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SKIPPER Saj Patidar cracked a century as Premier 2nd XI leaders Sidmouth dispatched skipperless South Devon by 98 runs.

   South Devon, reeling from the resignation of captain Dave Amery, were scratching around for a side on Saturday morning and took more than their fair share of youngsters to the Fortfield.

   One youngster who had the 11 th hour call was ordered home when his mum found out where he was going, which meant a detour for the senior player driving him!

   Patidar helped himself to 109 as Sidmouth posted 245 for seven declared in the 44 th of their 50 overs.

   Jamie Wardrop made 51 and Simon Sobczek chipped in with 32.

   Jonno Norrish bowled tidily for his three for 60 and young South Devon spinner James Hart underlined his promise for the future with two for 35.

   South Devon got to 90 for one in reply thanks to the efforts of Brian Allen (37) and Matt Parsons (46). They collapsed to 98 for four and the downward spiral continued to 147 all out. Only Norrish (20) resisted for long.

   Mark Jasper (2-36) and Charlie Dibble (2-24) did the donkey work, which left Zak Bess (3-0) to cash in among the tail-enders.

   Sidmouth now enjoy a 10-point lead over second-placed Exeter, who were rained off at 30 for one against Plympton. The wicket to fall was taken by Alvin Pollard against one of his former teams.

   Budleigh Salterton are a comfortable third in the table, where they trail Sidmouth by 12 points, in the wake of their 50-run win at Sandford.

   With Sidmouth due at Ottermouth this Saturday the gap could be narrowed or even wiped out completely.

   Budleigh got off to a flying start through openers Neil Murrin and Rob Newing and from 70 without loss after 15 overs they went on to make 227 for three.

   Murrin was caught behind for 32, but Newing carried on and on in a stand 73 with Chris Horne (74no) that hoisted the score to 164 for three.

   Budleigh skipper Ian Taylor had his sights set on a 200-plus score and took affirmative action by making 28 not out in a last stand of 67 with Horne, who only took 54 balls over his half-century.

   Sandford had a good go at knocking off the runs and at 163 for five they had Budleigh rattled.

   Paul Smith (47) played anchorman to the cavalier Brian Leech (55) as Sandford made inroads into the target despite Taylor ringing the bowling changes to force a breakthrough.

   A great catch on the boundary by Steve Leat removed Smith then Taylor had Leech caught by Lloyd Murrin at mid-off in the next over.

   Still the runs kept coming until Lewis Baker (5-66) was wheeled back into the attack for a three-wicket burst.

   With Sandford teetering between success and failure, at 167 for seven, Taylor brought back seamer Horne. Two overs were all Horne (3-35) needed to shoot Sandford out for 177.

   “We needed this win today to put us in a positive frame of mind for Sidmouth,” said Taylor.

    Bottom club North Devon made Exmouth work harder than they anticipated for a 17-run win at the Maer.

   Winless North Devon restricted Exmouth to 128 for four in a game scaled down to 39 overs each due to bad weather.

   Skipper Stuart Rintoul made 48 and was glad to see Billy Buckingham make a breezy 32 not out in the late overs. James Windsor's 18 was vital in a low-scoring game.

   Tim Cook (3-49) was the most successful of the North Devon bowlers.

   North Devon's only run scorer of note was Dave Rogers, who was 50 not out when he ran out of team-mates to bat with.

   Having lost their sixth wicket at 57, North Devon did well to scrape up 111 all out.

   Toby Ingham (5-23) led the bowling effort for Exmouth, aided and abetted by Matt Tarry (2-23) and spinner Matt Coult (2-39).