TAVISTOCK’S winning run at the top of the A Division continued with a four-wicket win away to Torquay & Kingskerswell.

The Seasiders struggled early on against James McGahey and Jack Smyly (2-19), whose two-wicket burst included habitual run-getter Nathan Roux for a duck, and at 26 for three needed a revival.

Skipper Harry Passenger made a patient 69 and with support from Rio Koyikarra (27), the total reached 157 all out.

Tavistock shared the wickets out two at a time to Smyly, new signing Tom Clarke (2-32), who captain Sean Cleave said “bowled superbly on his debut”, Shaun Daymond (2-40) and Rhys Davies with a pair at the end.

Chasing 158 to win was not exactly a formality for Tavistock, who suffered a major slump from 78 for none to 78 four with Billy Barriball (44) among the casualties.

Spin proved Tavistock’s stumbling block to a routine cruise – all six wickets fell that way, four of them to Passenger (4-31).

Will Scott-Munden was the man of the moment for Tavistock with an unbeaten 55 to see them home with more than 14 overs to spare.

Cleave did not attempt to gloss over the batting collapse., “Probably our only weakness so far this season has been losing wickets in clusters – and we did just that again.”

Tavistock have a 10-point lead over Hatherleigh at the top of the latest table. Cleave could not be happier.

“That’s four wins from four—our strongest start to a season yet,” said Cleave

Elsewhere, Bridestowe & Belstone won for the first time since the opening day of the season when they defeated Cullompton by 34 runs in a high-scoring encounter at Landspeed Meadow.

Kian Burns was the only one of BB’s top six to miss out on runs in a hefty total of 361 for six. Openers Tallan Burns (66) and James Ewen (40) provided a 15-run start, then Shaquan Glasgow and Leon Horn tucked into the Cullompton bowling.

A stand of 162 for the third wicket between Horn (92) and Glasgow hoisted the B&B tally to 292 for four. Brandon Horn then chipped in whilst Glasgow reached his century before falling to the final ball on 104.

Raheja (2-55) and Dan Reynaldo (2-76) were the only Cully bowlers with more than one wicket in the book.

Raheja gave B&B’s bowlers a taste of the same medicine his colleagues had swallowed by batting 136 at the top of the Cully batting order. He hit 16 fours and two sixes – the second off Burns to reach three figures.

An opening stand of 129 between Raheja and Dan King (59) said game on – and it was until Cully slowed to 148 for five in the 3rd over with Jason Parr just out to man-of-the-match Glasgow.

A rapid 56 off 40 balls from Akshay Bharadwaj during a stand of 142 with Raheja made things interesting as while they stayed together 98 to win in the last 10 overs was feasible.

When Glasgow (5-44) picked off Bharadwaj then Reynaldo in short order, the momentum switched B&B’s way. Raheja’s demise with three overs to go confirmed the inevitable.

Tail-ender Sukhdeep Singh walloped three sixes in a rush while making 25 not out in Cully’s final tally of 327 for nine.

Skipper Burns said it was a ‘fantastic effort’ after back-to-back defeats.

He added, “Really pleased with a deserved win for the lads, especially Shaq, who has been threatening a match-winning performance since the start of the season.”