PLYMPTON won for the first time in five outings when they beat visiting Bideford by five wickets.
Bideford, along with Ivybridge and Chudleigh, have been struggling at the wrong end of the table. Had Plympton lost again they were in danger of being sucked into the relegation mire.
Bideford collapsed from 47 for three to 48 for six mid-innings and did well to make it as far as 150 all out.
The rot stopped with skipper Paul Heard (35) and opening bowler Fred King, who made 51 off 58 balls.
King was last man out: caught and bowled by David Wrench.
Wickets were spread round in ones and twos as well as a run out each for Wrench and the ageless Andy Walter.
James Degg (24) and Wrench (35) got Plympton to 76 for two. When Wrench fell to Jamie Lathwell (3-27) Plympton were well on their way.
Justin Wubelling’s unbeaten 65 – 13 fours, 45 balls – wrapped things up.
Victory leaves Plympton fifth in the table, 33 points clear of the bottom two.
Christian Bunney, who led the side in the absence of skipper Craig Donohue, said it was important to end the losing streak.
He added: “We were disappointed to reach the halfway stage with only 3 wins on the board and after four straight defeats this was much needed.
“We bowled them out in 40 overs and chased it in the 34th so we were clinical in both halves.
“Credit to the Bideford lower order as at 48 for six we thought we had the measure of them to skittle them for less than the 150 they got.
“Naturally we are looking ahead to Chudleigh next with confidence and looking to get back-to-back wins.”
AT last! Ivybridge ended a long wait for a win when they defeated Chudleigh by seven runs in the basement battle at Fillham.
The last time Ivybridge won was eight games earlier when they beat Budleigh Salterton by 156 runs.
The Bridge are still bottom of the table, but with Bideford and Chudleigh both losing the gap between them and safety has narrowed to 10 points.
The Ivybridge early order fired for the first time in a while as total of 208 all out was totted up.
Opener Josh Zimmerman missed out on his first game back since returning from Cornwood – in and out in five balls – but four useful stands underpinned the Ivybridge effort.
Andy Johnson (44) and Josh Coker (44) put on 56, Johnson and Charles Kunje (64) added 33 and Kunje put on 30 with Harry Solomon (21) and 32 with Geoge Thompson (20).
Matt Ball and veteran Mark Heather had three wickets each for Chudleigh and Saqib Hasan claimed two more.
Chudleigh were in a good place at 155 for four in reply with Matt Heather unbeaten on 72.
Ivybridge needed to see the back of Heather and Harvey Johnson (2-28) obliged.
Mark Heather (20) kept going almost to the end, but Chudleigh ran out of overs at 201 for eight.
PAIGNTON’S promotion hopes suffered a setback when they lost by two wickets to visiting Abbotskerswell.
Paignton drop back from second to third and now trail leaders Torquay by 15 points.
It was looking like a three-horse race for the title between Torquay, former leaders Cornwood and Paignton. But not anymore.
Almost un-noticed Abbots have crept up the table to fourth and are two wins away from being considered serious promotion contenders themselves.
Paignton scraped together 159 all out in the 38th over, opener Dan Wolf top scoring on 31.
The only sizeable stands were Wolf and Kevin Renecke – 53 for the second wicket – and 46 between Noah Wright (29) and Rob Shergold (24).
The two Sams – Johnston (4-32) and Carpenter (2-25) – dominated the bowling figures.
Abbots were cruising at 129 for three with Nick Watkin (47) and Ricky Small-Boyce (29) among the principal contributors.
A mini-slump to 149 for seven – Shergold (4-40) posing problems – swung the game back in Paignton’s favour.
Bits and pieces from the lower order got Abbot over the line with three overs to spare.
MATT Beasant grabbed his chance with both hands as Torquay sent Brixham spinning to a 66-run defeat on the Recreation Ground.
Torquay’s own total of 157 all out was unremarkable, although not hugely surprising given the youthful nature of the side.
Opener Franco Kasner made 23, in-form Mitch Pugh had 41 and returning left-hander James McMurray chipped in with 20.
Brixham spinner Dan Bullock took three for 48 and Abdul Muzammil two for 24, which foreshadowed what was to come.
Andy Pugh (16) and Tom Hopper (31) gave Brixham a 46-run start, then it all went horribly wrong.
Beasant twirled away for 7.1 overs to take a career-best haul of eight Brixham wickets for 18 runs.
The last six wickets went for just five runs, although fellow spinner Kasner (2-24) did take one of them. Brixham were all out for 89.
Although Torquay dropped a couple of batting points, they are still top by three from Cornwood.
Brixham’s saving grace is that Chudleigh and Bideford both lost below them, keeping them out of the bottom two.
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