Devon Cricket Board - B Division - Chudleigh back up to second

B Division - Chudleigh back up to second

B DIVISION

CHUDLEIGH head for Thorverton this Saturday back in the promotion race after winning by six wickets at Tavistock.

Chudleigh needed a win after going two games without one and got there after a struggle.

The hard bit appeared to have been done by Mark Heather (4-33) and Jon Martin (3-29), who skittled Tavvy out for 112.

Jamie Stephens (3-24) then had Chudleigh rocking at 52 for four, but Divan Maritz (58no) and Gus Solway (12no) saw them home.

However, it could easily have been a different story had Tavistock not dropped Maritz on 20.

Victory puts Chudleigh in second place behind leaders Hatherleigh, who overcame Dartington & Totnes by two wickets in a real nail-biter.

Super-veteran Nick Rogers (5-19) – his call-up for Devon O60s can’t be far away – and Hatherleigh skipper Mark Lake (4-33) combined to shoot D&T out for 96.

Take out Ian Bransdon’s 33 and there wasn’t much from the rest of the D&T batting.

Hatherleigh were 52 for none on the chase, Lake making 22, then lost the plot against Ryan Stevenson (4-33) and found their backs to the wall.

Ryan Davies (20no) aided by Andy Collier (18) and Simon Gillespie (10) got Hatherleigh there in the end.

Dartington entertain Barton this Saturday one of the bottom of the table.

THORVERTON lost for the first time this season when their maiden trip to Barton ended in a six-wicket defeat.

James Hope made 37 and there were 30 extras in Thors’ unimpressive tally of 105 all out.

Stuart Bowker and Adam Parker with four wickets each did the damage as Thors collapsed from 85 for three.

Barton didn’t hang about knocking off the runs with Sean Needham (17) and Adam Parker (27) getting on with it.

Janin Rashmi (29no) applied the finishing touches after Barton had negotiated some difficulties against Ben Slaverio (3-31).

LEWDOWN steamed past Barnstaple into third place after trouncing Axminster by 167 rjns.

Dave Ball’s 76 not out formed the backbone of Lewdown’s total of 256 for five declared.

Along the way for Ball there were stands of 70 with Mark Jordan (42) and 67 with Rob Mutch.

Phil Yeo (6-39) and Mutch (3-41) then sent Axminster spinning from 42 for four to 49 for eight and on to 56 for nine.

Fourteen-year-old tail ender Sam Farrow (26no) got his head down with Tris Wakeley (29) to get Axminster up to 89 before their last wicket fell.

Alphington were two wickets away from an outright win over Barnstaple & Pilton at the Chronicles.

With opener Ben Morris making 67 – he was fourth out at 103 – and skipper Phil James making 33, Alphington totalled 199 all out.

Jack Popham took four for 499 and Steve Moore two for 37.

With George McEndoo (52) and Andy Barton (37) applying themselves, Barnstaple got to 108 for two before Alphas got into the game.

Wickets tumbled to James (4-45) and Ben Newcombe (3-41) and Barnstaple took the safety first route to 170 for eight and the draw.

It’s leaders Hatherleigh next for Alphington, who will need to bat better according to skipper James.

“Our total of 199 all out was a disappointing one considering when Ben Morris got out we had 24 overs to go,” said James.

“Another 20 or 30 was easily achievable from that position.”

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