PAIGNTON eased their relegation worries in the Premier Division with a whopping 125-run win over Bovey Tracey on Queen’s Park.

BOVEY Tracey’s relegation worries in the Tolchards DCL Premier Division on the other, deepened massively following this defeat.

Skipper Noah Wright (76) top-scored more than every other batter in Paignton’s top six in a total of 286 for five.

Bovey Tracey were bowled out for 161 in reply – and only got that far thanks to Sam Taylor rescuing them with 49 after they were 86 for five.

Paignton (92pts) are still third from bottom but have opened up a 31-point lead over Bovey Tracey (61), who are in the second relegation place. The simple arithmetic of the situation is Bovey have to win three MORE games than Paignton in the second half of the season to get ahead of them.

Pete Bradley, the Bovey Tracey captain, said his youthful squad of players are on an accelerated learning curve this season.

“Although Bovey has been in the Premier Division for more than 15 years, this is an inexperienced group of players at that level,” said Bradley.

“The team is in transition and the boys are trying to learn as fast as they can, as well as enjoy it and work hard to represent the club as best as we can.”

Brenton Pedley scored 31 of the first 58 on the board for Paignton. Wright and Charlie Ward (44) put on 105 for the second wicket as Bovey’s bowlers toiled in vain.

Harry Ward (44) and Wright took the running total along to 223, at which point opener Wright departed.

Abhay Negi (32) and Luke Medlock (23no) kept the runs coming until the last over.

Keeping the runs down was a problem for Bovey, although Sam Harvey (0-42) and Ollie Clifford-Bourne (1-37) fared better than the rest.

“Although Paignton batted well – it was a good track – I felt like our bowlers contained for long periods,” said Bradley.

“Paignton had wickets in hand and got away in the last five overs, when they scored 61 runs.”

Bradley re-worked the front-end batting and sent Musa Twala in to open. He made 46 towards a running total of 86 for five.

Taylor was next in and last out. Only Ed Foreman (11) made double figures batting with Taylor.

Paignton’s Steve George, fresh from an Ashes win for England Deaf over Australia, got into the middle order and finished with Taylor’s wicket in his three for 19. Negi (2-30) and Rory Medlock (2-33) had a couple of wickets each.

The gap between Paignton (8th) and Bovey (9th) now stands at 31 points and so the latter certainly have a mountain to climb if they are to avoid the drop in the Premier Division.