
BARTON edged to a 14-run win over Cullompton in what was easily the B Division’s match of the day.
Barton captain Steve Lewis top scored with 95 in his table-topping side’s total of 230 for six. He looked on course for his first league century for the club before Dinesh Raheja trapped lbw in the penultimate over.
Cullompton did not have problems keeping-up with the asking rate, but did struggle to keep wickets intact for the final assault on the target.
At 202 for seven with more than six overs to go and Jack Grandfield (28) in residence, Cully were slight favourites. Then Grandfield got out and the game changed.
Cullompton were all out for 216 with more than four overs to go, a result that dropped them from second to fourth in the rankings.
Lewis said it was ‘one of the best cricket matches I have ever been involved in’ and added: “It was a see-saw event that neither side deserved to lose.”
The bonus for Barton is results elsewhere have been kind to them. Instead of being a point ahead of second-placed Cullompton they are now six points ahead of Stoke Gabriel, who have moved-up from third.
Tarisai Masakanda got Barton off to a sharp start with 46 off 32 balls, but the best was yet to come from Lewis and running mate Tom Drake.
Lewis and Drake (59no) put on 113 for the fifth wicket to hoist Barton’s total to 215 for five.
Just when it seemed Lewis was going to compensate for a previous near miss this season – 89 against Ipplepen – Raheja rapped him on the pad and up went umpire Weare’s finger.
Cullompton’s chase was led-off by Raheja (20) and professional Deshan Dias (48), then taken on by Brendon Parr (42), Grandfield and Akshay Bharadwaj (23). Matt Lipton (3-24) had already accounted for most of the top four.
Had run clubber Parr survived just a little bit longer, it could have been Cullompton’s day. He was brilliantly caught by a back-peddling and tumbling Stuart Bowker at long-off.
With Parr out of the way, Masakanda worked his way through the lower order and finished with four for 38.