CORNWOOD 2nd XI scraped home by one wicket in the South Hams derby at Kingsbridge to regain top spot in the C Division West.

Kingsbridge got to 116 for three thanks to runs from James Westlake (42), former Cornwood player Jack Brown (31) and James Fletcher (28), then hit a brick wall.

Wickets fell to Alex Robinson (3-35), James Richardson (2-38) and Jacob Caunter (2-27) before Alex Browne (31) helped the score towards a final tally of 187.

The Wood lagged behind early on – they were 31 for three ­ – and had Craig Harris (39) and Sam Griffiths (27) to thank for getting back on an even keel.

A second stumble to 118 for six with Harris just out, had alarm bells tinkling in the Cornwood camp. Bhanu De Silva (3-31) spun them out.

Harry Woolway (31) and Matt Puttock (23) appeared to put Cornwood back on course, but there was another twist to come as 181 for seven became 185 for nine after a double strike by Brown (3-58).

The Caunter brothers – Jacob and Josiah – took needed just four balls between them to close-out the game.

Robin Dart, the Cornwood captain, said he was ‘very relieved’ to get over the line.

Dart added: “Ultimately, we got it done – and credit to everyone for digging deep. Going to need plenty more of it before the season is out.”

Meanwhile, Cornwood 3rd XI had bowler Andy Bees to thank for putting them into a potentially winning position against Tavistock 2nd XI … twice over.

Bees has taken 300-plus wickets for Cornwood in a long career but has only passed 50 with the bat once.

He didn’t quite get to a half-century against Tavistock, but his gritty 48 not out batting at number nine was a game-changer. He steered them to a defendable 170-8 total before destroying the Tavi top order with figures of 5-14.