The stage is set for an East Devon thriller in the A Division of the Tolchards Devon Cricket League this weekend.

Leaders Exmouth CC will be the visitors to Budleigh Salterton on Saturday and the men from the Maer now know they will face a side full of confidence, especially with the ball in hand.

Budleigh made the trip to Plympton last weekend and knew that only a dominant victory would see them leapfrog their hosts in the table. Dominant, however, does no justice to the performance Budleigh produced.

Having elected to field first, Budleigh made a swift breakthrough, Jack England removing opener Harry Kandampully for a duck, with Dylan Penberthy-Hutchings taking the catch.

Plympton did settle down for a period and reached 50 without any further damage. Unfortunately for the home side, it all went spectacularly downhill from there, as they lost nine wickets for just 26 further runs.

Edward Doble bowled Elliot Hamilton for 18 and Joel Murphy dismissed Justin Wubbeling for 19, Penberthy-Hutchings again taking the catch. Plympton then imploded, as Doble removed Tinotenda Mutombodzi for a duck and England trapped Alex Carr leg before, also for a duck.

The outstanding Doble then claimed three more wickets in quick succession and eventually closed with incredible bowling figures of five wickets for just six runs, which included five maidens in his nine overs. Chathura Peiris also joined the fun by claiming the final two Plympton batsmen.

Chasing a measly target of 76, James Doble and Penberthy-Hutchings made an adequate start before losing their wickets for 15 and 11 respectively. Peiris (17) and Theo Northover (29) calmly completed the job for Budleigh, who moved up to fourth in the table.

It was a fabulous display and now so interesting to see how the Budleigh attack fares against Exmouth’s in-form batting line-up, and particularly Jason Niemand, who scored a brutal 145 not out in their comfortable win over Thorverton.

Following the East Devon derby, Budleigh make the short trip to Kilmington on July 9, welcome Thorverton on July 16 and then travel to Abbotskerswell on July 23.