Devon B

Dartington and Totnes

v Chagford

CHAGFORD, already assured of promotion to B division next season, and in second place prior to the game just two points behind Cockington, faced a tricky visit to Dartington and Totnes in third place. 

Batting first Dartington and Totnes lost star batsman Bertus Loots quickly and continued to lose wickets at regular intervals. At one stage they were in deep trouble at 82 for 6 but the last four wickets mustered another 87 runs, thanks to Kevin Heale with an intelligent 44 and skipper Harold Stevenson (17) to enable them to reach 169 all out.

Spinners Mark Gribble 3 for 42, Neil Rowlands 3 for 19 and Jerry Christophers 2 for 43 did the damage,         

On a Dartington wicket of indifferent bounce this was always going to be a challanging target and so it proved as Chagford were soon 12 for 3 with poor shots from openers Mark Gribble and Del Lammonby. 

Johnny Coburn and Colin Mortimore advanced the score slowly with a mixture of defence and attack before Mortimore departed for 28. Coburn was given good support by skipper Jerry Christophers but Coburn was dismissed for 44 and Christophers 18. The tail capitulated and Chagford were all out for 134 to give Dartington and Totnes victory by 35 runs and 18 points to Chagford's 7.  

Ryan Stevenson was the star bowler for D and T with 3 for 36, causing all the Chagford batsmen trouble with his speed and accuracy, and South African Loots, with his spin, taking 4 for 36.

Cockington v Bridestowe

As the game was finishing information was coming through of the important game between leaders Cockington and relegation threatened Bridestowe. The welcome news was that Cockington had been dismissed for just 128 with Steve Drayner 5 for 32 and Chris Lavis 3 for 39 the main wicket takers.. 

Bridestowe then went on to reach this target with 4 wickets remaining with veteran Mark Fogerty top scoring with 31 not out.  This gave Bridestowe 19 welcome points and after being in the bottom two all season, enabled them to finish third from bottom and to consign Feniton to the drop instead. 

Cockington unexpectively gained just four points from the game and so finished on 238 points. Chagford, despite losing for the first time after seven consecutive wins, with their seven points finished on 239 points and so became C division champions by just one point in a competitive league and will be in division B next season.