THORVERTON bounced back quickly from their defeat by South Devon with an 82-run win over Tavistock – and it was just as well!

For fellow strugglers Braunton and South Devon both won as well, which means Thors would have slipped into more trouble at the wrong end of the table than they are in now.

Saturday’s win wasn’t enough to lift Thors out of the bottom three, although they can do something about that if they win at Ottery this Saturday.

Thorverton were always in the driving seat after racking up 276 for seven – Jamie Khan (80), James Hope (51) and Paul Fielder (46) leading the way.

Andy Pitt helped himself to 36, which included 24 in one over.

Tavvy skipper Shaun Daymond claimed four Thorverton wickets for 37 runs.

With Dave Ball (42), Ian Gray (52) and Aaron Churchill (35) batting well, Tavvy got up to 130 for two in reply and were looking competitive.

The game turned on a devastating spell of bowling by Thor’s Gill Crouch, who proved unplayable in his second spell.

Crouch, wicketless  in his first stint, took six wickets for 14 runs second time round to finish with six for 30 as Tavvy were bowled out for 194.

Jake Choules had two for 33 in support.

“I think Gill had a point to prove second spell as he wasn’t happy about being taken off the first time,” said skipper Dave Baldock.

“There was never a time when Tavistock really looked like winning as we had scored too many runs.

“They might have got a bit closer, but it was good to bowl them out early and get the full 20 points.”

Skipper Daymond could see why Tavvy lost, not that he tried to make excuses.

“We bowled and fielded poorly then had a hard total to chase,” said Daymond.

“You always have to be up with the run rate, if not in front chasing 270-odd.

“Our top three did a great job and put us in a really good position at drinks.

“Then we lost three main batters in one over which killed us.

“We need to contain and field a lot better than that to win games.”