HATHERLEIGH were batted out of the game by a resurgent Sidmouth, who dismissed them for 153 to win by 114 runs.

Hatherleigh remain fourth from bottom but are only eight points clear of the relegation zone.

Rob Cockwill, the Hatherleigh skipper, dusted off his crystal ball to offer this prediction: “It makes things interesting at the bottom of the table and we could have an exciting end to the season.”

Sidmouth and Devon batsman Sam Elstone, testing his fitness after a year out with an arm injury, and Dan Powell (47) got the visitors up and running with a stand of 87.

After Powell and then Elstone (50) were taken out, Luke Bess and Taylor Ingham-Hill with matching 31s kept the board flickering.

Matt Fourie went on to top score with 69 of 33 balls – five fours, four sixes – and was involved in stands that added 102 in the last 10 overs that took Sidmouth to 267 for six.

Spinner Shrey Ghosh (2-33), Emmerson Wood (2-56) and frugal Rob Fishleigh (0-34 off 9) had the only notable bowling figures on Hatherleigh’s side of the page.

Hatherleigh’s prospects diminished rapidly as they slid to 52 for five then 63 for six under pressure from Tom Hodgson (3-23) and Fourie (2-32).

Cockwill (37) and Fishligh (32) put on 55 for the sixth wicket until Mo Kaleem (2-38) spun out the latter.

Cockwill was ninth out at 151, followed four balls later by Will Edwards. Game over.

Said Cockwill: “It was a fairly important toss to win on a used pitch, but that was no excuse for the result.

“Credit to Sidmouth, who out-played us in every department. We simply lost to the better side on the day, which is frustrating.

“Missing a couple of chances probably cost us 30-40 runs on a day when 220 was probably a good score on that pitch

“A week to forget and move on to Plymouth next.”

Hatherleigh 2nd XI were also up against it, Andy Birkett lashing an unbeaten century to speed Plymouth 2nd XI to a seven-wicket win in the C Division West.

Birkett – best known as a former professional rugby player with numerous club, among them Plymouth Albion and Exeter Chiefs – was a good enough cricketer to play for Cornwall earlier in his career.

These days Birkett is jogging along opening the batting for Plymouth 2nd XI and doing a pretty good job of it too.

Hatherleigh’s all-out total of 188 was knocked-off inside 29 of the 50 overs available with Birkett there from start to finish. He finished on 108 not out from 90 balls faced (19 fours and two sixes).

In a stand of 79 for the second wicket with Jon Varcoe, the latter made 19. Tom Hughes was the other not-out batter when Birkett hit Cameron Rowlands for four to win it. Birkett has scored 444 league runs at an average of 88.8 in seven hits this season.

Skipper Danny Forrester (44) made early runs for Hatherleigh, followed by Jack Probert batting through for 52. Best of the rest were Jim Sibcy (29) and Henry D”Alberti-Nicolson (26).

Plymouth’s Melissa Banks (3-23) posed problems in the top half of the Hatherleigh order. Sam Burns and Aziz Rahmanzai took two wickets each.

Defeat means another week at the bottom of the table for Hatherleigh, who travel to second-placed Kingsbridge this Saturday.