ABBOTSKERSWELL remain stuck fast at the foot of the A Division after going down by six wickets at Hatherleigh.
Toby Hard, promoted to open the batting for Abbots, responded by hitting a top score of 56 in a modest total of 161 all out
“Toby batted really well for his first A Division 50 and gave us a positive start,” said Abbots’ skipper Ed Smout-Cooper.
A string of subsequent batters got into the teens, but none went beyond the 18 made by Tom Heath.
Toby Codd, making his debut second time round for Abbots after returning from Bovey Tracey, scored 13.
“At 90 odd for three at drinks we set ourselves a good platform to get a 200-plus score, so 161 all out was disappointing,” said Smout-Cooper.
“Lots of promising starts navigating some good bowling, but we failed to capitalise after doing the hard work.”
Charlie Presswell’s four for 19 was the best of the bowling for Hatherleigh.
Shrey Ghosh led Hatherleigh’s run chase with 74 not out from 71 balls. Paul Heard (25) helped wipe off 52 runs, leaving Greg Solkin (22no) to share a 59-run stand that won it.
James Tyler (2-31) and Inder Singh (1-13 off 6) were Abbots’ most respectable bowlers.
Smout-Cooper described Abbots’ bowling effort as ‘decent’ but with one caveat.
“We regularly broke partnerships, but failed to remove Ghosh, whose chanceless innings saw them home.
“Had we got Ghosh out early we could've seen a different result. It's proving tough this year with some quality batters in the A Division.”
Elsewhere, Chudleigh’s misfortunes at the bottom of the B Division table took a turn for the worse as they collapsed to an 87-run defeat away to Bovey Tracey 2nd XI.
That elusive first league win of the season appeared in sight for Chudleigh after they dismissed their nearest neighbours for 139.
When Chudleigh were 42 for one in reply that first league win looked tantalisingly close. Then it all went pear-shaped.
Wickets tumbled as 42 for one became 47 for six and 52 for seven became 52 all out.
Dan Green, the Bovey captain, claimed six Chudleigh wickets for 15 runs and Ben Steer took three for five.
Matt Heather, the Chudleigh captain, did not pull any punches looking back on the shambles.
Losing nine wickets for 10 runs is completely indefensible,” said Heather.
“I have seen a fair share of batting collapses in my time, but that is by far the worst.
“Our batting simply has to improve, urgently!”
Said Green: “Our bowling hit the right areas and the deck had plenty in it.”
Bovey’s runs came from Harry Mount (24) and Joe Forey (37).
Chudleigh spinner Rob Clarke had four Bovey batters for 29 runs and there were two wickets each for Kam Singh and Luke Quaintance.
