SOUTH Devon defeated Ashburton by two wickets in a nail-biting derby clash at Marsh Road.

It was Ashburton’s first defeat of the season, but didn’t do too much damage to them at the top of the table.

Babbacombe, also unbeaten before Saturday, lost to Bridestowe, which stopped them pulling away.

However, the gap between the top two and the chasers has narrowed with South Devon and Bridestowe (75pts) joint third behind Babbacombe (87) and Ashburton (86).

Ashes reached 175 for nine in 43 overs –two overs per side lost due to a short rain break.

Martin Causey went the first over, bowled by James Hargreaves .

Lloyd White (26) and Tristan Wakefield put of 54 until the former fell to the spin of James Allen.

Ashley Harvey and Wakefield put on 30, with 24 from Harvey from just 20 balls.

Allen bowled Harvey after an expansive swipe across the line then bagged Wakefield the other side of a rain break to finish with 3-31.

Dan Coles (19) and Matt Churchill (20) added some impetus towards the end of the innings as

Allen and David Knowles had 34 on the board in no time when South Devon batted.

Dom Durman had Allen caught behind then added Mark Andrews for 10.

Knowles and captain Ali Wright put on 66 to take the home side to 112 for three.

Will Coon and Matt Churchill got into the middle order and had South Devon wobbling at 142 for six.

Knowles stayed and Wakefield bowled him for 68 it was game back on again at 167 for eight.

With Hargreaves unable to bat due to a knee injury Ashburton needed one more wicket, and South Devon nine runs.

Last man Jonty Tupman got them all himself as South Devon claimed a thrilling victory.

Losing skipper Berry was generous in defeat, saying: “It was a fantastic game of cricket, played in great spirit by both sides.

“It needed someone to grab the game by the scruff of the neck, with either bat or ball.. Unfortunately for us, David Knowles did that for South Devon with a super knock.

“Our top order all got starts but failed to convert.

“With he ball we didn’t bowl straight enough and 21 wides didn’t help either.

“We need to be more disciplined and tighten up in all areas if we want to be on the right side of these types of games.”

BRIDESTOWE ended Babbacombe's unbeaten run with a 46-run win at Walls Hill.

Bridestowe won the toss and batted, with Gary Sizmur (35) and James Ewen (37) putting on 68 for the first wicket.

Spinners Paul Bates (3-37) and Sam Powell (3-46) picked up wickets in the middle overs.

Chris Lavis (49) top scored from number six, and looked untroubled until he holed out to deep mid-wicket.

He had gone in at 90 for four and was involved in stands worth 85 with four different partners.

Bridestowe finished on 197, missing out on full batting points when Dan Fogerty (19) was bowled by McVeigh (2-44).

Plenty of Babbacombe's top order got starts - Chris Mabbutt (23), Steve Lewis (25) and Andy Kingdon (22) all got in - but wickets fell at regular intervals.

Their best partnership was one of 43 for the second wicket between Mabbutt and Steve Lewis.

Matt Dennis (2-35) bowled an economical spell to keep Babbacombe behind the pace. Losing three wickets getting from 72 to 80 didn’t help the home side’s cause.

Tom McGrattan (2-12) got two important wickets as Babbacombe tried to up the run rate.

Mike Pugh (30) and Sam Powell (20) gave the hosts a chance, but Gary Sizmur (4-37) kept the wickets falling on the way to a total of 151 all out.

Excellent fielding from Bridestowe was a big difference between the sides.

SHALDON got back to winning ways after a run of low-scores and defeats when they won by six-wickets at Dartington & Totnes.

Harry Baxendale top scored for D&T with 83 in their total of 200 for seven in a 44-over game.

Baxendale and Elliot Miller (39) got D&T off to a solid start theh Ian Bransdon (16) and Chris Cook (27) chipped in.

Shaldon’s bowlers had mixed fortunes, but Mark Couch (1-21) was cheap to run and Carl Woolnough (0-19 off 9) even cheaper. Ross Abraham picked up three for 38 from seven overs.

Shaldon raced to victory inside 38 overs, once they got over losing Andy Espley to the first ball of their innings.

Andy Lockyer (56) and Kelsey Fahey (23) put on 59 for the second wicket then Todd Ballman (51no) joined Lockyer to notch a further 77 for the third wicket.

Lockyer went on 136 for three, by when the game was slipping away from D&T.

By the time Bertus Loots (2-32) broke a stand of 48 between Ballman and Karl Blackburn (32) it was all over bar the shouting.

CHAGFORD scraped home by one-wicket  when they travelled to bottom side Plymouth Civil Service & Roborough.

Civil , who only had 10 men, got up to 157 in the 389^th over before running out of personnel.

Opener Stuart Dent (34) was fourth out on 94 having seen Nuruz Zamal come and go for 21 by then.

James Sharp made 30, but got no further after Derek Lammonby cleaned him up.

Lammonby finished with four for 24 and there were two wickets each for Craig Penberthy and Callum Worth.

Chagford’s early and middle order went in fits and starts with JP van Rensburg making 36 of the first 51 before he innings slowed.

Keith Dann (3-34) and Matt Trevorrow (3-20) posed plenty of questions of the Chagford batters,

Lammonby had the answer: wait for the bad ball to come and nurse the bottom half of the order.

The veteran Aussie went in at 81 for five and was still there at the end unbeaten on 36.

KINGSBRIDGE got over their defeat by Bridestowe in the best possible fashion with an eight-wicket win over Stoke Gabriel.

Kingsbridge’s fielding was not at its best and Stoke took advantage to reach 193 for nine.

The main run scorers were Issac Withington, who reached 47 after being dropped at slip in single figures, as Jake Robinson with a lusty 41.

Bhanu deSilva spun his way to four wickets for 34 runs.

Kings won at a canter on the back of a  135-run stand between Ashley Treeby (63no) and James Ford (57no).

Dan Bullock took both wickets to fall.