Devon Cricket League

1st XI A division

Cornwood 110-3,

Bideford 108 all out;

Cornwood (19 points) beat Bideford (one) by seven wickets

There was another great win for Cornwood first XI against lowly Bideford, which kept the side in a strong promotion position.

The Corns are only three points behind leaders Brix­ham, but more importanlty are 28 points ahead of thi rd-placed Budleigh Salter­ton.

A man of the match performance from 18-year-old Matt Skeemer, with 6-20, contributed to Cornwood finishing the game early.

Having bowled out Bideford for a sub-par 108, the Corns went straight out to bat and finished the game before tea, with the main run scorers being Mark Horwell (27) and that man Skeemer (35 no).

With five games remaining Cornwood wil be pushing hard to maintain the distance between them and Budleigh while trying to overtake Brixham in top spot.

Cornwood’s second XI also had a great victory at Exmouth, posting a challenging total of 227 after Steve Lambert (104) turned around a recent poor run with his first century for Cornwood.

He was ably assisted by 17-year-old Ben Griffiths, who finished on 64.

In reply Exmouth were kept under constant pressure by the Cornwood bowling attack and lost regular wickets along the way before finishing 83 runs short.

Andy Bees was Cornwood’s most economical bowler with figures of 2-12 from his 10 overs.

Lee Baker (3-34) and Chris Horton also bowled an agressive line that never allowed Exmouth’s batsmen to get settled.

In the other match at Cornwood, the third XI pulled off a vital victory against second-placed Lewdown second XI, which has put them right amonst the promotion candidates in the 2nd XI B division West.

Excellent bowling from Cornwood strangled the Lewdown batsmen, who finished on a low total of 103 all out.

The principal bowlers were Ewen Grewel (4-42), Josh Goodliffe (2-17) and Joe Langsworthy, who bowled five overs for one run. Cornwood chased the target down comfortably, losing only three wickets along the way. Opener Ross Warner top scored on 41.

The fourth XI couldn’t make it a full house of victories, coming unstuck at Stoke Gabriel.

They lost out by five wickets despite a spirited half-century from Paul Skeemer.