TAVISTOCK overcame an attack of the wobbles on the chase to beat Plymstock by two wickets and collect their first B Division win of the season.
Plymstock were all out for 178 in the last of their 45 overs.
Josh Hocken went in at 25 for two, after Tavvy spinner Jamie Stephens struck twice early on, and held the innings together with a patient 68
Hocken and Brian Gaylard (27) put on 72 for the fifth wicket as Plymstock reached 142 for five.
Devon spinner Stephens broke the stand by bowling Hocken, then wreaked havoc on the lower order.
The last six wickets fell for 36 runs added with Stephens finishing with six for 36.
Stephens doesn’t feature that often for Tavistock at the moment as he is living, working and playing in Falmouth.
A rumoured work move to this side of the Tamar may make Stephens more readily available for Tavistock in future.
Tavistock’s reply started slowly – two down for 20 – but gathered pace as Dom Snyman (33) and Dave Manning (30) got going in a stand of 61.
Wickets taken by Rob Cunningham (4-49) disrupted the chase and at 160 for seven when Charlie Barriball (41) got out the game was there to be won.
A couple of lusty blows from Sean Cleave (14no) ended any uncertainty.
FILLEIGH will be looking for a third straight win this Saturday when they host Ipplepen.
Rob Collier, standing-in for skipper Simon Prideaux, led Filleigh to an 81-run victory at Babbacombe last time out.
Filleigh made a useful 251 for five at Walls Hill, led by Collier with 77. Mark Prideaux chipped in with 41 not out and Harley Ashdown added 39.
Babbacombe still looking for their first win since being promoted, were all out for 170 in reply.
Yanrich Viljoen (33) beat Steve Lewis (30) for leading run getter.
New boy Steve Bowman, recently arrived from Abbotskerswell, made 25 for Babbacombe on his debut.
The wickets fell in threes to Connor Nash, Justin Saker and Jas Kalsi.
CULLOMPTON are still looking for that elusive first league win of the season after going down by 45 runs to Ipplepen.
Pens looked set for huge total while openers Tom Durman (65) and Adam Peters (35) were compiling a stand of 66 that was eventually broken by Brendon Parr (3-44).
Durman dropped anchor for the duration and made it to 182 for five before he was dismissed by Parr. Along the way there was a stand of 68 with skipper Sam Wakeham, who blundgeoned 52 of them.
Wakeham in full cry takes some stopping. He finished with 75 off 38 balls, which included eight sixes (48) and three fours. Kenton Vos (3-24) had Wakeham caught on the boundary.
“It took us about four overs to work out where to bowl to him – by which time he already had 50,” said Cully captain James Blackmore.
Cully lost Jason Parr in the first over from Paul Thomas (3-31), but made steady progress through Vos (70) and Tom Mortiboys (33).
Marcus Gadie (2-48) broke the stand by removing Mortiboys, but Vos stuck around for over after over as partners came and went at the other end.
Cully’s prospects ended when Vos was ninth out at 160. Jonny Norman (2-20) nipped out the last man.
That’s played three and lost the lot for Cully, who are bottom of the pile with Tavistock on the agenda this Saturday.
Blackmore, who took Cully to promotion last season, said he wasn’t panicking yet.
“The first half of the season will be about working out teams for the second half,” said Blackmore.
“I will have a better idea then about individual players and what plans to have for them.”
On the result at Ipplepen, Blackmore said Wakeham was probably the difference between the sides.
He added: “We bowled well, fielded well and restricted Ippelpen to a manageable total as we could have been chasing 250-270 at one point.
“It needs myself and Parr boys to score some runs. Once we do that, we will start to win some games.”
SHOBROOKE Park won on the chase at Seaton, where they knocked off 194 to win with more than three overs to spare and four wickets in hand.
Seaton made 193 for seven in their 45 overs, based on a stand of 73 for the second wicket between Matt Hewer (35) and Joel Seward (33).
Stephen Pritchard (24), Robbie Prior (35) and Elliot Driver (29no) all chipped in lower down.
Shobrooke’s Craig James had two for 38 from nine overs while Tom Youngman (1-24) and Jon James (1-29) had economical spells.
Openers Dan Robbins (57) and Chris Ford (24) pointed Shobrooke in the right direction with a stand of 70.
Prior (2-34) removed Robbins but Ford kept going on and on. By the time Prior trapped Ford lbw he had faced 95 balls and the score was 147 for five.
A somewhere brisker 59 not out by James, off 42 balls with five fours and four sixes, took Shobrooke over the line with time to spare.
THORVERTON are hovering one place above the relegation spots in the B Division after a hefty seven-wicket defeat at Barton.
Thorsl who won the toss and batted, were all out for 142 in the 38th of their 45 overs.
Skipper Andy Pitt opened up and top scored with 26 – almost exclusively in boundaries – and Alan Tait was next best on 25.
When Ben Slaverio fell to the left-arm spin of Stuart Bowker (3-24), Thors went on the slide.
Five wickets fell for 20 runs added with Bowker and Matt Crampton (2-24) finishing off what Adam Parker (2-26) had started.
Barton got off to 54-run start with Crampton (25) and former Devon batsman Simon Edwards (30) leading them off.
There was a brief lull in proceedings as Barton slipped to 87 for three,
Parker player a captain’s innings of 52 not out from 36 balls to see Barton over the line, Adam Last (12no) was the junior partner in an unbroken stand of 58 that won the game with more than 17 overs to go.
Losing captain Pitt said it wasn’t hard to work out what had gone wrong.
“Our batting let us down again and it could have been far worse if Barton had taken all their chances,” said Pitt.
“We just need to be patient and build an innings as in the last two games we have been bowled out with plenty of overs to spare.”
