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The Sweep 26 Week 14: The Wood spend the weekend on a highway to L’s
- Cornwood Cricket club
- Aug 4
- 7 min read
Words: Simon Travers
Match Photos: Ivor Thomas
With four Devon Cricket League sides fielded every week, each Saturday presents a 6.25% probability that all four teams will lose. Mathematically, it should happen once a year but the last time that all four DCL Cornwood sides lost on the same day was 2nd September, 2023. This weekend broke that streak as all teams came up short for the first time in 50 weekends. To place this in context, there have been five clean sweep Saturdays in-between. The relative rarity of an all-lose Saturday doesn’t make it any more fun though.
We start the round up with the only team to register a weekend win as the Women’s softball team rounded out their campaign for the year with a 53 run victory over Plymst**k. Ishbel Penn’s team had three new players in the starting line up and bowled first. Heather Goodliffe, Sarah-Jo Martyn and Sam Eccles all had quality bowling spells to limit Plymst**k to 75-4. The Softball league is pairs cricket, so our ladies required 56 for the win. They managed that and doubled it with a score of 113-1, passing the 100 mark for the first time this year. Helena Costiff top scored with 23 as the team combined hard hitting with impressive calling and running. It’s been a rollercoaster campaign for the Softball team with 2 wins from 8. However, the team has grown with new players arriving to learn the game and play socially. There are plenty of positives to take forward into 2027.
On Saturday, the Ones faced a Bradninch & Kentisbeare side who still pose a threat, even if they have not reached the standard that won them back to back titles in 2024 and 2025. Matt Skeemer elected to bat and was in early as the Bradninch bowlers dominated the powerplay. Cornwood were 35-3 after 10.2 overs and needing an early rebuild. That was provided by Skeemer (48) and Chris Parker (36) who put on 81 for the fourth wicket. The Ones found it hard to kick on from that platform and wickets dropped regularly. It took a 58 partnership for the 9th wicket between Elliot Staddon (28) and Adam Goodliffe (32* from 26) to bring the Ones up to a total of 226. Gary Chappell took 4-47 and Mitchell Pugh took 3-48 to lead the Bradninch attack.
Normally, 226 is notionally a slightly above par score for Kensham Park, but it has become a significantly better ground for chasing in the years since Covid. Bradninch found success as the Ones bowlers struggled to make breakthroughs. Gary Chappell showed his experience and patience with a knock of 68 from 119. Chappell’s role allowed Freddie Cockram (34) and Mitchell Pugh (62 from 69) the license to be hot to go as Bradninch made 79 and 96 respectively for the first two wickets.
Elsewhere in Devon, Paignton consolidated their position at the top of the Premier Division table by demolishing Hatherleigh. Sandford were rewarded for a confident victory over Exmouth by jumping over them into second. In the relegation battle, Exeter stubbed out Sidmouth’s recent momentum while Plymouth crawled beyond the bottom two with a huge win over Tavistock. 10 points separate Plymouth, Hatherleigh and Sidmouth with four to play. The Ones are fourth in the table.
The Twos needed to find a spark to beat an Ipplepen side unbeaten in C Division West this year. Matt Puttock won the toss and elected to field. His opening bowlers, Harry Woolway and Aviral Srivastava, responded with high pressure opening spells that deserved more fruit than they got. Ipplepen built a platform on the back of 44 from Mawgan Penrice and a 50 from kiwi Jamie Ingram. At 122-2 at second drinks break, the visitors had the resources to put the game out of sight. Jono Colgate (34) and Sam Wakeham (39) hit enough boundaries to get their team over 200, but the Cornwood bowlers fought back with spirit. Jacob Caunter took 4-42 and Jason Hall took 3-60 to ensure the Twos got full bowling points for the first time in a month.
Having got back into the game with a target to chase of 213, the Twos were the architects of their own demise in dropping to 30-4 in 13.3 overs. Sam Griffiths and Josh Goodliffe combined to stabilise the innings in the middle overs but found it hard to push on. By second drinks, with 15 overs remaining, the Twos were 85-5 and bogged down needing 128 runs at 8.5 an over. Sam Griffiths (55) reached his half century and Jason Hall (30 from 22) provided some lower order fireworks, but the innings closed on 166, 46 runs short. Jono Colgate (3-25) and Jamie Ingram (3-30) both took three wickets.
The Threes E Division West promotion hopes were dented away at Stokeinteignhead with a 27 run loss. Stokeinteignhead’s decision to bat first did not look to be justified as am Andy Bees (4-20) double wicket maiden in the 5th over left the hosts 17-4. Dreams of a rollover win were dashed by a thumping century from Asish Jacob. Jacob made 105 from 81 balls with 18 fours and 3 sixes. That total was supported by 37 from Jamie Clinkett and 31* from Shinto Kuriakose as Stokeinteignhead posted 215 in 36.3 overs. Ayaan Chatterjee took 4-19 to collapse the tail. The Threes again looked ahead of the game early in reply as Ewan Grewal smashed 77 from 43 balls with 10 fours and 5 sixes. Stokeinteignhead tenaciously found a way back into the game again, causing a collapse from 153-4 to 188 all out. John Chacko took 3-11 and a run out. The Threes lost ground on Babbacombe and Kenn and will need an emphatic win over Kenn next week to jump into second place. The relegation race in E Division West is also going to the wire, with 11 points separating fifth and ninth place.
The Fours were put into bat at Delamore Park by a noisy Plympton 3XI team and fell about 30 runs short of making a close game of it. The top order struggled and were 72-5 after 17.1 overs. Julian Burrows continued his good form with the bat with 44 from 54 and Simon Garland chipped in with 25 to top the closing total up to 167. The talk after the match centred on how Tommy Burrows (8-2-13-1) bowled better than he did for his five-fer, but was only rewarded with a wicket and a run out. Jack Lane (8-1-19-1) was also competitive with the new ball, but the Fours didn’t have their best day in the field and that allowed Chris Dawe to make the unbeaten 92* from 88 that got Plympton a 4 wicket win with an over spare. The Fours remain fifth in G Division West.
The Women’s Firsts had a mixed week with two matches in the T20 Plate competition. On Tuesday night, the Oak Park Sisterhood defended their home turf against Plymouth 2XI with arguably their best performance of the year. Plymouth batted first and while Sophie Varga (34) and Pippa Chadwick (50* retired) put the visitors in a strong position, Cornwood made a great team effort to restrict Plymouth to 15-3 in their last four overs. That comeback set a target of 128-6, which was chased without the fall of a wicket. Captain Keeley Willcock and Imogen Garland delivered a stunning 129 run unbeaten partnership to finish the match with 18 balls spare. Keeley scored 41* from 60 and played the anchor role while Imogen played her shots with authority. She found the boundary 8 times in an innings of 50* from 49 balls.
It was tougher going on Sunday at Harewood Park as the Women’s Firsts lost by 7 wickets to Plympton. Cornwood batted first and Evie Hampton (3-1-9-4) caused chaos at the top of the order. The Women’s Firsts found themselves 28-7 after 9 overs. Helly Simpson found the boundary rope 6 times in 19 balls in an entertaining 26 to push the closing total to 79. Maddie Turner hit 52* from 41 to win the match. Kiera De Villiers (2-16) caused problems in the powerplay and Shini Al Khalid can take credit for a 4 over spell in a T20 match that only went for 8 runs.
In the socials, the Fifths have been through a very unlucky spell of being denied fixtures due to opponent availability. However, the P&D party bus kept the tunes pumping on Thursday with another dominant win over PCS&R 2XI. Bowling first, wickets tumbled fast as PCS&R were bundled out for 84 in 14.5 overs. There were two a piece for Simon Garland, Toby Nix and Lennon Way. Toby Nix currently tops the division for wickets taken. The star player in the field though was Dan Rohde, who took three close catches early before reading the last rites with figures of 1.5-1-0-3. Rocky Travers ensured there were no complications with the chase making 46* from 23. The P&D team head to Mountwise next Thursday to play Plymouth in a division deciding match.
The colts section are now in holiday mode but there were still performances to celebrate. The Under 13s Tier 1 side rounded out their league campaign with a stunning win at Tavistock. The team batted below par to set a total of 68, but three wickets each for Marriott, Aalee and Freddie saw them home by 9 runs. The Under 13 Tier 1 team face Heathcoat in the county final at Manadon on Tuesday night. The Under 11s were on tour in Cornwall this week. They can be well satisfied with a great 44 run win away at Callington. Batting first, Sam (19), Theo (19) and Harriet (17) all helped set a total of 157-2. Teamwork made the dream work in the field as 7 bowlers out of 8 used took a wicket. On Thursday, they also pulled off the win away at Werrington. Batting first again, the team put on 123-4. Werrington scored more runs but lost more wickets with a score of 129-7. The Under 13s Tier 2 team had a tough loss at Bovey Tracey. Marriott took 2-18 as Bovey set a target of 158-4. Yasser hit 50* to help position the team to win, but a phenomenal last over from T Phillips of Bovey Tracey thwarted the Under 13s for a loss by 2 runs.
Don’t forget that dinner dance tickets are now available and need to be booked before the end of the season. Next weekend is the Devon Universal Availability Crisis, sponsored by Boardmasters. The Ones travel to the Fortfield to play struggling Sidmouth. The Twos are home again at Oak Park against Chudleigh, while the Threes welcome Kenn at Delamore Park. The Fours get an afternoon of views and keeping the teenagers away from the tonic wine at Buckfastleigh. On Sunday, the Women’s Firsts face Exmouth at Oak Park.
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