Newton St Cyres inflicted Sidmouth's second defeat in the East Devon Indoor League, passing an inadequate total of 85 with two balls to spare, writes John Goodwin.

St Cyres fielded well with Martin Pearce taking a rebound from the roof one-handed to dismiss the normally prolific Anthony Griffiths for 10.

He was to take another good catch to provide the league's only female player, Alice Johnson, with one of her two wickets. She also accounted for two run-outs, one a direct hit.

Sidmouth relied on Miles Dalton's 34 for the bulk of their runs, but he played on to end the innings with two overs still to face.

Sidmouth began well when St Cyres batted with a couple of tight overs and two wickets, but a flurry of wides and no-balls helped St Cyres recover as Paul Denham reached the retirement score of 25. Mike Johnson and Lewis Bowen finished the job off.

Sidmouth remain in second place in the league, three points behind Clyst Hydon but having played one game more.

Tipton St John appeared to be making steady progress in reply to Exmouth’s 141-4 with 54 on the board without loss after six overs. Four wickets fell in the seventh over to destroy any chance of a chase and they were all out for 75 in the 10th over, James Tapper claiming three victims.

At the top of the order, Steve Shaw made 24 and Dickie Dawson 27. For Exmouth there were runs from Julian Page and Tapper were unbeaten with 34 and 32, respectively, who and P Hall made 28.

Clyst Hydon II hit 138-3 against Newton Poppleford, Chris Jelly, Lewis Morgan, Graham Trude and W Gregg all passing the retirement score of 25. Newton Poppleford replied with 66 all out, Matthew Raistrick with 18 and Richard Coombs with 14, providing most of the resistance.

Ottery St Mary had four balls to spare when they passed Yarcombe & Stockland’s 100 with four wickets down.

James Mitchum provided the backbone for Yarcombe’s total with an unbeaten 41 in two visits to the crease.

Ottery’s fourth wicket fell in the 10th over with the score on 85 and this brought opener Barry Flicker back in.

He advanced his score to 32 and Alex Clements made 24 not out as they steered their side home.