THREE wickets each for Kam Singh and Rob Clarke sped Chudleigh towards a 138-run win over B Division stragglers Dartington & Totnes, writes Conrad Sutcliffe

Chudleigh recovered from a wobbly 28 for four – Joe Martin (2-28) and Madhav Narayan (3-45) taking two wickets each – to reach 257 for nine in 45 overs.

Adam Sercombe (32) was at one end during a 92-run stand with skipper Will Heather, who added 66 more with Derek Lammonby before he got out for 66.

Lammonby (39) and Rob Clarke (29) took Chudleigh most of the rest of the way.

Mick Rusling, fast approaching the super-veteran stage, answered an SoS to fill a gap in D&T’s bowling department and got through nine overs at a cost of just 27 runs.

Chudleigh had D&T rocking at 16 for four with Kam Singh (3-11) taking three of the wickets to fall and an early finish looked likely before James Lowden (30), skipper Gavin Colegate (12) and Martin (30) hung around for several overs.

The terminal decline started at 91 for six when Lowden got out to Clarke (3-31) and the last four wickets went for 28 runs as D&T subsided to 119 all out.

After three defeats in the last four outings, Chudleigh skipper Heather hopes the manner of this win suggests a corner has been turned.

“Losing tosses has become a habit for me this season but, after a poor start, we recovered really well and after about 16 or 17 overs, we were already on 120,” said Heather.

“We showed character and fight with Adam Sercombe displaying maturity and composure.

“It was great to see Del Lammonby in his first game this season carrying on from where he finished off last season.”

Heather pinpointed Singh’s and George House’s bowling at the start of the D&Y innings as significant in their downfall. 

“We went back to what we usually do with the ball and it was great to see us bowling out a side for below 120 and creating another four or chances on top of that.”