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The Sweep 26 Preseason: New Captains, New Adventures
- Cornwood Cricket club
- 17 hours ago
- 7 min read
Words: Simon Travers
We survived the constant rain of winter and cricket is finally back at Oak Park. The minutes from last season have been checked to remind ourselves that cricket is still a silly game, but in a time of wars and rumours of wars, there is something almost heroically noble about holding true to the complications and justifications necessary for kids of all ages to hit a ball with a weighty willow stick for hours on end. Rising petrol prices are one more reason to insist that the best rivalries are the local ones. Why fly to the USA for the World Cup when Plymst**k are just down the road, asking to be beaten? In fact, the first team to vanquish the hordes from PL9 this season will be rewarded with a headline story. That’s how The Sweep rolls in 2026.
You may remember from the end of last season that both Men’s and Women’s First XIs have new captains this season. For the men, Matt Skeemer returns to the role to become the eighth Cornwood player with two separate captaincy stints since 1975. The other seven are Colin Thomas (1975-6, 1984), Arthur Kittle (1977, 1986-87), Edwin Marshall (1988, 1991), Phil Bees (1993-1997, 2003-04), Dave Tall (1998-2000, 2007) Jason Hall (2008-11, 2014-15), and Elliott Staddon (2016-17, 2022-25). For the Women’s team, Helly Simpson has stepped up to the role to become the eighth captain in the history of the team. Hannah Parsons holds the record for the longest serving women’s captain, with five seasons in the role plus another season where duties were shared with Hannah Bale. New captains mean new adventures and directions for Cornwood’s flagship teams.
The first competitive league match of the season was played by the Women’s Firsts against Paignton. In this year’s Wisden, Australian broadcaster and writer Mel Jones argues that the greatest thing women’s cricket can teach the game is ‘solidarity’. The Oak Park Sisterhood will need that solidarity as they have their work cut out for them this season. It was clear last year that the impact of professionalism in women’s cricket and the visibility of the Hundred are bringing positive change at club level. The task this year for Helly’s young team is to compete while focussing on Cornwood fundamentals: building community, developing homegrown players, and having fun playing cricket.
Paignton captain Hollie Perkin won the toss and put Cornwood into bat. The momentum generated by a brisk 20 from Helly Simpson at the top of the order was quickly halted as three wickets fell in the 10th over to place the hosts 37-4. Any memories from last year when Paignton bowled the Women’s Firsts out for 69 were banished by a new team record partnership for the fifth wicket. Frankie Lee (45 from 32) and Shini Al Khalid (31* from 70) collaborated for 88 runs together. It is only the third time that the team has had a 50 partnership for the fifth wicket, beating a record held of 55 held by Hannah Bale and Michelle Paine for 10 years. Shini Al Khalid provided the watchful defence that allowed Frankie Lee to play her shots. Lee hit eight boundaries in a punchy counter-attacking new personal best for the team. After Frankie was caught by Ella Gill from Flick Smith’s bowling, the visitors were able to make inroads again and bowled Cornwood for 149. Wickets were evenly shared between the bowlers, but Ellie Bishop impressed with her economy.
In reply, Paignton were able to chase down the total due to an unbeaten run-a-ball 86* from Ella Gill, which included 17 boundaries. Gill has proved to be a long-term challenge for Cornwood’s bowlers as this was her third half-century against the side in three seasons. Her contribution meant that Paignton won with 8 wickets and 6 overs in hand. There were positives in the field for the Women’s Firsts. Keira De Villiers was effective and took the first league wicket of the year for the club by hitting Lauren Perkin’s off stump. Shini Al Khalid gave very little away in a full spell and Charlotte Shutt picked up a run out with a smart throw to the bowler’s end from short fine leg.
The Men’s First XI had the opportunity on Saturday for a warm up game against Cornish side Helston. The two sides met in the ECB Cup in 2024 and so Matt Skeemer’s side knew they were up against a well marshalled side who like to bat aggressively. Helston put the Ones into bat and Chris Parker will hope his luck picks up when the games count after being given LBW first ball of the innings. Robin Dart and George Thompson put on a brisk 51 for the second wicket but then wickets fell regularly in an innings where the team looked to make the most of time at the middle. Harry Woolway was the pick of the batters with a diligent 33 before being run out trying to sneak a single to backward point. Lewis Stephens’ off spin proved effective for 3-26 as Cornwood finished on 171.
That total proved 30-40 short of a typical Oak Park par score as Helston replied with 172-6 in 33.1 overs. Helston Captain Dan Jenkin showed his abilities with his second half-century against the club, hitting 64 from 62 with 10 fours and a six. He was backed up by a confident 42 from Harry Saunders. There was a wicket for each of The Ones bowlers. As a group, they can perhaps count themselves a little unlucky as conceding 45 runs through the third man area points to the way that bowlers found the edges, but those edges didn’t convert into catching chances.
Coming into the Premier Division season, the Ones have the confidence of knowing they have three of the leading 10 wicket takers in the league last season, with four of those other seven bowlers overseas professionals. The question facing the team is how will the batting go? Ben Privett has moved to Midsomer Norton with the hope of murdering anything wide outside off, while Ben Beaumont’s season as an Australian native proved fruitful. Playing for East Coburg CC in the fourth division of the Victoria Turf Cricket Association, Ben hit 634 runs at an average of 35.22 including two centuries and took 12 wickets at 16.17.
With both Bens departed, there is space at the top of the Ones batting order. Some of that will hopefully be filled by Mohammad Mohsin Khan, the fifth overseas player to represent Cornwood from Pakistan. He is an exciting batting all-rounder prospect, who had a breakthrough season in 2025-6. Pakistan is unique as a cricketing nation with two separate first class competitions. Mohammad Mohsin Khan played five first class matches, scoring 378 at an average of 54, for Sahir Associates in their first season in the top tier of the Presidents Trophy, a competition for department and business sponsored teams. The high point of his season was a match winning 157 in 162 balls against Pakistan TV in February against a bowling attack that included three bowlers with global franchise or international white ball experience.
At Delamore Park on Saturday, a team built mostly of 2XI and 3XI players took on a Helston 2XI team in a close encounter. Adam Whiting won the toss and put the visitors in to bat and all eight Cornwood bowlers used took a wicket. Raff Gribble’s leg spin shone with a threatening spell of 7-1-27-2. Helston dropped to 78-6, but 36 from Amron Creese helped the visitors to a final total of 148. Despite early wickets for Peter Boyd, the Two-Thirds made steady progress towards that target thanks to a solid 27 for Alex Robinson and a judicious 42 from 60 for Charlie Farmer. When Charlie departed, there were 9.4 overs remaining for Cornwood to knock off 27 runs with 5 wickets available. Tension rose as they lost two more wickets, but Aviral Srivastava tucked away the winning boundary with 4 balls to go for a 3 wicket win.
The Fives kicked off the social season with a warm Sunday welcome extended to best rivals Wembury. Retirement limits were set at 30 and Joshua Wood, Peter Wilkinson, Harvey Hall and Jamie Wood reached that mark as the visitors hit 206-6 in their 30 overs. Julian Burrows devastated the Wembury middle order with a spell of 3-15, including two in two balls. For the Fives, Eoin Hewitt provided a resolute and shipshape knock of 33* from 62 for others to build around. Sam Gibbs also gave another example of his all-round potential with 31* from 36. Senior and junior Hewitts had a chance rare chance to bat together at the end of the innings, as the Fives closed their innings dreaming of the Crucible on 147.
The previous Sunday, the social sector of the club warmed up with an inter-club match. If it’s good enough preparation for the England Ashes squad, then it’s good enough for our lads too. In a well-balanced contest, Ryan Hewitt’s Delamores did enough to get past Marc Whaley’s Oaks by 14 runs. There were 50s for Rocky Travers, Aviral Srivastava and Charles Knight. Noah Garland batted well for 40 before dropping to a stylish caught and bowled from Harvey Smith, who had a good all-round game. Eoin Hewitt and Marc Whaley also looked strong with the bat while Noah Knapman, Edmund Goodwin, Charlie Martyn, Oscar Edling-Hill and Raff Gribble claimed a brace of wickets.
Next weekend, the Devon Cricket League kicks off its fifty-fifth edition with a full slate of fixtures. The Ones are straight into the thick of it, hosting an Exmouth team at Oak Park whose stated pre-season expectations are to win a league and cup double. The Twos and Threes both are on the road. The Twos travel to South Devon while the Threes will have to navigate the bank holiday traffic at Paignton. The Fours start with a Delamore derby day match up against Ivybridge. On Sunday, the Women’s Firsts travel to Exeter. The Under 11s start the colts section up this week, and don’t forget to register for the Club Quiz on 8th May. As ever, there will be news, stats and celebrations from all matches because if it’s Up the Wood, it’s in The Sweep.
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