CORNWOOD skipper Elliott Staddon was left to reflect on what might have been after his side lost a see-saw encounter with Exeter by two wickets.

Exeter were 73 for five chasing 191 to win when Exeter’s Sam Read was dropped on the deep cover boundary. Read went on to make 55 and by the time he was dismissed the target was 25.

Said Staddon: “We let a chance slip, dropping him when Exeter needed another 120, and he made us pay for that.”

The Wood appeared to be heading for an early tea after dipping to 100 for six under pressure from Exeter’s spin trio of Read (2-20), Clint McCabe (2-36) and George Addy (1-41).

Samarpit Joshi, Cornwood’s new overseas player, made a patient 37 while wickets were falling at the other end. No one else made more than 13.

Matt Butterworth, now in his 20th season as a 1st XI player at Cornwood, went out to join George Thompson and between them they set about repairing some of the damage.

Thompson grafted away for 55 off 101 balls – just four boundaries in there – and Butterworth made a cautious 29 in a stand of 88 that gave Cornwood’s bowlers something tangible to defend.

“Losing the wickets we did early was tough, but George and Matt putting on 88 in the latter part of our innings got us to what we felt was competitive on that wicket, although perhaps 20 light,” said Staddon.

Exeter’s top order struggled to settle against miserly bowling from Staddon, Ben Privett, Jack Ormsby and left-arm spinner Lee Baker.

Read went in during a period when Exeter lost three wickets for 11 runs in the space of five overs.

Will Price (15) shored up one end during a stand of 45 with Read that pushed the chase up to 118 for six.

Robin Fern (35no), a former Exeter captain, went in at six wickets down and saw the chase through, firstly with Read then Addy (10no).

Reflecting on the afternoon’s action, Staddon said: “A game of fine margins but lots to build on for us.”

MEANWHILE, Cornwood 2nd XI’s early season form continued with a 78-run win over newly promoted Ipplepen 2nd XI.

Victory keeps Cornwood joint top of the table with Ashburton on 40 points.

The Wood lost opener Josh Goodliffe to the first ball of the match, bowled by Henry Alsop, but more than recovered to stack up 301 for eight in 45 overs.

Alex Robinson (52) and skipper Robin Dart made amends for the early blip with a stand of 83 for the second wicket, which proved a foretaste of things to come.

There were fireworks to come from Will Sharp – seven fours and four sixes in a 42-ball score of 71 – and a 15-ball cameo worth 36 from Matt Puttock.

Ipplepen were well behind the clock at the halfway stage on 114 but at the very least they reached 203 all out to collect maximum batting bonus points.

Sharp, with two wickets for 30 runs from nine overs, had a coherent claim for man of the match. Josiah Caunter (1-19 off 9) was the meanest of the bowlers. Puttock (3-56) was the lone bowler with more than two wickets.

Dart said despite the winning margin the game was ‘a good test against a useful side’.

He added: “There were some top performances, notably Alex Robinson’s half-century on debut and some huge hitting and superb bowling by our Aussie, Will Sharp.”