FILLEIGH moved out of the bottom two in the B Division when they defeated fellow strugglers Thorverton by four wickets.

Thors started the day ahead of Filleigh, who were one off the bottom of the table. They ended it in the bottom two as Filleigh moved eight points ahead of them.

Losing Gareth Hess first ball did Thors no favours. Bits and pieces from Alex Hills (26) and Dave Baldock (15) hinted at a recovery, but no one made a score to hang a total on.

Skipper Andy Pitt (17) and a brace of 15s for James Grady and Paul Stirling were the best Thors could manage in a total of 136 all out.

Jack Brazier (3-30) and Connor Nash (2-16) were the pick of the bowlers.

Filleigh could sniff a win and were determined it wasn’t going to get away.

Opener Jas Kalsi was there for the duration, making an unbeaten 52 off 94 balls in the anchorman role.

A stand of 73 with Rob Collier (31) put Filleigh on the road to victory. Jake Choules (4-9 off 9) made Filleigh work hard for a while – they were 96 for five – but Olly Squire (18) joined Kalsi to win the game.

Simon Prideaux, the Filleigh captain, said victory would not have been possible without an ‘excellent bowling performance’.

He added: “ A wicket with the first ball helped set the tone and all the bowlers did well.

“Jas Kalsi batted brilliantly to carry his bat and Olly Squire supported him really well.

“We had a slight wobble in the run chase but it wouldn’t be Filleigh if we did easily.”

Losing captain Pitt said batting is letting Thorverton down.

“Didn't score enough runs in the top order,” said Pitt.

“It did a bit early on, but our batsman didn't apply themselves.

“Filleigh got off to a flyer, but we pulled it back well,

“Jake Choules was superb and we fielded really well.

“Kalsi batted very well to see them home, but 20 more runs would have made it a very interesting game.”

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