Hatherleigh's Jasper Presswell - 90 not out against Whitchurch<br>credit: Conrad Sutcliffe

BRIXHAM’S winning run in the D Division West under new captain Craig Eaves continued with a thumping 178-run victory over Kenn.

Opener Mike Barron, filling the slot while Tim Robinson recovers from a tennis-related injury, fired 104 for Brixham as they totted up 236 for six.

All the batters in the top five made it into double figures with Eaves (48) backed-up by Rhys Dallow (25) and Tom Hopper (22).

Martin Swannell, formerly of Paignton and South Devon, took two wickets for Kenn.

Swannell then top scored with 20, which was as good as it got for Kenn in an all-out total of just 58.

Eaves (4-15) and Matt Parsons (3-4) were the Brixham bowlers who put the skids under Kenn.

That’s three wins on the spin for Brixham, who are just one point behind Barton at the top of the table. With the revived second team also unbeaten in the H Division West, things are on the up at Boundary Park after a spell in the doldrums.

“Both teams are buzzing and really determined to keep the winning momentum,” said Eaves. 

“The atmosphere is the best I have seen, but its important we take it one game at a time.”

WHITCHURCH crashed to a 110-run defeat chasing 265 to win against Hatherleigh.

Hatherleigh opener Ryan Quick was involved in stands worth 119 before he was third out and when he went the runs kept coming from Jasper Presswell, Ruben Forrester and Zak Spears.

Presswell put on 101 with Forrester (38) and was still there on 90 not out with Spears (25no) in a final total of 264 for four.

Josh Vernon (2-25) and Darren Sambells (1-34) took the bowling plaudits for Whitchurch.

Whitchurch made a stumbling start – they were 15 for two – but started nibbling away at the arrears through Vernon (27) and Ben Powell (28).

What Whitchurch lacked was one or two big scores to build a chase round – and 50-plus partnerships.

No one other than Vernon or Powell made it past 16 as Whitchurch went from 128 for five to 129 for seven and on to 150 for eight then 154 all out with more than 10 overs to go.

Hatherleigh paceman Ruben Forrester had three of the first five wickets to fall. Danny Forrester took three more.

Richard Potts, who was standing in for absent captain Josh Towl, said after a solid start Whitchurch faded.

“A good bowling fielding performance for first 30 kept the the run rate around 4.5 and over,” said Potts.

“But in the last 15 there were boundaries galore and we conceded nearly 150 runs.

“Hatherleigh had wickets in hand and accelerated with their batsman striking the ball well.

“Our reply was sluggish and no one really got going despite good efforts by Josh Vernon and Ben Powell, who dug in but were not free-flowing.”

Potts said a big problem for Whitchurch was player availability… or the lack of it!

“On a Friday night we are scratching around for player and until we can get a more settled side we're sadly going to struggle,” said Potts.

JOE Benson and Jon Doel took three wickets each to put Ivybridge 2nd XI on course for a 29-run win over visiting Babbacombe.

The Bridge recovered from a nervy 58 for four to reach 200 for nine in their 45 overs. Phil Warwick, in at 40 for three, batted through for 72 not out to underpin the total.

Callum King (39), Doel (20) and Chris Greenhouse (18) all chipped in. Ben Passmore (2-12), Damon Calland (1-20) and super veteran Paul Bates (1-26) all impressed with the ball for Babbacombe.

Benson (3-36) and Doel (3-34), with a little help from James Grigg, soon had Babbacombe reeling at 45 for five in reply.

Nathan Snape (42) led a Babbacombe fightback with support from Calland (18) and Passmore (13).

Ultimately, there was just too much for Babbacombe to do. Martin Key picked-up a couple of lower-order wickets as the Torquay side were bowled out for 171 with exactly nine overs to go.

PLYMSTOCK 2nd XI were the latest team to fall by the wayside against D Division West pacesetters Barton 2nd XI.

Plymstock posted 220 all out in the last of their 45 overs at Cricketfield Road thanks largely to Ali Bond (44) and Alex Thomas (46). Their stand of 90 rescued Plymstock from a nervy 59 for four.

Three players – Dave Ling, Rhys Williams and Denzil Brown – chipped in with 16 each. And 28 wides in a total of 37 extras helped bolster the score.

Tom Porter (2-25) and Adam Last (1-20) bowled parsimonious nine-over spells for Barton. Chris Needham took three wickets for 61 runs.

Barton had more than 10 overs unused when Fin Last smashed Brown for six to win the game by six wickets.

Last senior – dad Adam – had opened up with 68 and got Barton up to 125 for three in reply.

Captain Needham made 81 not out and Last junior was unbeaten on 22 after he wrapped things up to give Barton their third max-points win of the season to date.

PLYMPTON 2nd XI came-up short on the chase when they visited Ipplepen 2nd XI.

Veteran batter Jeff Heath top scored on 69 for Ipplepen in their all-out total of 239.

Heath put on 53 with co-opener Steve Bowden and 63 with Josh Thompson before he was snared lbw by Josh Willcock (2-43).

Thompson went on to make 53 and put on 49 with Noah Sutton (35) for the fifth wicket.

There were three wickets each for Oliver Goulder (3-51) and Steve Raven (3-43).

Runs from Simon Beare (29), Keith Willcock (59) and Steve Raven (37) had Plympton in a promising position at 167 for three. Then Raven got out and five more wickets fell getting to 178 for eight. Willcock was among them.

Man of the moment for Ipplepen was Keith Wakeham, another old pro, whose four-for-26 haul did the damage. If Wakeham did not get them Harry Lewis (3-40) did as Plympton subsided to 191 all out.