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Posted:
Sunday 13th July 2008
Source: Stephen Birley
After the midweek heavy rains, wickets the length and breadth of
the county were bowler-friendly and with Saturday�s weather
seeing plenty of cloud cover it made for ideal conditions for
seamers; Bradninch had two in both sides who took full advantage
of the conditions to help blast both 1st and 2nd XI to massive
victories. Adrian Ezquerro was once again the main man as the
1st XI moved ever closer to a place in the top-flight with a
nine-wicket success at Chudleigh. Not for the first time this
season the Aussie took advantage of some bowler-friendly
conditions to whip out half the host team at a personal cost of
just 16 runs! Skipper Joel Murphy bagged a brace and
Chudleigh, who this time last year were a Premier Division
outfit, were hustled out on their own patch for just 75. Gary
Newall then showed just how it should be done with the bat
striking an unbeaten 44 to take the side to victory. The 19
points banked from the game puts Murphy�s men into an almost
unassailable lead over the chasing pack in terms of the
promotion places up for grabs. With a dozen games played and
only 140 points left to play for, Bradninch are now 46 points
clear of the 3rd placed side Cornwood. That means that four wins
from the final seven games will be enough to complete the job of
climbing into the top Division, something the Kensham Park club
has cherished for a number of seasons. Mind you this coming
Saturday could go a long way to sealing the side�s ticket to
promotion for they travel to Cornwood and victory in that one
will certainly add more weight to the theory that this is
Bradninch�s year. Ezquerro is undoubtedly the man at the
moment as his 27-wicket haul is bettered in the A Division by
only Pasha (33 wickets), at Bovey Tracey and Ahmed (31) at
Barton. What�s more the Aussie pace man is now sporting an
average of just 9.36 runs per wicket taken. He�s no slouch with
the bat either having hit 239 runs at an average per innings of
47.80, bettered at the Mid Devon side by only Devon under-21 all
rounder Ross Acton who has a current average of 61.00!
Meanwhile the club�s 2nd XI are making a rapid charge up the A
Division table following a comprehensive home win over Shobrooke
Park, find themselves just three places and 17 points behind the
side currently second in the table, Bovey Tracey. In more
bowler-friendly conditions at Kensham Park, Shobrooke laboured
to 100-8 with the long serving campaigner Andy Nichols taking
4-21 and with new skipper Chris Dean away, Phil Chappell led the
side, leading by example with a brace of wickets. Robert Acton
then hit an unbeaten 31 to take the side to a six-wicket win.
The next three games for the 2nd XI will be pivotal in their bid
to make it a Club one/two in terms of promotion into the top
flight. Next up they host Cornwood, then it�s a trip to Bovey
Tracey before, on August 2nd they host the current leaders
Hatherleigh. It promises to be an exciting end to the season for
everybody connected with the club. | 
