THORVERTON captain Jake Choules remains confident his side won’t be dragged into a relegation battle despite dropping into the A Division bottom two.
Promotion hopefuls Budleigh Salterton defeated Thorverton by 30 runs in a ding-dong affair at Ottermouth. Barton, who were second from bottom, moved out of the relegation places by beating Seaton.
As only seven points separate Thorverton (9th) from Abbotskerswell (6th), there is plenty of scope for the situation to change on weekly basis.
Choules said the performances in both halves of the game against Budleigh suggested Thorverton will soon be on the up.
“We fought back when Budleigh were 154 for two in the first innings to keep them to 240 for nine,” said Choules.
“And when we batted we fought back from 31 for three to 196 for six and were right back in the game.
“Ultimately we need to be putting in more complete performances at this level, but I don't think we are far away from putting some results together.”
Marc Troman (20), Dylan Penberthy-Hutchings (46), Chathura Peiris (71) and Max Mejzner (42) got Budleigh up to 154 for two. Although Peiris kept going – he was sixth out on 192 – Alex Jopling (5-45) slowed things up with a personal best bowling display for Thorverton.
Tail-wagging knocks from James Doble (11), Will Oxland (12) and Sam Whitehead (18no) came back to haunt Thorverton in the final totting-up.
Ed Doble (4-30) made life tough at first for Thorverton, but a stand of 71 between in-form Jason van der Meulen (70) and Ben Coe (15) batted them back into contention.
Harry Choules (37) and George Daldorph (28) took the response to 204 for eight, only for the latter to depart to Peiris (2-31). Thorverton were all out soon after for 210.
Skipper Choules said his highlights from the game were Jopling’s five-wicket haul and van der Meulen’s 70.
“Harry Choules’ and George Daldorph's partnership is also worthy of praise,” the captain added.
SEB Linnitt and Fin Hill both hit half-centuries in Exeter’s eight-wicket win over Kilmington on the County Ground.
Linnitt made 85 opening up with Charles Clist as Exeter chased 193 to win. By the time Harry Johnstone bowled Linnitt for 85 the target was down to 32 to win.
Hill carried on to reach 64 not out by the time the winning post was passed in the 38thover.
Keeping a lid on the Exeter batters was a headache for Kilmington’s bowlers, although Joel Seward (0-27) and Rob Crabb (0-26) went for the right side of four an over during their spells.
Kilmington recovered from a wobbly 85 for five – that’s when they lost Seward for 32 - to make 192 for nine in their 50 overs.
Josh Short (50) sparked the recovery and chip-ins from skipper Brett Garner (16) and Johnstone (22) helped.
Sam Read (3-44) topped the wicket-taking table and there were two each for Joe Gore and Jehan Daniel.
Although Garner had no complaints about the result, he was unimpressed by some aspects of Kilmington’s performance.
‘We were outplayed on the day and didn't have enough partnerships on what was a difficult track to bat on, which Exeter bowled very well on,” said Garner.
“Josh Short and Joel Seward batted superbly to get us to our score
“We didn't have a lot of luck early in their innings and the wicket seemed to flatten out somewhat.
“That said we just didn't bowl well or take out catches at times, which might have a made a difference.”
Exeter are up to fifth in the latest table, but to fully challenge for promotion need to do something about the 167-points between them and second-placed Plympton.
Kilmington are one point and one place above the drops spots with some work to do to ensure safety.
