KILMINGTON IN THE PLAY-OFFS DESPITE

LAST LEAGUE GAME DEFEAT

ALTHOUGH they lost their last Devon Mini-League game by four wickets at Upottery on Saturday, the six points gained was enough to see Kilmington finish at the top of the East E 3 (Tier 3) division and a place in the play-offs.

Upottery won the toss and decided to put Kilmington in to bat. The visitors lost opener Tom Gooding with just one run on the board, but fellow opener Josh Short (52) steadied the ship.

Kilmington, however, struggled against Upottery's seven-man bowling attack and only two other batsmen – Dave Cook (31 not out) and No 3 Tom Olive (13) got into double figures in a modest total of 127 for 8 off the 40 overs.

Cream of the Upottery bowlers were Ben Kidson, Bradley Winsley and James Mitcham who each claimed two wickets.

In reply, the home team knocked off the required runs for the loss of six wickets, the top scorer being Jack Larcombe who carried his bat for 39.

Upottery 19 points; Kilmington 6 points.

Kilmington finish top of the East E 3 (Tier 3) Division with 86 points, just five points ahead of Upottery who finished in second place. In the semi-finals of the Tier 3 play-offs on Saturday, Kilmington have been drawn at home to Exeter 2nds.

SEATON ALL OUT FOR 98 IN LAST LEAGUE MATCH

Seaton struggled in the East elite league and were skittled out for less than 100 runs at home to division winners Sidmouth.

Sidmouth won the toss and elected to bat, but no one really imposed themselves on a lively Seaton attack with Dylan Hurst top scoring on 44 in a total of 150 off 42.4 overs.

The bowling honours for Seaton were shared by skipper ben Morgan (3 for 20), Toby Tucker (3 for 26) and Robbie Prior (3 for 29).

Only Ben Morgan (23), Robbie Prior (20) and Harvey Brown (27) put up any resistance and Seaton were bowled out for 92 in 38.4 overs.

Byron Knowles (3 for 6 off of 7) was the most successful Sidmouth bowler with a brilliant seven-over spell.

Seaton 7 points; Sidmouth 18 pts.

The new mini-league set-up, introduced because of the cvid-19 crisis, has not been successful experience for Seaton competing against the other elite clubs in East Devon.

Their batting has left them down with only Josh Cann and Joel Seward hitting form occasionally. However, skipper Ben Morgan. As always, has done well with the ball, claiming 16 wickets in the six games to won the Nub News top bowling prize of a £125 cash prize for his club.

UNDEFEATED UPLYME THROUGH TO PLAY-OFFS WITH ANOTHER CENTURY SCORED

Upyme & Lyme Regis completed their Devon Mini-League fixtures at Ottery St Mary with another convincing victory to maintain their 100 per cent record.

It means they finish runaway winners of the East E 3 (Tier 5) division and now go into the semi-finals of the play-offs where they will meet Feniton in the Tier 5 semi-final next Saturday (September 5).

Uplyme finish the league fixtures with 112 points, 57 points ahead of their nearest rivals Honiton.

Ottery won the toss and put Uplyme into bat. Openers Charlie Moss and Mark Bailey, deputising for his brother, skipper Steve Batey, opened the batting but both were back in the pavilion without overworking the scorers.

That brought Joe Elsworth and triple century-maker Tyler Wellman together and the Ottery fielders must have realised they were in for a busy afternoon.

The two of them took Uplyme's score to 200 with no further loss of wickets off their allotted 40 overs.  Elsworth carried his bat for 108 including eight fours and three sixes and Wellman was undefeated on 45 (including five fours).

In reply, Ottery never looked like chasing such a high score, especially with Joe Elsworth is fine form with the ball as well as the bat. He ended up getting the man-of-the-match award by taking 5 for 22 off six overs with his batting partner Tyler Wellman weighing in with two wickets.

Ottery St Mary 4 points; Uplyme and Lyme Regis 20 points.

Uplyme have got together their strongest squad for many seasons and based on their current talent they could have played in a higher tier. They will now fancy their chances of going all the way in Tier 5.

AXMINSTER MISS OUT ON FIRST MINI-LEAGUE

MATCH VICTORY BY 18 RUNS

Axminster failed by just 18 runs to win their final match of the Devon Mini-League at home to Honiton.

Honiton won the toss and elected to bat, running up a total of 196 for 9 off 40 overs. They scored steadily throughout the innings with opener James Matravers top scoring on a half century from 74 balls. Michael Docherty (37), Peter Matravers (25) and Kieran Conway (23) weighed in with useful scores.

Benjamin Webb (3 for 19 off 5 overs) and Bradley Conway (3 for 40 off 5 overs) stole the Axminster bowling honours.

In reply, Axminster put up a real fight to secure their first win of the season with skipper Paul Miller leading from the front with a real captain's innings of 71 from 78 balls, including 14 fours, with Benjamin Webb (73 from 73 balls) also in fine form. In the end, however, they ran out of overs with two remaining and were all out for 178.

Willy Graham (4 for 25 off 8 overs) was Honiton's most effective bowler.

Axminster 8 points; Honiton 18 points.

Axminster finished bottom of the East E 3 (Tier 5) with just 33 points. Although not the force they used to be, the most important factor is that Axminster are still proving cricket for those who want to play and I understand that they have a very vibrant youth section which augurs well for the future and will see glory return to Cloakham Lawn in the future.

CHARDSTOCK MISS OUT AS HUTCHINGS

SLAMS A CENTURY

Skipper Robbie Hutchings finished the Devon Mini-League matches in form with a glorious century as the village team posted 207 at home to Sampford Peverell and Tiverton.

Sampford won the toss and decided to field, a decision they may has regretted as Hutchings smashed 18 fours and two sixes to put his side in a strong position. The next highest score to Hutching's was 21 from James Hayden, underlining the importance of Hutchings' innings with only two other batsmen making double figures.

Joe Parkinson with 3 for 31 was Sampford's most production bowler.

In reply, Sampford's top and middle order scored consistently and they reach the winning total of 208 with four wickets in hand but it was a close affair as the winning run came with just three balls left.

Chardstock used six bowlers in a bid to winkle out the visitors with Richard Pyman (2 for 32) being the most successful.

Chardstock 8 points; Samford Peverell and Tiverton 20 points.

Chardstock finish the min-leagues games second in the East E2 (Tier 4) division with 55 points 17 points being Sampford who go forward to the play-offs.

SEATON 2nds RUN OUT OF OVERS IN LAST MATCH

Looking for their third victory in the Devon Mini-League East 4 (Tier 5), Seaton 2nds ran out of overs in their last match away to Woodbury and Newton St Cyres.

Seaton won the toss and put the home side in to bat. They batted right down the order after losing an early wicket and posted 171 for 3 off the 35 overs.

James Doulton was Seaton's most successful bowler finishing with figures of 3 for 33 off seven overs.

In reply, Seaton were 21 for 3 at one point but the middle order steadied the ship to an extent with Jack Harwood (20) and Joshua Thomas (18) moving the score along. Terry Welsh carried his bat for 21 but they ran out of overs in the end 60 runs short of the target.

Woodbury shared the bowling honours among Mukesh Purohit (2for 13), Martin Pearce (2 for 16) and Becca Silk (2 for 19).

Having won two of their six matches, Seaton 2nds finished in third place in the division with 58 points.