Thumping 318-run defeat for Plympton

PLYMPTON were on the receiving end of a 318-run hammering at the hands of new Premier leaders Bradninch & Kentisbeare.

- CONRAD SUTCLIFFE

PREMIER DIVISION

Elliot Hamilton, the Plympton captain, asked B&K to bat first as he felt his best chance of bonus points was taking wickets. Bradninch & Kentisbeare made 417 for five! "I was hoping for 10 wickets, but we only took five," said Hamilton.

Former captain Alex Carr (37) was the only Plympton batter to make more than 16 in a grim total of 99 all out.

"It was down to me to get a some runs, and I didn't," said Hamilton, only made five.

"After that we pretty much crumbled." Defeat leaves Plympton 38 points away from safety at the bottom of the table and looking increasingly like relegation favourites.

Victory took Bradninch & Kentisbeare to the top of the table as former leaders Sandford were beaten by Exmouth.

Dan Hardy (134) and Sri Lankan new boy Madawa Warnapura, the replacement for Yurvaz Singh, (134) both made hundreds for B&K.

Mitch Pugh (31) and Tim Piper (38) got B&K up and running with a stand of 84. Warnapura joined Hardy with the score on 84 for two and the pair embarked on as stand of 188 for the third wicket.

Getting Hardy out did little to stem the run flow as Warnapura and former Plympton keeper-batter Justin Wubbeling (46) put on 84 more.

Hamilton tried seven bowlers with little or no success. He was the only one to operate below six an over.

Pugh (2-24) and Ross Acton (2-14) accounted for Plympton's top four.

Carr showed some spirit - two sixes, five fours before Jon Triner (2-28) had him caught behind at 87 for six.

It was downhill in a hurry then to 99 all out with Joe Gillett and Josh Farley also taking two wickets each.

MATT Skeemer could not put a foot wrong for Cornwood in their three-wicket win at Bovey Tracey.

Skeemer's first act was taking five Bovey wickets for 39 runs as the Premier Division strugglers were held to 184 for nine.