Dennis man of the match for Bridestowe & Belstone with runs and wickets in win at Barton

BRIDESTOWE & Belstone virtually secured their A Division status for another season with a six-wicket win over doomed Barton.

Theirs is nothing Barton can do now to get out of the bottom two and it looks like either Torquay & Kingskerswell or Plympton will be joining them on the way down.

Bridestowe & Belstone opened-up a 27-point gap between themselves and the bottom two, which should be enough.

Ryan Dennis led B&B’s bowling effort with a three-for-24 bag, and there were two wickets each for Shaq Glasgow, Tallan Burns and Devon paceman Craig Penberthy, as Barton were bowled out for 172.

Barton opener Nick Watkin survived a supremely confident lbw shout by Tallan Burns (and most of his team-mates) to make 40. Middle-order man Tom Porter top scored with 44.

Dennis laid claim to the man-of-the-match award with 50 at the top of the order as B&B set off in hot pursuit.

Glasgow chipped in 32 and Burns 22 towards the chase, which concluded with more than 13 overs to go.

Watkin (3-35) was Barton’s most effective bowler.

Stephen Lewis, the Barton captain, said: “It is a really tough division to win matches in, and we needed our top order to score bigger to put more pressure on.

“The lads battled, but we came up against good players again and unfortunately couldn't match it.”