YELVERTON opened-up a 35-point gap between themselves and the C West drop spots when they defeated visiting South Devon by 37 runs.

Paignton 2nd XI’s defeat to Plymstock did Yelverton a favour as it stopped former gaining any ground on them.

Yelverton are not safe yet, but a win over mid-table Stoke Gabriel at Langton Park this Saturday should end their relegation fears once and for all.

It was a game on the South Devon target list to win as Yelverton are in the bottom half of the table.

Buoyed up by their win over Kingsbridge last time out, South Devon were quietly confident going into the game. They came out of it 29 points adrift at the bottom of the table and have everything to do to avoid the drop

Opener Andy Birkett top scored with 76 for Yelverton in their all-out total of 198. His stand of 84 with Jonathan Malan (14) was the best in the innings. 

Hugo Nicholls (26) and Hadleigh Scott-Kirk (25) both chipped in during a ninth-wicket stand of 31 that ultimately took the game away from South Devon.

Seamer Kalen Warne (4-28) pinched the bowling honours for South Devon from skipper James Allen (3-35).

South Devon were going along nicely at 64 for two – Allen (28) and Dillip Salinda (20) among the runs – but slumped to 75 for five as Malan (2-19) and Mike Lemmings (2-24) got into the middle order.

John Barlow (34) and Harry Senior (30) fought back during a stand of 49 as South Devon got back on the chase. But it did not last.

Senior fell to Sam Crompton (2-45), Barlow was run out and after that the lower order faded away to 161 all out.