ASHBURTON won for the first time this season when they won by four wickets against Clyst St George to move off the bottom of the table.

Ashburton and Bovey Tracey 2nd XI were both below Clyst going into the latest round of fixtures. Not any longer. But with only five points between all three teams, the situation remains fluid.

Fourth-from-bottom Braunton, only two points further up the table, provide the opposition this Saturday in a must-win game for CSG.

Ridouan Asselman (40) made patient runs in Clyst’s top three and shared a 75-run stand with Andrew Donovan (47) for the fourth wicket. Bertie Creer (33) was the last man out on a total of 210.

Chris Yeo (3-36) and Matt Yeo (2-35) dominated the Ashburton bowling stats.

Only opener George Yabsley, who came and went for seven, missed the bus in Ashburton’s run chase.

Steve Edmonds (23), Jack Brown and Lloyd White with 31 each and finally Nick Martin (43no) and Chris McKee (17no) sauntered home with more than seven overs to go.

Winning captain White said: “Our bowlers were superb throughout, maintaining excellent discipline from start to finish.

“Chris McKee (2-15) was outstanding with the new ball, and when Jack Warren found his rhythm, he backed him up brilliantly.

“Jack Brown bowled with fantastic control and was unlucky not to have more reward for his efforts. 

“Chris Yeo and Matt. Churchill then rattled through the tail, and we always felt they were a little light on what looked like a 300-run pitch. That said, our fielding can still go up another level.”

White said although there remains work to be done in the batting department, the team still found a way to win.

“It was a familiar story at times, with too many of us getting starts before falling to false shots,” said White. “However, we know we bat deep and backed ourselves to keep chipping away at the target.”

Dan Kendall, who reprised his former role as Clyst captain in the absence of Par Singh, said it was an improvement on the performance against Plympton last time out, then added: “But we have yet to get out of second gear this season.”

Reflecting on the game, Kendall said: “Riodouan and Andrew Donovan rebuilt superbly, so losing them in quick succession harmed our chances of putting a big total on the board. 

“Bertie and Inder Singh batted sensibly to make sure we got to something competitive. 

“We bowled well, and Ollie Manning produced an excellent opening spell. But we couldn’t sustain pressure for long enough.”