JAMES Westlake and Freddie Ford both took South Devon’s bowling line-up for centuries in a 213-run win at Marsh Road.
Ford top scored with 136 – 17 fours and a six – in Kingsbridge’s 45-over total of 339 for three.
Westlake’s 103 – 16 fours, no sixes – was his third ton of the season so far and took him to 497 league runs at an average of exactly 71.
Toby Goodman broke an opening stand of 192 by bowling Westlake 86 balls after he took guard.
Friend went on to add another 113 for the second wicket with James Fletcher (36) before Otty Yip (2-40) winkled him out.
Only three South Devon batters made it as far as double figures before they were bowled out in the 30th over for 126. Aaron Hammett made 20, Mali Marshall top scored with 37 and Goodman reached 16.
Freddie Weir (5-36) reduced South Devon to 47 for four all by himself. Bhanu de Silva (3-20) accounted for what was left of the middle order.
ASHBURTON cruised to a 51-run win over Ipplepen 2nd XI in the derby clash on the Varwell Field.
Steve Edmonds (59), Matt Churchill (50) and Nick Martin (50no) all made half-centuries for second-placed Ashes in a 45-over total of 254 for five.
There were stands of 70 between Edmonds and Dan Coles – he made nine – 57 between Churchill and Lloyd White (45) and 79 shared by Churchill and Martin.
Eight bowlers trundled in for Ipplepen: none took more than one wicket. Paul Thomas (3.67) and Steve Bowden (3.33) topped the economy table.
Keeping up with the asking rate soon became an issue for Pens once Bowden (30), Noah Sutton (45) and Freddie Harvey (25) bowed out. Aditya More slowed Pens to a crawl during nine overs that cost a mere five runs and garnered four wickets.
When Adam Peters was seventh out on 131 the asking rate was more than 12 across the final 10 overs. It was too many.
Marcus Green (30no) and Andrew Bligh (36) put together a stand of 73 that took Pens to their final total of 203 for eight.
BRIXHAM edged out Paignton 2nd XI by just eight runs in a Queen’s Park nail-biter.
Tim Robinson (65) and Tom Hopper (52) both made half-centuries for Brixham as they reached 184 all out.
Having got as far as 160 for four, Brixham lost six wickets for 24 runs on the way out. Max Pedley (4-33) and George Woodcock (3-43) did most of the damage. Tom Blundell had a couple of wickets against his former club.
Brenton Pedley (47) and Ella Gill (33) chipped away at the deficit despite wicket-taking interventions from Lee Upham (3-48) and Jijin Keralam (3-19). Mohammed Shaikh (9-0-17-1) offered little to hit.
Paignton got down to the final 10 overs needing 41 to win with three wickets in hand – and required 11 from the last two with one wicket intact. They were bowled out for 176 five balls in.
CORNWOOD 2nd XI’s lead at the top of the C Division West has been slimmed down to five points after they lost by 73 runs to Teignmouth & Shaldon.
The Wood were 15 points clear of Ashburton at the summit in the race for the solitary promotion place out of the division.
Ashburton’s derby win over Ipplepen narrowed the gap between the top two – and Teignmouth & Shaldon are now just three more points behind in third.
Robin Dart, the Cornwood captain, was not too concerned about slipping up.
“We are in the right place at the half way stage – and it's going to be tight at the top,” said Dart. “We just need to take it week by week.”
Seamus McKenna’s run of form for T&S continued with 85 in their total of 259 all out. He has made 187 runs in his last three trips to the middle.
Ruben Minnaar (24) and Harrison Linnitt (22) made runs early; McKenna and Carl Woolnough (39) rescued them after a mini-collapse from 73 for two to 79 for five, then Karl Blackburn biffed 46 late in the day.
Wickets didn’t come cheaply for the Wood. Harry Woolway (4-46) fared better than most.
Cornwood’s prospects were picked apart by Ahmad Amin, who took the first two wickets to fall and returned later to grab three more for match figures of five for 58.
Stanley Baker (39) fought back after the first setbacks– as did Josh Goodliffe (26), Will Sharp (33) and Jason Hall (32) after a slump to 75 for five.
There was just too much repair work to do. Hall was the last man out with the score on 186.
Reflecting on the way the match panned out, Dart said: “A good game of cricket that we ended up on the wrong side of.
“Maybe we were a seamer light, but I thought we bowled reasonably well, and that 250 was a good score to hold them to on a fast, small ground.
“Teignmouth & Shaldon bowled well early which meant we probably started the chase a bit slowly.
“Players got themselves in but got out before they could really make a big score that would've helped us get close.”
CHUDLEIGH defeated winless Plymstock by 192 runs in the basement battle at Kate Brook.
Chudleigh have not been in great form – four successive weeks in the bottom two confirm that – but they carried way too much firepower for Plymstock.
Mark Solway (43) and George House (51) opened up with a stand of 94 –and that was just the start of Plymstock’s woes.
Will Heather (41) and Rob Clarke hoisted 53 for the third wicket as the total raced to 171 for three –and there were more runs where they came from.
Clarke stuck around to make 79 off 60 balls and share in a stand of 114 for the fifth wicket with Nick Halse (67) that contributed to Chudleigh’s total of 326 for six.
Wicket-taking balls were in short supply for Plymstock, although Jamie Palfreyman (2-41) did find a couple.
Plymstock were all out for 134 with no one making more than the 26 extras Chudleigh gave away. Dave Ling made 23.
Ben Sercombe (3-26) had the edge over Mark Russell (2-30) and Luke Quaintance (2-28) in Chudleigh’s bowling figures.
Solway said being able to put a full-strength side out was one of the reasons Chudleigh won, but not the only one.
“We batted well, built partnerships and bowled in the right areas,” said Solway.
