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Search forBurke grabs hat-trick as Plymouth all but safe
Monday, August 25, 2008, 07:00
North Devon, not at their strongest due to non-availabilities and a decision to put first-team players in their second XI for the relegation scrap at Plymouth, were held to 168 for eight.
There was a minor panic in the reply when Plymouth had a mini-slump from 121 for one to 125 for four, but an unbeaten 38 by Josh Bryant killed off North Devon once and for all.
Burke wreaked havoc in North Devon's early order, taking four of wickets to fall as the home side limped to 29 for five.
After Andy Horrill opened up by having Dan Bowser caught at slip, Burke cleaned out Rob Ayre.
His hat-trick comprised Craig Overton (lbw), home captain Matt Westaway (caught behind) and Mark Overton, who was deceived by a swinging ball.
Total collapse was staved off by Australian Stuart Rhodes and Jas Kalsi, who put on 84 for the sixth wicket.
Chris Barr dismissed Kalsi, but Rhodes carried on to make an undefeated 87, which came off 148 balls and included 10 boundaries.
Plymouth were pointed in the right direction by openers Callum Whittaker (35) and Barr (52), and it looked like plain sailing until Westway took an interest in proceedings.
Barr was the first to go, then Paul Thompson and Luke Minett were dismissed in successive balls.
Curiously, Plymouth's hat-trick hero Burke came out to prevent Westaway taking a hat-trick of his own and succeeded by edging the next delivery safely into his pads.
Although Burke only made eight, by the time he went the target was down to 17 to win and the game was over as a contest.
Plympton are on course for another third-placed finish in the Premier Division – the same as they managed last year – after a nail-bitting six-run victory away to Budleigh Salterton in their penultimate game of the season.
Budleigh were under pressure to get a result from the game to stay in touch with long-time leaders Sidmouth at the top of the table. They seemed to be up for the task as captain Ian Bishop bagged five wickets for 30 runs as Plympton were skittled out for 119 – Jeremy Williams top scoring with 38.
Budleigh were 13 for three in reply after encountering early difficulties against Wasim Mohammed (2-19) and Lewis Gregory (3-24), but appeared to be back on course thanks to Rob Newman.
Devon all-rounder Newman kept one end going to reach 50 not out and while Bishop (13) and Ian Taylor (12) kept him company a win was still on.
Bishop, who clubbed two sixes, got out to Karl Prescott, but Taylor and Newman got the target down to 15 to win with four wickets intact and it looked like Budleigh would pull it off.
The turning point was Taylor's dismissal, lbw to Arwyn Jones, followed by Neil Murrin departing the same way to the returning Gregory.
Ten to win with two wickets left was a different story – especially when Newman couldn't retain the strike as much as he would have liked.
Jones snared Greg Marks lbw then Gregory cleaned out last man Matt Webb to leave Budleigh 113 all out.
Earlier, Plympton has found runs almost as hard to come by against a Budleigh attack that stuck to a good off-stump line, to create catching chances in the cordon.
Gregory (36) and Williams got the score up to 70 for three, but there was a slide after that starting when Craig Miles was aught at slip for five off Bob Dawson.
Williams could see which way the game was going and started to hit out as his partners got out one by one to Bishop and Newman (2-10)
Williams was ninth out on 119, a total Plympton can't have believed would be enough to win the game.
With a game to go, which is against Sidmouth at Harewood Park, Plympton are 11 points behind second-placed Budleigh and 12 in front of Sandford in fourth.
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