EXMOUTH put their defeat by Torquay behind them with an emphatic six-wicket win over visiting Bovey Tracey.

Matt Golding top scored for Bovey with 77 as they laboured to 176 for nine in 50 overs.

The inadequacy of the total was emphasised by Exmouth passing it with more than 10 overs to spare.

Malcolm Lake had 20 of the first 27 on the board for Bovey, who lost three wickets getting that far.

South African Aaron Paul had a hand in all three dismissals with the wickets of Lake and Charlie Sheen then the throw that ran-out Ashley Causey.

Golding glued the middle order together during the 172 minutes he batted, having gone in midway through the fourth over.

Rob Honeybul made 17, but after that it was single-figure scores down to the tail-enders.

Sam Thomas (10) and Hugo Whitlock (20) helped Golding add 75 for the last two wickets by batting out time with him.

Exmouth shared the wicket taking around with two each for Shorn Bobb (2-10), Callum French (2-20), David Lye (2-28) and Paul (2-46).

George Greenway bowled 10 overs for 34 runs on his return to new-ball duties.

Exmouth clattered along to 69 without loss as Lye (37) and Sandy Allen (33) settled in.

French made a patient 45 off 80 balls and his stands with Finlay Marks and Bob Dawson took Exmouth to the brink of victory.

Golding had three wickets for 29 runs to slow Exmouth from time to time, but acting skipper Dawson was going nowhere and finished the chase with an unbeaten 24.

Dawson said Exmouth had the best of the batting conditions, but there was more than that to their win.

“It was a good toss to win as the pitch was a bit tacky in places and probably got easier to bat on as the game went on,” said Dawson.

“You could see that from the way their last two batsmen coped with it and never looked like getting out.

“Getting Lake out early was a bonus for us as he hit the first three balls he faced for four and looked like teeing off.

“We bowled with good control after that and took wickets pretty regularly, apart from Matt Golding, who batted really well.

“When we batted we got a superb start and just had to bat sensibly.”

Sam Hickinbottom, the Bovey captain, said with such a low total in the book it was always going to be a struggle.

“We never really got going with the bat,” said Hickinbottom.

 “It was only thanks to a mature innings by Golding, with good support from Thomas and Whitlock, that we posted a reasonable score.

“We knew we needed to pick up early wickets, but Exmouth got off to a good start, so even when we then made inroads, they had the experience to just bat time and get over the line.”