SECOND-placed Chagford are just three points behind leaders Plymouth 2nd XI in the D West promotion race after defeating Plymouth Civil Services & Roborough by 74 runs at Manadon.

Opener Jon Wright helped himself to a top score of 87 off 69 balls – 72 of those runs coming in boundaries – as Chagford amassed 285 for nine.

Wright and Jack Brijnath (43) made a 105-run start for Chagford, whose total was topped up by Olly Herrington (51) and Tom Baycock (34).

Keeping up the asking rate proved a problem for Civil, despite best efforts of Abraham Thomas (43), Malik Wasim (23), Ritesh Dubey (23) and Nuruz Zamal.

Ten overs out Civil needed 112 to win with five wickets intact, which might have been on had Zamal lingered a little longer. Once he went for 44, Civil slowed to 211 for nine.

Brijnath topped Chagford’s bowling stats with three for 23. Jake Griffiths and Baycock had two wickets each.