TAVISTOCK won by five wickets at Bideford to give their B Division promotion hopes a boost.

Bideford raced along to 276 for eight in 45 overs, which Tavistock wiped out with 10 balls to spare.

It is an odd situation at the top of the B Division table as deposed leaders Bovey Tracey 2nd XI cannot be promoted as they are a second team. Only 1st XIs can appear in the Premier and A Divisions.

As long as Bovey are in the top two at the end of the season the third-placed club will go up instead.

Tavistock have been third for a while now, but have closed the gap between them and Bovey in second spot down to eight points. Ipplepen, who beat Bovey by five wickets to knock them off the top, remain 17 points behind in fourth.

Bideford’s top four all found runs in a progressive total of 241 for two. 

Veteran opener James Ford dug in for 59 while skipper Tom Brend made 93 at the opposite end in a first-wicket stand of 184. The pair departed one run apart, both to Billy Barriball (2-55).

Runs continued to flow for Ollie Hannam (35) and Julian Hayter (28), liberally assisted by 25 wides.

Tavvy skipper Shaun Daymond tried some out-of-the-box thinking by asking occasional bowler Rhys Davies to turn his arm over and the results were stunning.

Davies took two wickets in his third over and two more in his fifth for a match-haul of four for 27 as Bideford slowed to 276 for eight.

“We needed a spinner as the wicket was decent and the ball was harder to get away with pace off it,” said Daymond.

“I had seen Rhys bowl in training so brought him on on the off chance and it paid off!”

The Barriball brothers – Billy and Charlie – had two wickets each.

Opener Davies then top scored with 59 in even time as Tavvy went off in hot pursuit.

A stand of 81 between Davies and Steve Luffman (34) got the party started then Billy Barriball (21) and Jack Smyly (35) turned up the volume.

Will Scott-Munden was in and out for a run-a-ball 30, which left Charlie Barriball (48no) and Don Snyman (27no) to put on 78 to win it. Barriball bashed Tom Stone for six to complete the game.

Said Daymond: “I was happy to keep them back to 276 as at one point they were easily on for 300-plus.

“We knew the wicket was good so six an over wasn't out the way. All our batters chipped in towards a great run chase.”

Brend, the Bideford captain, had no problems highlighting the problem areas for his team.

“After a really positive start with the bat I felt that, given the platform we had, we didn't utilise our final 10 overs well enough as I knew we would need the best part of 300,” said Brend

“Although I saw improvements in the field, to continue to lose games after scoring 270-plus isn't good enough and it needs to change quickly.”