D Divison East round-up – week 11: Culmstock rout Bradninch & Kentisbeare by 10 wickets – with ND Photography pictures
CULMSTOCK crushed near neighbours Bradninch & Kentisbeare 2nd XI by 10 wickets in a D East derby that didn’t last long.
Luke Dopson bagged for B&K wickets for 21 runs, and Marco Bell had three for 32, as the visitors were skittled out for 65.
Eliot Acton (10) and Ankit Badwal (25) made the only double-figure scores for B&K. Four didn’t make a run between them!
Zak Salter (25no) and Matt Summerfield (25no) needed just 14.2 overs to win the game.
BARNSTAPLE & Pilton defeated Woodbury & Newton St Cyres by 66 runs to maintain a slender lead over Alphington & Countess Wear in the D Division East promotion frame.
With only two points in it at the top, and Budleigh Salterton 2nd XI barely a win away, the picture could change in a hurry.
The big stands for B&P in their nine-wickets-down score of 244 were 81 between James Roe (36) and James Poole (45), then 43 put on by Lee Cole (47) and Connor Nash (40).
Will Spackman’s four-wicket haul included Poole and Matt Newton (24).
Woodbury & NSC were all out for 178. They ran into middle-order trouble against B&P’s Justin Saker, whose five-wicket collection contained top scorer Matt Moretta for 50.
By the time Becca Silk (20) and Ahmad Nawabi (27) put on 32 for the ninth wicket the game had gone.
TOPSHAM St James lifted themselves out of the D East bottom two with a 44-run win over basement side Braunton 2nd XI.
The Shells were always in the driving seat after amassing 305 for seven in 45 overs. An opening stand of 104 between Jonathan Sapwell (46) and Richard Milton (77) set the tone.
Ed Holmes (3-46) slowed the pace for a while, until Jacob Taylor (45) and Matt Williams (27) put on 60 more for the fifth wicket.
Mark Thomas made a top score of 70 for Braunton, who were in a decent position at 174 for three when Milton (3-48) got him out.
James Kemp (35) and Tim Smallridge (37) both contributed, but with them and Thomas gone the chase was over.
Mustavi Emdad brought proceedings to a close with three wickets to shoot out Braunton for 261.
NORTH Devon 2nd XI got the brake on just in time to beat Budleigh Salterton 2nd XI by 11 runs at the Holt.
Neil Bettiss helped himself to a top score of 82 for North Devon in their all-out score of 210.
The former Devon left-hander was part of stands that added 174 to the team total. Richard Clarke (38) and Regina Lilii (27) jogged along with Bettiss.
Best of the bowling by a distance for Budleigh with four for 31 was veteran Joel Murphy.
Budleigh got down to the final five overs needing 46 to win with six wickets intact, which was steep but do-able.
Mark Troman (48), Cohen Naidoo (28), Lloyd Murrin (34) and Tom Johnson (33) all played parts getting Budleigh close. They had to see-off 18 overs from Steve Moore (1-9) and Noah Tovell (1-22) first.
When the final over from Lilii (3-10) arrived with the target of 14 to win with two two wickets left, it could have gone either way. Budleigh had just taken15 off the previous over.
North Devon were able to keep Ollie Blakeman (20) off the strike and take the two wickets needed to end Budleigh’s prospects. 
FORMER captain James Bovey stroked an unbeaten 53 to steer Alphington & Countess Wear to a comfortable six-wicket win over Whimple.
Whimple’s 45-over total of 155 for eight always looked below par, which A&CW proved by knocking it off with eight overs to go.
Defeat has dropped Whimple back into the bottom two. Alphington & Countess Wear remain second in the table behind Barnstaple & Pilton.
Nathan Kidd (44) was the only Whimple batter to get past 15. Thirty-eight extras – 25 of them wides – were a bonus.
Of the eight bowlers turned to by A&CW skipper Matt Garner, Cameron Fogden (2-30) and Lawrence Marsh (2-19) were the most successful.
Although A&CW started patchily – they were. 38 for three – Abhishek Choudankar (39) and Bovey (53) put on 83 to calm things down. Greg Newcombe (11no) joined Bovey for the final leg of the chase.
