HATHERLEIGH won by three wickets at Sandford to edge towards Premier Division safety.

Defeat effectively ended Sandford’s slim hopes of catching Paignton in the title race, unless the Queen’s Park side lose their last two games badly.

Hatherleigh, motivated by staying in the division rather than winning it, knocked off a modest 178 to win with more than six overs to go. That outcome lifted them four points out of the bottom two and inserted Plymouth in their former relegation place.

Rob Cockwill, the Hatherleigh skipper, said ‘an important win’ showed what his team is capable of, although they are not out of danger yet.

“It’s a great time to find form as a team,” said Cockwill. “All we can do is try and put pressure on other teams and hope that’s enough to keep us up.”

Joe Hopkins (24), James Theedom (23) and Small (28) all contributed to taking Sandford up to 97 for five. Tanbir Hayder (47) was the ninth man out in an eventual total of 177.

Charlie Presswell (4-38) mopped up the lower order after twin Jamie (2-29), Shrey Ghosh (2-34) and spinner Mark Lake (2-45) posed problems in the top half.

“It was a cracking effort to bowl Sandford out for 177 on a decent pitch after losing the toss,” said Cockwill. “All of our bowlers were brilliant.”

Openers Ryan Quick (18) and Nial Leahy (43) gave Hatherleigh a 64-run start in the first 10 overs, at which point Ghosh strode into the middle.

It was Ghosh’s unbeaten 66 – 82 balls, seven fours, 121 minutes, lots of dots – that steered Hatherleigh out of the bottom two. Jasper Presswell (18) and Greg Solkin (12) had roles too.

“Niall and Ryan gave us a great start in the chase, especially Niall who deserved a 50,” said Cockwill.

“Shrey was awesome with bat and ball, and le the run chase perfectly.”

Jamie Palmer (3-33) was the pick of the Sandford wicket takers. Hayder’s 10 overs cost just 18 runs- it helped Hatherleigh’s cause that they were not exposed to the bowling of Somerset seamer Theedom.

Meanwhile, Hatherleigh 2nd XI’s 105-run win over Abbotskerswell’s did nothing to improve their chances of dodging relegation from the C Division West.

What harmed Hatherleigh was fellow strugglers Paignton 2nd XI, bedfellows in the bottom three for most of the season, crushing third-placed Plymouth 2nd XI by eight wickets.

Paignton’s win preserved the 30-point gap between them and second-bottom Hatherleigh, whose relegation alongside South Devon now seems inevitable.

It looked like one of those days for Hatherleigh when opener Cameron Rowlands got out second ball to Jay Hussain (3-44), but that wasn’t the case.

Jamie Nielson (40) played a stabilising innings, which led to Jack Probert (32) and skipper Danny Forrester (44) opening up.

The big runs – not including a whopping 42 wides – came courtesy of Henry D’alberti-Nicholson, whose 44-ball 86 included seven fours and six sixes towards the total if 299 for nine.

Alfie Harrison (3-54) vied with Hussain for Abbots’ bowling pat on the back.

Abbotskerswell were in a bit of a mess at three for four in reply in the third over. Twenty-four for four was hardly an improvement.

Charlie Hill (22), born-again batter Aron Owen (52) and skipper Toby Codd (49) got their heads down to make the best of the situation, which looked much better at 124 four six.

Codd was the last man out with 16 balls to go in Abbots’ total of 194.

Ruben Forrester (3-40) and Tom Strawbridge (2-28) had two wickets each when the ball was new. Charlie Bingham (2-28) and D’Alberti-Nicholson (2-20) got among the lower half.