Ottery St Mary 2nd XI entered the weekend clash with the elaborately-named Bideford/Littleham/Westward Ho! 2nds knowing that a win was absolutely crucial.
Ottery were sitting second bottom, just behind the side, for the sake of space, we shall now call BidLitWest, and they opted to bowl first.
It very quickly proved a wise decision, as Max Mayor produced a bowling masterclass for the Otters, removing the top four batsmen to leave the visitors floundering on 17-4.
The Mayor show included two trapped leg before, a clean bowled and a caught and bowled.
BidLitWest tried to stem the flow with a 14 from Martin Stewart before he was bowled by George Burningham and Harsha Sinnappu Liyange also sent the wickets tumbling.
Peter Stevens top scored for the visitors with 21 but he was also bowled by Daniel Jeacock, and the final total of just 87 all out was extremely inviting for Ottery.
There was an early scare when Dan Flower was removed for a duck but opening partner Anthony Dean settled any nerves with a commanding 54 not out and Ottery eventually ran out winners by eight wickets, securing 20 points and leapfrogging their visitors in the table.
Unfortunately, the first-team were unable to repeat those heroics in an entertaining local derby at Sidmouth 2nds.
Eddie Rudolph gave his side some hope with a terrific 59 at number three but the big problem was finding a consistent partner at the other end, with Alex Clements (16) and Freddie Eul-Baker (15) the next highest scorers.
Ottery were all out for 143 and it needed a fast start from the bowling attack.
Will Harrison and Eul-Baker both delivered, removing the Sidmouth openers, and at 39-2, Ottery had genuine hope.
It was, however, distinguished by an explosive partnership, as Louis Adey stroked an impressive 50 from 39 balls and Jash Pitadar wasn’t far behind with his 40 from 43 balls, as Sidmouth ran out winners by eight wickets.