Ottery St Mary have climbed to joint third in the Tolchards Devon Cricket League C Division East table after a three-wicket win at Budleigh Salterton 2nd XI.

After winning the toss, Ottery skipper Will Harrison wasted no time in asking the home side to bat first and opening seamer Joe Birch struck early to remove Neil Murrin, who fell to an Alex Clements catch without troubling the scorers.

Harrison also struck early, in his case thanks to an Oliver West catch, and when Birch got a second wicket, this time with Richard Jackson holding the catch, Budleigh were 28-3.

They rallied to reach 98 when Oliver West sent back Ben Carter for 24 and when West also ended the knock of Richard Arnold (58) the home side were 118-5. West claimed a third wicket to make it 118-6 and a wicket for Jack Malden and a fourth for West left Budleigh 134-8. The tail wagged sufficiently to help them up to 193 when they lost their final wicket. It was the West return that was the pick of the Ottery bowling effort with the Aussie’s figures being 4-44 from nine overs.

It was West who led the successful run chase as he hit a 77-ball, 12 boundary 75 as Ottery ultimately got home with three wickets and just over six overs to spare.

The West knock apart, the ‘best of the rest’ from the Ottery batsmen was the knock of 18 from number five bat Jack Malden and opener Alex Clements hit 16 as he and West put on 65 for the opening wicket.

The win sees the Otters share third spot with Alphington; both teams have 200 points, which is 44 fewer than second-placed Kilmington who, in turn, are five behind leaders Sidmouth 2nds in the race for the one promotion spot up for grabs this season.

On Saturday, Ottery entertain a Feniton side that are battling to stay up.

? Ottery 2nd XI were beaten by 67 runs in their home meeting with Honiton.

George Mutter took 3-44 as table-topping Honiton were restricted to 187-9, but then only Lawrence Walker (35), Dan Jeacock (28) and Jack Dallyn (18) reached double figures as the Otters were bowled out for 120. Ottery 2nds visit Woodbury and Newton St Cyres tomorrow.