NICK Watkin has stepped aside as Abbotskerswell captain following a 48-run defeat by Thorverton that has left the team bottom of the A Division.

Watkin isn’t saying much about his decision to resign as skipper, although he was reluctant to continue in the role this season in the first place.

“Standing down is not something I wanted to do, but I did not feel I had much choice,” said Watkin, who has passed the mantle to Ed Smout-Cooper.

George Greed rescued Thorverton from a worrying 70 for six by making a watchful 48 to help the total reach 163 all out.

Greed was the last man out for Thorverton. His stand of 57 for the last wicket with tailender and captain Jake Choules (17) proved significant to the outcome of the game.

Abbotskerswell shared the wicket-taking around with two for James Tyler and Liam Hurse during Thors’ early problems, and three lower down for Nick Watkin (3-28).

Abbots’ top order continues to struggle, with Watkin digging in and having little support at the other end.

Dan Robbins took the main bowling award for his figures of 4-28 from 10 overs.

In his final reflections as skipper, Watkin said: “We bowled well until Thorverton were nine down but, as a team, our top score this season is 169.

“In part that is due to not replacing our overseas batter from last season but also, in part, due to us as a batting unit playing fairly average shots to straight balls.”

Elsewhere, Reuben Stanley posted his maiden Devon League Century in Ipplepen’s five-wicket win over B Division strugglers Chudleigh.

Chudleigh skipper Matt Heather had already made a century (100) in the game – as did Manroz Bhullar (133). Their third-wicket stand of 204 took the team most of the way to 259 for three.

Paul Thomas (2-29) was Pens’ most successful bowler.

Marcus Gadie (24), Nathan Forde (37) and Callum Stanley (30) got Ipplepen to 147 for three. Reuben Stanley – 40 not out at that point – took it the rest of the way.

Matt Beasant, the Ipplepen captain, said there was a bit more to say about the game than Reuben Stanley’s century,

“Chasing 250, you have to be pretty much perfect, which I think we were,” said Beasant. “Every single batter played their role bang-on.

“Reuben has shown his talent this season – we could all see an innings like this coming – but it really was a special innings. Look forward to seeing more of them.”

Opposite number Heather remains confident Chudleigh’s fortunes will improve in time to clamber out of trouble.

“We have a knack for losing games at the moment, which we need to get out of,” said Heather. “After showing we can hit 250-plus, I'm confident that will come soon.”