ALPHINGTON & Countess Wear can feel Barnstaple & Pilton breathing down their necks as the D East promotion skirmish took another twist.
Budleigh Salterton beat Alphington & Countess Wear by 31 runs, which cut their lead over second-placed Barnstaple & Pilton to three points.
It looks like a photo-finish could be on cards in the promotion stakes as Budleigh are 14 points behind B&P with three games to go.
The key game is the Raleigh Meadow meeting between Barnstaple & Pilton and Budleigh on August 22, unless one of them loses between now and then. 
Budleigh were all out for a modest 178 with 15 balls to go. A stand of 97 between Nathan Wells (36) and Harvey Shipton (45) proved crucial.
James Bovey (3-28) was the solitary A&CW bowler to claim more than two wickets.
At 115 for three with runs in the scorers’ shed for Bovey (27), Lawrence Marsh (23) and Ethan Goddard (32), A&CW appeared to be sitting pretty.
A three-wicket salvo from Joel Murphy (3-25) swung it Budleigh’s way. Cohen Naidoo returned for a second spell to finish with four fir 37 as A&CW slumped to 147 all out.
BARNSTAPLE & Pilton won by 72 runs at Whimple to narrow the gap on leaders Alphington & Countess Wear to three points.
James Roe top scored for B&P with 50 towards a team tally of 224 for seven. After James Poole had been and gone for 31, Roe put on 82 for the fourth wicket with Connor Nash.
David Schierhout’s figures of one for 12 off nine overs stood out on the Whimple side of the book.
Opener Luke Phillips (55) was the only Whimple batter in the top five to withstand the bowling of George Elnaugh (4-28).
Whimple were all out for 152 which leaves them 45 points clear of the relegation zone with 60 to play for.
OPENERS Navindu Vanderbona and Neil Bettiss put North Devon 2nd XI on course for a seven-wicket win over Woodbury & Newton St Cyres.
Two wickets each for Steve Moore, Dylan Evans, Freddie Bettis and Henry McEndoo helped bowl out Woodbury & NSC for 149.
Ross Jarvis (31) made the only score above 30. Mukesh Purohit (25) as next best.
Vanderbona (42) and Bettis senior (40) made a 78-run dent in the deficit. After Will Spackman’s three-wicket (3-34) interlude, Richard Wild (28) and Noah Tovell (14no) concluded proceedings.
TOPSHAM St James look like living to fight another day in the D East despite staying second from bottom following a 134-run loss to Culmstock.
Only one club is going down from the D East this season and Braunton 2nd XI are odds-on tp be the one.
The middle-order came up trumps for Culmstock with Lucas Bell (41) and Paul Oliver (63) putting on 77 for the fourth wicket. Joe Gillett (24) chipped in towards a final product of 237 for seven. Nibu Thomas (3-36) took the bowling pat on the back for the Shells.
Topsham were bundled out for 103. Marco Bell (3-30) got into the top order, which left Ben Franks (2-18), Gillett (2-15) and Paul Hardy (2-0) to work through the rest.
Jack Miell (30) made the only significant score for TSJ.
BRADNINCH & Kentisbeare 2nd XI beat Braunton 2nd XI by four wickets to move into the D East mid-table region.
But the situation looks bleak for Braunton, who are 39 points adrift at the bottom with 60 to play for. If Alphington & Countess Wear win at Kelsey this Saturday, it’s relegation for a mathematical certainty.
Steve Hunt (28), Paddy Halton (25) and D V Varghese (23) were Braunton’s main accumulators towards reaching 167 all out. Richard Norman (3-38) out bowled James Mills, Eliot Acton and Andy Buzza, all of whom took two wickets each.
Billy Wakeley (42) and Darren Paul (35) put B&K’s chase on a firm footing. Henry Peters (4-40) engineered a slow-down from 90 for one to 111 for five before Max Cooper (13no), Acton (17) and Matt Holmes (14no) finished the task.
[O] There is only one relegation place in the D East this season as a knock-on effect of Uplyme & Lyme Regis withdrawing from the next division up.
With nine teams not ten in the C East, only one is being relegated from it to re-balance the numbers at ten in 2027.
The domino effect of just one club dropping into the D East is the suspension of two down from the E East, F East and G East.
