, veteran captain Gary Chappell hit a composed 55 before edging to Lee Baker. He also cleared the Cornwood tail for figures of 3 for 41. Mitchell Pugh showed class with a dominant 90 from 87 balls and Jonathan Triner hit 46 from 45 as the hosts scored 290-7 in 49 overs. Elliott Staddon took a second four-fer in two weeks. He also stood in the front line of the Bradninch barrage, going for 84 runs and putting his hand up to open the batting. The Cornwood reply collapsed to 19-3, mostly due to the efforts of South African bowler Malusi Siboto (3 for 48). Siboto fits into the Bradninch set up as an incredibly experienced operator. He has played 136 first class games across a 17 year career and was still capable of taking 15 wickets for the Knights at 26 in the 2024-25 season.
The Ones have not quite hit their competitive straps through the first month of the season. No one will feel that harder than the team and they will know which areas need adjustment. There is never just one reason why a team is doing well or badly; cricket teams are complex organisms. However, an area the Ones are already thinking through is the first powerplay. There has not been a game yet this season where the Ones are ahead after 10 overs. Cornwood are allowing opponents to build a base for their innings but are struggling to do likewise.
All of that was almost rendered irrelevant as Samarpit Joshi became only the second First XI player in Cornwood history to hit 150 in a DCL match. Joshi’s first job was to neutralise Siboto with early wickets falling. He faced 24 balls of the South African bowlers’ opening spell to help construct a 50 partnership with Ben Beaumont. When Ben got a leading edge for a caught and bowled, Sammy and Ryan Rickard rotated strike and in an even 5th wicket partnership of 75 in 92 balls. Joshi’s first 50 took 85 balls and 1 hour 53 minutes. When Ryan departed on 138-5, George Thompson joined Sammy with 154 needed in 15 overs. It was go time and Sammy obliged, hitting 10 fours and 7 sixes in 10 outlandish overs to change the complexion of the match. Sammy took 21 balls to get from 50 to 100, and another 21 balls to get from 100 to 150. This was an innings that defied the laws of club cricket physics. Also, for the third time this season, a First Team DCL partnership record needs updating as Sammy and George tied Jason Hall and Matt Butterworth on 102 for the sixth wicket record. Eventually, Siboto got his man as Joshi’s innings ended with a thick edge to fly slip. Sammy’s account for the day ended on 154 from 129 balls, with 17 fours and 8 sixes. That is the second highest score in Cornwood First Team history behind Jay Bista’s 182* against Sidmouth.
The Ones ended 43 runs short on 248 and slip to eighth in the Premier Division table. Bradninch & Kentisbeare stay top with a perfect 80 points from 4 games. Elsewhere, Heathcoat found their mojo to crush Exmouth, Sidmouth came out on top of a run-fest at North Devon, Paignton continue their great form against Sandford and Plymouth beat Exeter by 4 runs.
Sammy’s ton was not the first he hit this week in a Cornwood shirt. He turned out for the P&D League team on Monday against Royal Mail & City Police in the P&D Cup. Royal Mail & CP batted well to score 149-6 in their 18 overs. Paul Birleson top scored with 43. Sammy came in at four with the innings teetering at 6-2. Second ball of his innings, Sammy was dropped at mid off. It was not a difficult chance. It was a waist high gentle tap that went in and out. The fielder’s hands resembled a post box. It was a Yodel delivery driver piece of cricket in a Royal Mail uniform. Royal Mail & City Police went on to regret the drop to the tune of 103* in 46 balls with 10 fours and 8 sixes, while Rocky Travers did a George Thompson in a fourth wicket stand of 89. Apart from the win, which was nice, there are some obvious benefits to the odd appearance by an overseas pro in a village game. It helps club cohesion, the colts in the P&D team got a first-hand masterclass, and a group of teenage spectators turned up at the boundary edge to watch while Sammy did his thing.
The Threes got close to winning three of their first four games, only falling 10 runs short in a chase against Abbotskerswell 2XI. The Abbots are a team that tend to fluctuate between D and E division, so an away game provided a good test of where the team fit in the league. Adam Whiting won the toss and elected to bowl and his attack justified that decision by restricting Abbotskerswell to 165-8 in their 45 overs. Wickets were shared across bowlers, while Dan Skeemer, Ayaan Chatterjee and Andy Bees all bowled full spells at under 3 an over. Simon Harrison provided the resistance for the hosts with a dogged 55 from 126 balls. It was a team effort with the bat as three players reached the 20s but no one could quite break through. Dan Skeemer and Andy Bees put on 44 for the 8th wicket to make victory a possibility, but the home team took the crucial wickets. Bashitha Hewagamage lead the bowling with 3-23. The Threes drop to fifth, but importantly, look the part in their new surrounds of E Division West.
The Fours were on the wrong end of a Jason Degg century at Delamore Park in another G Division West derby against Plymouth 3XI. Degg batted out the whole 40 overs in an innings of 110* from 114 balls with 15 fours. He was backed up by 58 in 31 from Sam Knapman and 42 from 49 by George Toms as Plymouth scored 250-4. The bright spark of the Fours innings was 53 in 35 from keeper Greg Thomas. Greg is not intimidated to play his shots and hit 9 fours and a six on his way to his first adult 50. Max Daniels also did well with 35 from 21 and Devon Over 50’s legend Charles Knight made 26. James Hulbert took 4-39 for Plymouth as the Fours lost by 88 runs and slip to the back of the G Division peloton in eighth.
In another busy week of colts action, the Tier 1 Under 13s lost a nail-biting run-fest against Tavistock. Yasser (43) and Alfie (40) looked to have posted a winning score with 163-8 but Tavistock chased them with 3 balls spare. Elsewhere, Lukey (29) and Tarun (22) got runs as Tier 2 Under 11s beat Yelverton. Later in the week, Tarun took 3-6 as Tier 2 Under 11s also beat Plymouth. Marriott retired on 33* as Tier 2 Under 13s beat Plympton by 69 runs. Marriott also got runs and Freddie took a brace of wickets as the Under 12s came close in the cup against Plymouth. Stan hit 52* from 36 and Ayaan hit 45 as the Under 15s also beat Plymstock by 69 runs in the cup. On Sunday, the Under 15s won both sides of a double header with touring side Beacon from Staffordshire as they prepare for a half-term trip to Wales. In Game 1, Charlie hit 31* from 19, and Ollie and Eoin took 2 wickets. In the second match, Raff hit 31* from 22. Stan was also in business on Sunday, scoring 100 in 73 balls for Devon Under 14s against Wiltshire.
Next weekend, The Ones ride towards the Fortfield against Sidmouth, the Twos are at home to Brixham, the Threes welcome Dartington & Totnes and the Fours travel to Manadon to play PCS&R 2XI. On Sunday, the Fives have a trip to South Devon and the Women’s Super 8s team get to work at Stoke Gabriel.
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