WHIMPLE’s Sunday afternoon clash with Ottery St. Mary was the only Tolchards Devon Cricket League fixture to survive the bad weather last weekend.

The D Division East meeting went the way of Whimple and now hopefully, the rain will hold off so that action can return elsewhere up and down the divisions.

Starting at the top and Bovey Tracey 1st XI will travel to Exmouth as they look to build on that victory over fellow strugglers Plympton from two weeks ago. Exmouth currently sit third and are 26 points outside of the top two.

10 points behind Exmouth in the Premier Division standings are Cornwood, and a mid-table matchup awaits them against Sidmouth, who are directly below them.

Fixtures versus the top two, North Devon and Bridestowe, were cancelled for Abbotskerswell 1st XI over the last two weekends, and now a more winnable fixture beckons for the side bringing up the A Division rear.

Tavistock will visit Abbots and they currently sit eighth, with Plymstock tugging at their coattails on just four less points.

Talking of Tavistock and a Tavistock Times derby will take place further up the A Division table. Second-placed Bridestowe have NDCC in their sights and their next outing is away at fifth-placed Hatherleigh CC.

Four of the bottom five teams in B Division hail from the South Hams and Mid-Devon areas and yet none of those sides are facing each other tomorrow.

Rock-bottom Chudleigh will need to beat ninth-placed Clyst St. George to resuscitate any hopes they have of survival, whilst Bovey 2nd XI, Ipplepen and Teignmouth & Shaldon are all home against higher-ranked opposition.

Our teams are certainly faring better in the C Division West as Ivybridge and Cornwood 2nd XI are both in the hunt for the title behind leaders Paignton 2nd XI.

Ivy will fancy their chances on the road at Yelverton Bohemians, whereas the Wood have a tough tie against Ashburton 1st XI. Cornwood won by 14 runs when the pair met in the reverse fixture back at the end of May.

Ivybridge spinner Adam Huxtable, who took five wickets for 14 runs in the win at Kingsbridge
File, image of- Ivybridge spinner Adam Huxtable, who took five wickets for 14 runs in a recent win at Kingsbridge (Conrad Sutcliffe)

Ivybridge 2nd XI meanwhile, don’t exactly have relegation or promotion to worry about in D Division West. They could do Ipplepen 2nd XI a favour tomorrow though by beating Plymouth CSR, who are just two points ahead of the Pen’s.

As well as being in touching distance of second, Ipplepen are only seven points off of the summit with fifth-placed Kenn awaiting them in the upcoming outing.

At the other end of the table, Hatherleigh 2nd XI have a huge fixture on the cards as they look to stave off relegation woes. 27 points separate them and ninth-placed Barton and Barton is exactly where they are headed tomorrow.

Other fixtures of note in the Tolchards DCL pyramid include Teignmouth & Shaldon 2nd XI (sixth) vs Tavistock 2nd XI (eighth) in E Division West, Cornwood 3rd XI (first) vs Kingsbridge 2nd XI (tenth) in F Division West and Ashburton 2nd XI (third) vs Ipplepen 3rd XI (first) in G Division West.