Ottery St Mary arrested their slide in C Division East with a 98-run home win over Braunton, a result that means they are now 30 points clear of the bottom three after two-thirds of the Tolchards Devon cricket League has been completed.

After winning the toss and opting to bat first, Ottery skipper Will Harrison might have had some concerns as the first five wickets fell with only 86 runs on the board. Only opener Oliver West made much of an impression at the top of the order with a knock of 39. The bulk of the runs came fro the middle and late order with number six bat Jody Clements scoring 38 and number seven bat Richard Jackson scoring 27 before a 41 run partnership for the unbroken final wicket between number two batsman Joe Birch, who was 29 not out from just 14 balls faced – Birch hit three fours and two sixes - and last man skipper Harrison, who was unbeaten form a 12 ball 16 as Ottery closed on 238-9.

The Braunton reply was a ‘laboured’ one as they limped to a closing score of 140-7 from their 45 overs.

It was Aussie all-rounder West who led the bowling honours with a return of 2-28 and there were single wickets for Jody Clements (1-17) and Jack Malden (1-25). There were also three run-outs for the visiting side with Joe Birch responsible fore two of them and George Southall-Brown behind the other.

Ottery St Mary 2nds suffered an eighth defeat in a dozen E Division East outings when they went down by 96 runs at Axminster.

The home side batted first and closed on 230-8 with opener Karl Hurst carrying his bat for a splendid unbeaten 107. Hurst hit 17 fours in his 124 ball stay at the wicket.

Home skipper Paul Miller scored 31 from the number three slot and there were contributions of 22 from Dylan Hurst and 20 from Joe Elsworth.

At 67-7, the Ottery reply was in danger of being done and dusted for a sub 100 score. However, a 55 run partnership for the eighth wicket between James Anderson (34) and Jake Tierney (31) saw the Otters into three figures before they were eventually bowled out for 134.