A DIVISION
TAVISTOCK came a cropper for the second week running when they went down by five wickets away to Barton.
Skipper Steve Luffman had been looking for a better performance second time out after his side were trounced by nine wickets by Brixham in their opening game of the season.
Luffman did his bit with 40, but no one else made more than 15 as Tavvy slumped to 110 all out.
Luffman was dropped on eight, otherwise it would have been a lot worse for the Moorlanders. Steve Dembitzer (15) and Gareth Tidball (14) made the only sizeable contributuions apart from their captain's.
Adam Parker (3-32) took the first three Tavvy wickets to fall in a running total of 78 for three. Aqeel Ahmed (4-43) spun out the middle order, leaving Mike Lievesley (3-15) to flush out the remnants.
The highlight in the field was a great catch in the gully by James Toms to remove Andy Kaitiff for four off Parker's bowling.
There was only ever going to be one winner after that sort of batting performance and little Shaun Cleave (2-31) could do made a difference.
Barton had to bat before tea and reached the interval at 78 for three. Nick Watkin (31) had been caught at mid-off, Tom Whittle at slip and Will Grainger caught driving.
Skipper Ian Coulton sent out Pakistani pro Aquel out as his ‘tea watchman' and got more than he bargained for.
Aqeel, a confirmed tail ender, responded by making 20, from four scoring shots (two fours and two sixes), to make a substantial hole in an already modest target.
Aqeel has played 99 league games for Barton since joining them the first time in 2001 – and this was his best score so far!
What Watkin and Aqeel started, Adam Parker finished by rattling a brisk 25 not out.
After the disappointment of losing at South Devon in their A Division opener, this was just the result Barton needed.
“For the second week running we bowled and fielded fantastically,” said skipper Ian Coulton.
“At three wickets down the game could have got away from us, but when to lose too many more wickets would have been costly we applied ourselves well.”
CHUDLEIGH took the lion's share of the spoils from the derby clash with South Devon at Kate Brook.
Aussie Pat Bolster cracked a top score of 71, and Ed Hunt made 29, in a Chudleigh total of 166 for seven.
Bolster and Hunt put on 96 for the second wicket before Bolster was run out.
South Devon's bowlers struggled for penetration. The pick of the bunch with his left-arm spin was Chris Metters with four for 56 from his full whack of 15 overs.
South Devon's chase got bogged down as many do against Chudleigh by the miserly Graeme Wilson (2-18 off 14) and more wickets fell to Derek Perry (2-14), who was aided by some smart keeping by Nick Hulse with three catches and stumping in the innings.
After Metters (20) and Rizwan Saeed (21) had been removed, South Devon faded to 99 for eight and an early finish was on the cards.
No one told Paul Hooper though as he beavered away with the tail enders to save the game.
Hooper finished undefeated on 21 having batted out the final 18 overs with Aron Owen and last man Pat Duke to salvage a draw at 150 for nine – and earn three bonus points along the way.
The last-wicket stand of 41 was only two runs short of a new South Devon record. It is held by Matt Blackmore and Kevin Murphy, who set it against Braunton in 2003.
BOVEY Tracey's Pakistani U19 paceman Ali Imran Pasha went one better than a hat-trick with four wickets in four balls to set up a 72-run win at Brixham.
Brixham were 155 for six chasing 229 to win with Andy Pugh already out for a top score of 63.
A draw looked the likely outcome at that stage, if Brixham could bat out the final 12 overs.
Pasha bowled Mark Orchard (29) and Mike Barron with the last two balls of his 10 th over and accounted for Richard Ward (16) and Joe Hyde (0) with the first two deliveries of his next over to dismiss Brixham for 156.
Pasha finished with figures of five for 50. There were two wickets each for James Mason (2-29) and Charlie Carter (2-18).
Earlier, Pete Bradley and Andy Fairbairn made half-centuires, and Nick Seager (46) should have had one in Bovey's total of 228 for nine.
Bradey, who hit a six and nine fours, made a top score of 69 and shared n a stand of 76 for the second wicket with Seager.
After Ben Ayres came and went for 14 – one of Barron's five scalps – Bradley and Fairbairn got stuck into the bowling.
Fairbairn made 62 with a four and five sixes, mostly off Barron (5-77) as he took advantage of the short boundaries behind the bowlers at Northfields Lane.
Pasha missed out with the bat though: Barron got him out third ball.
Bovey have gone into an early three point lead at the top of the table, ahead of Bradninch who picked up 14 points from a drawn game at Braunton.
Bradninch totted up a massive 286 for four at Kelsey with Aussie Ryan Butterworth helping himself to an unbeaten 102.
Braunton did a good containing job on Bradninch until the last nine overs when Butterworth and Ross Acton (59no) really cut loose. Their stand of 102 changed the course of the game – and didn't do much for the bowling figures of Barney Huxtable, whose nine overs cost 65 runs. Adrian Ezquerro (33) chipped in for Bradninch.
Brauntons weren't too interested in chasing 287 to win – and Bradninch bowlers Gary Chapple (2-35) and Joel Murphy (2-33) gave them no encouragement!
Once a stand of 91 for the third Braunton wicket was broken, Mark Lathwell making 69 and Andy Paddison 35, the home side went safety first to the draw at 183 for six.
CORNWOOD got their season up and running a week late with a 40-run victory over newly promoted Alphington.
Skipper Jason Hall led by example with a top score of 71 as Cornwood piled up a handy 252 for seven in 50 overs.
Hall and predecessor Dave Tall put on 83 for the second wicket, then Martyn Cooksley (71) rolled back the years with a fine knock in a stand of 78 with his captain.
Cooksley was eventually among the four wickets claimed by Alphington's South African seamer Matt Bamber (4-47).
Hall carried on until the score reached 231 for five when he was caught on the long-on boundary.
Alphington decided to play positive cricket and went for the runs until it was too late to do anything else and save the game.
Gareth James, who has first class experience with Cambridge UCCE and also in Sri Lanka, led the Alphas' chase with 87.
Hall was glad too see the back of James when Ben Warren ran him out with the score on 144 for five.
Ed Brown (39) and Fred Quirk (20) both chipped in, but wickets were falling to Aizaz Chima (4-71) and Alphington had nowhere to go. With an over to go they were all out for 212.