IPPLEPEN slumped to a third successive defeat in the B Division when Stoke Gabriel turned them over by four wickets.

Ipplepen had one of those days when several batters got in, then got out without putting a big score together.

Nathan Forde and Jono Colegate both made 23 for Pens, whose top score in an all-out total of 163 was Reuben Stanley’s 37.

Stoke’s seamers kept Pens’ batters quite at the top of the order. Spinners Dan Bullock (3-27) and Kyle Lardner (2-23) dealt with what came later.

Stoke’s reply looked a little wobbly at 58 for four after some harsh treatment from the Harvey brothers, Forde and George Tapley. Only Abhishek Anand (30) stuck around long.

The game was won and lost by Stoke batters Bullock (55) and Isaac Withington (25no), whose unbroken stand of 62 won it with more than seven overs to go.

Victory keeps Stoke in second place behind leaders Barton, who thrashed Budleigh by 148 runs.

DINESH Raheja and Deshan Dias were Cullompton’s men of the moment in a 46-run win over Teignmouth & Shaldon.

Raheja and Dias put together a stand of 154 for the second wicket that gave Cully a sizeable helping hand on the way to a total of 274 for six. The Parr brothers made 22 runs each towards the final tally.

“Raheja and Dias – their two left-handers – were patient and put away the bad ball along with some generous extras from ourselves,” said T&S skipper Carl Woolnough.

Woolnough (3-67) was Teignmouth & Shaldon’s leading wicket-taker. Ryan Bougourd took two for 31 from nine tight overs.

Seamus McKenna (42), Ruben Minnaar (30) and Alistair Cliffe (59) all made inroads into the deficit before drinks, but maintaining the asking rate of around six an over proved a challenge.

“We stayed in the fight for as long as possible, but the middle overs were a battle and we got behind the rate at that point,” said Woolnough.

When Cliffe was seventh out on 178 with seven overs to go, the game had already got away.

Bougourd swished three sixes in a bright and breezy 27 that helped Teignmouth & Shaldon reach 228 all out.

“There was still a chance with Cliffe and Bougourd at the crease at six down, but it was a slim one,” said Woolnough. Par would have been 240 so the extra 30-odd runs cost us

Dias, normally a wicket-keeper, picked-up three wickets for Cully, including McKenna. Akshay Bharadwaj (3-54) had three more and there were two for Jason Parr (2-34) at the death.