IVYBRIDGE remain five points ahead of Plymstock at the top of the B Division after their win over Ottery St Mary.

Ivybridge didn’t look in a great position at halfway having been held to 132 for eight in their 45 overs.

Ottery bowled line-and-length to good effect with Jody Clements (1-15 off ) toughest to get away.

Nine-over spells from Will Harrison (1-24), Joe Burch (2-21) and Alex Thurgate (2-26) gave little away.

In a running total of 62 for seven, only Jeewan DeSilva (26) had made much headway.

George Thompson (25) and Peter Abraham (23) added 451 unbroken for the ninth wicket, which proved to be priceless runs.

Ottery fared even worse when they batted – all out for 119 with more than four overs to go.

Harry Solomon (2-30) broke an opening stand of 36 by dismissing Joe Henkus (17) and followed up with Dan Flower (16),

James Bullock (3-26) got into the middle order as Ottery dipped to 78 for seven,.

Ollie Reed (34no) delayed the inevitable, but Abraham (2-18) mopped up the stragglers to clinch victory.

Two go up from the division and Ivybridge are determined to be one of them.

They have a 33-point lead over third-placed Ottery and are almost there, but not quite.

“One more win should send us up, but we have three tricky games left,” said skipper Kelvin Trent.

“If we can beat Tavistock this Saturday I will feel a lot happier as our last two games are Plymstock and Bideford, neither of which will be routine.”