D Division West round-up – week 15: Delahunty (pictured) dominates Ivybridge bowling on way to a ton | | More pictures of Toby reaching a century will appear on the league's Facebook page | Defeat a setback for Bridge's promotion prospects
PLYMOUTH 2nd XI took a step closer to an immediate return to the Tolchards DCL C Division West with a 98-run win over city rivals Plymouth Civil Service & Roborough.
Not only did Plymouth gain 20 points at the expense of Civil, they had a bonus in the shape of lowly Babbacombe defeating promotion hopefuls Chagford.
Second-placed Plymouth are now 21 points ahead of Chagford in what looks like a two-horse title race with Hatherleigh for the divisional crown.
Plymouth were always in the driving seat after amassing 303 for nine in a 45-over game. Skipper Tom Hughes thudded 21 boundaries on the way to 132 and there was a near miss on 96 for skipper James Toms. Their stand of 177 kept fielders on their toes.
Nuruz Zamal (4-27) was the best performer among the Civil bowlers.
Scoring at more than six an over from the start was a tall order for Civil, who were behind the clock on 114 for four with 22 overs to go. Losing four wickets between 113 and 125 – Malik Wasim one of them for 50 – did not help.
Alan Smith (25), Paddy Harper (23) and M P Arulraj (24) all chipped-in towards Civil’s final product of 205 all out.
YELVERTON avoided dropping back into the D West bottom two thanks to a 51-run win over Kenn.
Babbacombe’s surprise win over Chagford could have taken them out of the bottom two at Yelverton’s expense had they lost at Trehill.
Yelverton found the bowling of Harry Gaydon (3-40) and James Gosling (4-36) tough to get away and had to work hard for a total of 167 all out.
Dave Ackford (21) and Rob Grove (25) made runs up top; Ed Sorensen hit 25 in the middle and Josh Stevenson added a priceless 38 down the order. A stand of 48 between Stevenson and Elias McGill (21no) for the ninth wicket proved critical.
Kenn lost the game in the time it took them to fade from 51 for two to 69 for six. Ben Chaloner (30) made more than anyone as Ben Grove (4-33) winkled out the batters.
Alistair Horler finished the job with three for 16 as Kenn crumbled to 116 all out.
IVYBRIDGE 2nd XI lost ground in the D West promotion scramble when Torquay & Kingskerswell 2nd XI defeated them by 57 runs.
What was a nine-point differential between the Bridge and second-placed Plymouth is now 21, which is steep at this stage of the season.
Victory eased Torquay & Kingskerswell’s relegation worries substantially. They are now 29 points clear of the relegation places.
New Zealander Tobias Delahunty was the man of the moment for Torquay & Kingskerswell with 108 in their all-out tally of 200.
The Seasiders had struggled at times against the bowling of James Bullock (2-23) and Harry Drew (3-31) and were 90 for five after losing three wickets for just 10 runs added.
Delahunty and Ant Nadar (29) put on 76 for the sixth wicket to revive T&Ks fortunes.
Owen Howard (3-13) picked-up late wickets during the dash for runs in the later overs.
The game got away from Ivybridge during the seven-over spell that saw them slump from50 for one to 78 for six.
Spin proved Ivybridge’s undoing with wickets falling to Towkir Chowdhury (4-21) and Delahunty (3-19).
Drew (36no), in at 66 for four, was still there at the end when Chowdhury claimed two wickets in two balls to dismiss the Bridge for 143.
CHAGFORD slipped-up at Babbacombe, where an unexpected eight-wicket defeat was a blow to their D West promotion chances.
Chagford, third in the table, would have fancied their chances against the side propping-up the table.
Being bowled out for 113 was not on Chagford’s storyboard, and neither was Babbacombe knocking off the runs in fewer than 20 overs.
Openers Chris Jelley (22) and Jake Griffiths (24) made the only scores above 20 for Chagford before they were bowled out for Brian Gomez and Henry Stubbs.
Gomez’s six-for-14 haul included Jelley and Griffiths. Stubbs (4-58) accounted for the rest.
Babbacombe’s veteran opener Marcus Thompson was out first ball to Stuart Lipo, and Rob Redding followed on 41.
Dan Western was the man of the moment for Babbacombe with 80 not out – 68 of it scored in boundaries – as he and Stuart Broad (19) polished off the target.
Defeat has widened the aperture between Chagford and second-placed Plymouth 2nd XI from four to 21 points.
BOTTOM side Barton 2nd XI gave promotion chasers Hatherleigh 2nd XI a scare before subsiding to a ninth defeat of the season.
Barton, set 234 to win, were bowled out for 212 in the last over, which resulted in a 21-run defeat.
Hatherleigh stay top for the second week running. Barton have hit rock bottom as fellow strugglers Babbacombe defeated Chagford to move above them.
