Plympton on the up after five-wicket win over Thorverton | 'It was good win over a strong team, helped by having almost our full side out' – Harry Kandampully

CONRAD SUTCLIFFE AT HAREWOOD PARK

PLYMPTON made it two wins in a row on their way up the A Division table with a five-wicket win over Thorverton.

Victory took Plympton up to fifth in the table, but with just six points between them and the relegation zone there remains much to do to stay out of trouble.

Thorverton’s batting largely failed to fire as no one in the top five made more than 33. A stand of 59 for the second wicket between Nick Chaplin (33) and Andy Kingdon (27) was as good as it got.

Harry Choules made 20 and bits and pieces in the bottom half from Bobby Heard (19), Ben Slaviero (22) and George Daldorph helped scrape together 182 all out. Twenty-one wides helped!

Plympton shared the wickets around with two each for Sam Ford, Jamie Bailey, Elliot Hamilton and Ed Hurst. Hamilton (2-23) and Hurst (2-12) were particularly hard to score off.

Plympton made an unremarkable start – dipping from 54 for two to 54 for four in the space of two balls from Dan Robbins (3-42) was as exciting as it got – and only one more wicket felt on the way home.

Tobin Barker, who survived the hat-trick ball from Robbins, shored-up one end for 40 not out while Emanuel Motswiri went on to reach 76 at the other.

A stand of 113 between Motswiri and Tobin ended when Robbins had the former caught from the first ball of his second spell.

Sixteen more to win did not detain Tobin and Matt Merrien too long.

Harry Kandampully, the Plympton captain, said the result showed what was possible when availability is strong.

“It was good win over a strong team, helped by having almost our full side out,” said Kandampully.

“The bowlers bowled with discipline with Ed Hurst and Elliot Hamilton bowled particularly well. 

“Emanuel batted aggressively and Tobin Barker batted with great maturity to be not out. 

“Still areas to improve which we need to do in what is clearly going to be a very competitive division.” 

Jake Choules, the Thorverton captain, said losing the toss and having to bat first was an issue. But the result could not be blamed on the toss of a coin.

“I would have liked to have bowled first in the conditions but, either way, we need to be posting more than 182,” said Choules.

“There were a couple of decent partnerships, but we needed one or two 2 guys to go on like Motswiri did. 

“It wasn’t our best day with the ball – and you need to be perfect when you're under par.

"Every game is tough in this division, so we need to improve over the next few weeks.”