WHITCHURCH Wayfarers 1st XI had a torrid afternoon when chasing down Lewdown in the E Division West.

The visitors were comfortably placed at 40-1 at the first drinks break.

Ben Hodge gave Whitchurch some hope by nibbling away at the middle order, taking three wickets in total, and the game was finely poised at 157-4.

Lewdown were able to drive on though and posted a strong total of 257 at Whitchurch House.

Any hope of chasing down this score disappeared for Whitchurch in the first few overs with the new scoreboard displaying a meagre running total of 5-3. Matthew Maynard, on his way to 4-15, caused a lot of the damage.

A defiant 61 from Jack Mackenzie kept said scoreboard ticking over. Supported by the middle order, he took the score to 148 before missing a straight delivery from Shaw (2-14).

The end came shortly after as Whitchurch were bowled out for 154, losing by 103 runs.

Whitchurch 1st XI are now 10 points from safety facing a long trip to eighth-placed Paignton 3rd XI next.

Meanwhile, Whitchurch 2nd XI also found themselves chasing leather at Langton Park against Yelverton Bohemians 2nd XI.

30 runs were already on the board when Lee Johns managed to top edge a wide delivery and was well caught by Andrew Hall in the deep. One of two excellent stumpings by Bob Powell followed shortly.

After that, it was a torrid time for the visitors; the runs simply flowed.

Lee Foskett hit 80 and Joseph Trimmer was then 121 not out.

Whitchurch were set 269 to win and they lost both openers before the score hit 20.

As the game got further away from them, it was becoming a contest to see if Yelverton could reach the full 20 points.

A few totals in the 20s gave the Wayfarers some valuable batting points on the way but that was as good as it got. Next up, they host Ivybridge 4th XI.