Budleigh Salterton 2nd XI remain in second place in D Division East of the Devon Cricket League after a confident 41-run victory at home to North Devon 2nds.

Budleigh were put into bat first and the visitors were soon left to rue that decision, as Steve Booth and Donovan Robinson amassed a strong opening stand of 60. Robinson was eventually trapped lbw for 33 and Daniel Messom lost his wicket for seven but a third wicket stand of 57 steadied the Budleigh ship.

Henry Collison bashed his way to a swift 34 from 20 balls but North Devon were given hope when Harvey Shipton and Lee Russell each lost their wickets for just one run. Booth, however, remained in post and finished with a strong 62 in Budleigh’s total of 203.

Kamalakar Posapalli made an early breakthrough in the reply and Budleigh were able to keep chipping away at the North Devon batsmen. Adam Jones ripped through the middle order and finished with impressive bowling figures of 4 for 25.

Lee Russell and Jack Garner also took a brace of wickets each, as North Devon were dismissed for 162. Budleigh travel to Clyst St George 2nds on the weekend.

Exmouth 2nds are still rooted to the bottom of C Division East after a narrow four-wicket loss at home to Sidmouth 2nds.

Exmouth did a solid job with the bat, Ed Maynard top scoring with 53 and there were also decent contributions from Mark Ashplant (32), Josh Austin (36) and Sean Day (33), as the hosts finished on 212/7 from their 45 overs.

The challenge was set to Sidmouth and they lost opener Jash Patidar for just seven, Jon Martin taking the wicket. Greg Mark added two more wickets and there was a caught and bowled for Ethan Brenton.

At 73/4, Sidmouth were in trouble, but the match changed with an excellent partnership of 99 between Anthony Griffiths (52) and Louis Adey (57). Marks finished with four wickets for Exmouth but it wasn’t enough to stop Sidmouth reaching their total with two overs to spare. Exmouth 2nds travel to Alphington and Countess Wear CC on Saturday.