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The Sweep 26 Week 12: Tough beats for Oak Park sides but smooth sailing for the Delamore teams
- Cornwood Cricket club
- Jul 22
- 7 min read
Words: Simon Travers
Match Photos: Ivor Thomas
There was good news and bad news this weekend as the teams based at Oak Park all were on the wrong ends of tough beats, while the Delamore Park teams found life much easier. Starting with the bad news, the Ones travelled to Creedy Park hoping to improve on a four game win streak against Sandford, although not expecting a repeat of Week 3’s carnage.
Matt Skeemer’s choice to bat was vindicated early by 57 run opening partnership between Ryan Rickard and Robin Dart. Robin found the boundary 7 times in under an hour to make 35 from 38. Life got harder with the introduction of Jackson Thompson into the Sandford attack. Thompson was able to find his ‘Cornwood Mode’, bringing out his best performances of the year for his old club with season best figures of 10-3-17-3. When Matt Skeemer edged a cut to slip against Ben Handley, the Ones were 117-5 from 25.1 overs. Unusually, the second half of the innings was almost perfectly symmetrical to the first as Cornwood were bowled out for 234 in 49.5 overs. Chris Parker (37) and Elliott Staddon combined for 73 runs for the sixth wicket and then Staddon pushed further, just falling short of a 50 when charging the bowler on 47 runs from 57. Bangladeshi leggie Tanbir Hayder proved effective with 3-49.
While the Ones could be satisfied with a defendable total, Sandford at their best are the elite chasing side in Devon. Creedy Park is also a venue where higher totals can be lassoed in. Since 2010, totals of 261, 255 (twice), 242, and 253 have not been enough at away matches between the clubs. The Ones needed early breakthroughs but had to withstand an early Jackson Thompson (48 from 37) barrage. Thompson was one of three victims for Mohsin Khan (3-60) who now has 16 wickets for the season. Ben Handley (40) and Sandford captain Adam Small (68 from 73) took control and positioned the hosts into a manageable situation in the later overs. Sandford required 68 from 14.4 overs with 6 wickets remaining. Somerset’s James Theedom held the lower order with an unbeaten 32* from 45 to ensure a three wicket victory for the home side.
Elsewhere in the Premier Division, Exeter established a 20 point cushion at the top of the table with a routine win over bottom placed Plymouth, Paignton kept pushing with a victory over Bradninch & Kentisbeare but Exmouth continued to slide crashing against Sidmouth. Tavistock helped their survival chances by edging a close one at Hatherleigh.
On Sunday, Oak Park had the honour of hosting the finals of the Tiflex Devon T20 Cup. Exeter beat Heathcoat and Paignton beat Tavistock in the semi-finals to set up a 1 vs 2 Premier Division match up in the final. Exeter came out on top by 46 runs thanks to an opening stand of 107 from Oliver Gribble (55 from 31) and Seb Linnett (60 from 27) in the first 8 overs. Will Furniss took 3-25 to seal the victory for Exeter and set up the possibility of a league and cup double.
The Twos looked stronger on paper this week as they faced Hatherleigh 2XI at Oak Park. As the visitors had only recorded one win on the season so far and the early season match between the teams had been one sided, there were hopes for a win and a strong performance. Cornwood’s innings was a tale of two halves. Alex Robinson and Ben Griffiths (36) saw off the new ball comfortably and while the run rate slowed with the introduction of spin, the Twos were 98-2 from 21 overs. That was the point at which slow left armer Jack Cherrington took over. Cherrington is a former Hatherleigh Ones player who is back visiting the family for a few weeks. He hit a line and length and allowed the dry Oak Park pitch to offer turn and bounce. The result was a game changing spell of 9-2-32-5. Josh Goodliffe made a brisk 32 and Noah Carlisle fought for his 29, but Cameron Rowlands followed Cherrington with more slow left arm spin for similar rewards. Rowlands took 6.4-3-8-3 as the Twos tumbled to a sub-par 169. Batting well against spin is a perennial challenge of C Division West. That half of the Cornwood wickets in this innings were either caught by the bowler or in the covers perhaps illustrates this week the Twos got stuck rather than stuck in.
The Twos bowled and fielded with pride as they turned up the heat in the second innings. Jason Hall and Harry Woolway consistently asked questions of the Hatherleigh batters to the point that the visitors were 29-2 at first drinks and 20 runs behind on the DLS par. Jason Hall was rewarded for a kitchen sink approach as Ben Griffiths took a rare grab at backward short leg. However, credit must go to the Hatherleigh batters who withstood the Twos best efforts. Opener Greg Sorkin’s 31 from 68 balls was not showy but started to draw the sting from the game. Jack Cherrington contributed with 30 from 52 before Jack Probert (39 from 71) provided the base that the middle order could attack the boundaries from. It took them 42.3 overs, but Hatherleigh reached their target with 4 wickets intact. Ipplepen look all but promoted in C Division West, while the Twos are sixth as one of three teams who have won 5 and lost 5.
On Sunday, the Women’s Firsts faced another monumental challenge as they headed to Mountwise to play Plymouth. The hosts won the toss and capitalised on their decision to bat to the tune of 336-4 in 40 overs. Frankie Lee bowled well in a spell of 6-0-22-1 but, throughout the season, the Oak Park Sisterhood tend to hit a wall when bowling to the best batters. On Sunday, Claire Varcoe used her experience to score her third century against Cornwood in an innings of 106* from 94 balls. Darcey Boote powered to 53 from 37 and Lucy Hulbert made 54* from 64. The biggest positive of the day for the Women’s Firsts was in the batting reply as Imogen Garland delivered a new personal best of 42* from 55 balls. Imogen hit eight boundaries as she anchored a Cornwood score of 117. Sophia Brandom took 4-16 for the hosts. Statistically speaking, it wasn’t quite the worst day in Women’s Firsts history, as Plymouth recorded the second highest total and second biggest win by runs against Cornwood but it was another tough day at the office. The team are now bottom of the Division 1 table, but they continue to grow, improve, and learn from playing teams that they are overmatched against.
Earlier in the week, the Women’s Softball team lost a close one against Tavistock. Cornwood batted first and made 93-4 and were left frustrated as Tavistock snuck by in the last over to score 96-4. Loren Jones stepped into the team for her first game after limited training and performed really well.
Now for the good news as the Delamore Park teams had a much better weekend with two comfortable victories. The Threes travelled to the Millaton ground to face Bridestowe & Belstone 2XI, where aggression and the aerial route are usually options when batting. Adam Whiting won the toss and stuck to the gameplan of field and chase. Phil Woods (69) made the Threes work hard but the team wrapped up the innings with five balls to spare as Bridestowe & Belstone made 208. There were three wickets a piece for Charlie Martyn (3-32) and Dan Rohde (3-46) and a pair each for Sam Gibbs and Aviral Srivastava. Ewan Grewal immediately decreased the difficulty level of the chase with a pummelling 47 from 19 balls including 5 sixes. From there, Bruno Warwick-James picked up the pace with an enterprising 88* from 76 balls including fourteen boundaries. The Threes picked up 20 points with 18.2 overs left on the board. The seven wicket victory keeps them in touch with the E Division West promotion race, just 5 points behind second place Kenn.
It’s not often that the Fours get the opportunity to break a game open early, but they were 78-0 after 10 overs against Whitchurch Wayfarers 2XI and the hits just kept coming. Charles Knight pressed the turbo button with 53 from 39, with Evie Privett following rapidly with 52 from 61.
The highlight of the innings was Ewan Horner making his debut century with a confident display of stroke-making finesse. Ewan reached 115* from 91 balls with an exceptional 17 fours and 2 sixes. Greg Thomas also contributed a quality 46* as the Fours closed their innings on 290-2. After tea, the Fours bowling unit converted that score into a 187 run victory. Jack Lane (2-21) and Neel Shivane (3-18) worked through the top half of the order before Lennon Way got the ball turning to tune of 4-13. The Fours are now comfortably fifth in G Division West. First objective of avoiding relegation is virtually mathematically secure as Ivybridge 4XI are 44 points behind with 5 games to play.
It was a busy week in the Colts section as the teams build towards the climax of their seasons. Performance of the week came from the Tier 1 Under 13s who beat a good Plymouth side by 104 runs. Yasser made 49 from 20, Ned made 52* from 38 and Marriott made 50* from 28 in a total of 231-2. Joseph then backed that up with 3-11 as Plymouth were held to 127-7. Elsewhere, Eoin and Henry made 50s as the Under 15 Tier 2s beat Kingsbridge by 15 runs. The Under 15 Tier 1 team lost by 8 wickets to Plymouth although there was a 46* from 29 for Charlie. The Under 11s went to Filham Park and got a 7 run win against Ivybridge with Freddie scoring 12 and taking 2-19. The Under 12s lost their cup match against Plymouth although a different Freddie took 2-20.
This week also saw the end of the All Stars programme for the year. All Stars continues to grow across the county and that trend was definitely seen in the sessions at Cornwood. A record 45 All Stars attended the sessions, learning skills and having fun at the cricket. That kind of success can’t happen without a massive investment from the club. So a round of applause is due to Nick Goodliffe, Ryan Rickard, Adam Goodliffe, Sophie Cawardine, Alistair Dunn, Craig Harris, Edmund Goodwin, Toby Nix, Freddie Joynes, and Keeley Willcock who all took on coaching duties across the weekly sessions.
Next Saturday is Presidents Day at Oak Park where the Ones will be taking on a Plymouth side currently on a six match losing streak. The Twos are off to Abbotskerswell, Whitchurch Wayfarers 1XI might be wary of facing the Threes at Delamore Park, while the Fours are away at Chagford. With the schools shutting up shop for summer, consider this your yearly reminder that in six weeks’ time, everything gets packed away for eight long months. Carpe diem, folks.
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