Feniton's Mark Kingdon, who top scored against Whimple

FENITON polished off Whimple by 67 runs to ensure they go into Saturday’s clash with Cullompton as top dogs.

Runs were hard to come by at Knowle Cross, but Feniton found a way to reach 155 all out.

Skipper Mark Kingdon made a top score of 37 - he was out at 96 for five – with Jon Pyle (23) and Ben Allen (26no) getting runs lower down.

Steve Hathaway had four Feniton wickets for 45 runs and there were two each for Leigh Lorenzen and Matt Richards.

Whimple rolled over for a measly 88 with more than 10 overs to bowl.

They were 77 for three when Henry Gordon-Lennox fell to Pyle (4-20), then collapsed in a heap. Earlier, Lorenzen scored 27 of the first 48 on the board.

Skipper Ben Silk said his side have to play better to steer clear of the bottom three and the threat of relegation.

Ben Silk - irritated by 'idiotic' batting“Feniton bowled well – take nothing from them – but we played some poor shots and that can’t keep happening,” said Silk.

“Having limited Feniton to a respectable target, we batted like idiots.

“Players have to take some responsibility and start batting time. It is no use thinking Leigh will do it for us every week. He won’t.”

CULLOMPTON can’t wait for Saturday’s top-of-the-table clash with C Division East leaders Feniton to come round after they hammered Countess Wear by seven wickets.

There are only two points between the protagonists at the top of the table with Feniton having a slight advantage.

Cully skipper James Blackmore has a healthy respect for Feniton, whom he expects will be a tougher nut to crack.

“Our aims is to destroy ever team we play against, although that is not always possible,”said Blackmore.

“Countess Wear certainly were destroyed as it took Cully just 20.5 overs to knock-off 157 to win.

Opener Kav Dias made 48 and James Bogue 32 in the Wear’s 156 all out. They put on 72 for the second wicket. Par Singh (21) was the last man out.

Trevor Gwandu (4-26) was the pick of the bowlers, aided an abetted by Kalan Nessling (2-17) and Brendon Parr (2-27).

Cully lost opener Prince Xavier early, but a stand of 55 between Jason Parr (48) and Darren Paul upped the tempo.

Parr and Paul both fell on 53, but that was as good as it got for Wear.

Gwandu and Brendon Parr set about winning the game in a hurry.

Gwandu smashed six fours and five sixes in his 64 not out. Parr – five fours and a six in his 36 – was a little more restrained.

BRAUNTON have slipped 24 points adrift at the bottom of the C Division East table after they lost by seven wickets to visiting Uplyme.

Three go down this season due to looming league re-organisation and unless Braunton’s results start improving they will be one of them.

Jon Baglow top scored with 66 for Braunton and Callum Mitchell made 35 on his return to the side in an all-out total of 188.

Mark Johnson (2-20) took early wickets for Braunton, but any hopes of a win was snuffed out by century partnership between Uplyme pair Mark Batey (64no) and Laurie Thomas (64no).

Braunton are away to Clyst Hydon this Saturday.

RAIN stopped play in the battle of the Clysts between St George and Hydon on the Bohea Field.

Although Hydon skipper Ian Sutton was dismissed in the first over, his side went on to make 212 for eight.

Sinthuran Thevaraj  (28) and Mike Cliff (41) put on 63 for the second wicket and there were useful runs down the order from John Rhodes and Paul Earnshaw as Hydon recovered from 91 for six.

Former Devon paceman Rhodes clouted seven fours and three sixes in his 58 not out. Earnshaw made 29.

Young spinner Sam Read took three wickets for 45 runs and James Edworthy claimed two for 30.

There was no play after tea, which frustrated Hydon captain Ian Sutton.

What we had was a decent total on a wet pitch and it was a shame the rain came,” said Sutton.

After a solid start from Mike Cliff and Sinth we gave it away a bit in the middle.

John Rhodes and Paul Earnshaw played very sensibly and put on 60-odd before Lewis joined his dad for the push to get to 200.

“All three batted very well and it's a massive bonus to have proper batters coming in down the order.”

MATT Taylor’s patient 59 helped Alphington make the best of a bad job at Kilmington.

The Alphas were al out for 192 in their last of their 45 overs, no one scoring more than Taylor.

Taylor went in at seven for one and came out at 154 for seven. Along the way there were useful stands of 43 with acting captain Mark Halse (33) and 50 with Callum Hogan (16).

Glen Harding got Taylor out on his way to figures of three for 29. Ben Fuzzard and Tom Gooding had two wickets each.