BABBACOMBE pulled off the win of the day in the C Division West when they beat promotion-chasers Abbotskerswell by two wickets.
Chasing 212 to win on its own is hardly that remarkable, but getting there from 74 for seven certainly is.
And that is the position Babbacombe were in after a roughing up from Tom Heath (2-12) and Noah Tobias (3-54).
No one had made more than Tom Wood (19) as Babbacombe slid from crisis to crisis.
The game turned on a partnership of 98 between Iraq Thomas (68no) and Matt Inch (52).
Inch has got form when it comes to lower order heroics – ask Alphington – and he led the charge during the partnership.
Paul Acton broke the stand with 39 still needed and Abbots seemingly back in the game.
Thomas and tail-ender Goodwin got the scores level with an over to go, which was to be bowled by Abbots’ paceman Riccardo Small-Boyce.
Thomas didn’t mess about: he smacked Small-Boyce’s first ball for six and that was game over.
Abbots had been indebted to opener Charlie Mitchell for keeping their innings on the rails after the rest of the early order missed out.
Mitchell took Abbots to 130 for four, with some help from Aron Owen (20).
Alex Birt (37) marshaled the bottom half of the order, supported by Paul Acton (26no) in a stand of 45 for the ninth wicket.
Abbots are only three points behind new leaders Alphington, so the damage was minimal.
Captain Charlie Hill said he always feared Abbots were 30 runs short and was proved horribly right.
“Our early batting wasn’t up to scratch – Charlie Mitchell excepted – and myselkf and middle order didn’t really fire,” said Hill
“With 15 overs to go and Babbacombe 80 for seven we knew we were in the driving seat.
“The two batmen who were in had the potential to win the game and both scored quick fire 50s that took the game away from us.
“It was really disappointing to lose the way we did but we took our foot off the gas but all credit to Babbacombe for the way they batted.”
Babbacombe are away to Whitchurch this Saturday.
CHELSTON & Kingskerswell’s hopes of a follow-up win at Chagford after their win over Babbacombe were shattered when they lost by six-wickets.
Opener Steve Waters made 67 – he was sixth out at 185 – and Gary Brenton made 78 on a tally of 207 for nine.
Waters and Brenton took the score from 25 for two to 152 for three. Waters was on 40 when Brenton was dismissed and kept going until 185 for six.
There were two wickets each for Mark Peck, Craig Penberthy and Derek Lammonby.
Chagford went off in hot pursuit, led by openers James Fulner (37) and Chris Filor (33) with a partnership of 44, mostly scored by Fulner.
Kenton Vos (74) joined Filor to take the score to 103 for two when Filor fell lbw to Paul Harding (2-57).
Simon Snell went two balls later, but there was no further sliding.
Will Lammonby (31) and Vos wiped off another 53, then Stuart Lord (22) joined Vos to finish the game.
STOKE Gabriel went past inactive Kingsbridge into third place thanks to a seven-wicket win over Bridestowe.
Nathan Hicks (4-36) and Seb Ansley (3-23) were largely responsible for skittling Bridestowe for 130.
Take out Phil Hatton’s 38 and James Ewen’t 34 and there wasn’t much from the rest.
Ansley (46) and Hicks (39) made a sizeable dent in the target, then acting captain Mark Newman (21) and Robert Baker (25) wrapped things up.
Stoke are 18 points behind Abbotskerswell going into the derby date with Chelston this Saturday.
ALPHINGTON are back on top of the C Division West after crushing Whitchurch by 220 runs.
Mark Halse slammed 94 and Luke Phillips clattered 51 in a stand of 126 for the first wicket that put Alphington on course for a 280 for six total.
Whitchurch only had 10 men, no umpire or a scorer at start time, which did them no favours.
The umpire arrived late and found himself playing to make up the numbers.
Alphington carried on accumulating runs while Whitchurch sorted themselves out. Nick Halse made 48, Matt Taylor 39 and Matt Porter 26 not out at the end.
Whitchurch were all out for 60. Tom Bath had five for 16 and Ashley Green four for six.
Abbotskerswell were top of the table, but they slipped up against Babbacombe and drop back to second.
Stuart Shaw, the Alphington captain, said he felt ‘embarrassed’ for Whitchurch by the size and manner of their defeat.
“At one stage I thought we were going to score 400, that’s how poor the bowling was,” said Shaw.
“We have to remember it is just one game and not representative of the rest of the season.
“There are eight more games to play and I expect them to be far tougher.”
KINGSBRIDGE were 43 for two against Plymouth CS&R when rain stopped play at Roborough.
