The 1st XI have found themselves in unfamiliar territory sitting in one of the two relegation berths at the halfway mark of the Francis Clark Devon league A Division Campaign. Skipper Chris Acton, who damaged ankle ligaments when stepping on the ball in the field at last Saturday�s defeat at Seaton, and who is certainly out for four to six weeks, and possibly longer isn�t in the slightest concerned with the current league position.

A bullish Captain says,

�Am I worried? No I most certainly am not. We have a team that�s far too good to be in this current position and for me it is only a matter of time before it all clicks into gear. We have been on a bad run but then we have a young team who are all individually capable of mixing it with the best in this division. Yes, we have lost a couple of games but they haven�t been hidings and we have got enough about us through the First Team ranks to more than cope with this present predicament.�

Last Saturday�s defeat at Seaton was something of a surprise given how hard the East Devon Coastal side have found life back in the A Division after their one season in the County�s top flight of Cricket. Paul Nott, who can rather unkindly be referred to as a �Veteran Seamer� bagged his first �fivefer� haul for a year, and was very good value for his spell of bowling that left the home side closing on 216. This ought to have been well within the capabilities of Chris Acton�s side but the skipper lamented,

�Quite simply we did not bat well at all. Apart from Joel (Murphy) and Ross (Acton) we were awful with the willow and we will all be looking for better things this coming Saturday at Bovey Tracey.�

Saturday�s game marks the start of the second half of the campaign and the 1st XI will most certainly not want to be spending too much time at the foot of the table. It is widely recognised that the A Division is the tightest it has been for years and North Devon apart it is fair to say that any of the division�s other nine clubs could go up either alongside title favourites North Devon or indeed slip back into the B Division.