A CRUCIAL partnership of 70 between Henry Gater and Graham Munday set up Sidmouth 3rd XI for victory over Tavistock 2nd XI to keep their faint hopes of avoiding relegation alive, writes John Goodwin.

The stand rescued Sidmouth from a sickly 15-3 after they had bowled Tavistock out for 108.

It was a good day for members of Sidmouth’s under 15 squad, with Dominic Bess taking 6-25 in Tavistock’s innings, before Gater compiled a half century containing five fours and one six.

He played the dominant role in the stand with Munday, who made 22 before being undone by a shooter with the score on 85.

Another shooter accounted for Gater for 54 but by then three runs were all that were required and Bess applied the coup de grace.

The Tavistock pitch was suffering from the midweek deluge and after being inserted the home batsmen struggled against an accurate opening seam attack of Nick Mansfield and Tom Chaplin.

A change of field that saw Declan Lines put into the gulley so skipper Mike Dibble could assume a silly mid-off position reaped immediate dividends when Lines took a flying catch off Mansfield. The veteran admitted it would have been beyond him.

The introduction of spin really dried up the runs and after being 60-1 Tavistock slumped to 67-5.

Bess was twice on a hat-trick and Charlie Dibble joined in the spin mayhem, taking 3-27, and benefiting from another good Lines catch, this time as he ran in from deep mid-wicket.

Going to Braunton, who are just above the relegation zone, for their next match, Sidmouth are still 42 points from safety with four games left.