Seaton bagged arguably their best results of the season, defeating second-in-the-table Barton by four wickets.

Skipper Ben Morgan won the toss and asked Barton to bat and it was captain Morgan who struck with the first wicket – sending back opener Simon Edwards without him troubling the scorers.

The second wicket pairing took the score to 41 when an Alex Paget catch off Ben Libby left Barton two down and the third wicket fell with the score on 92 thanks to a Brian Cann catch off Kersely Sutton.

A first wicket for Joel Seward made it 122-4 and, when Seward struck again, half the Barton side were back in the pavilion with the score board on 128.

It was then 136-6 with a George Harwood catch off Joe Berry seeing an end to Barton opener Will Grainger.

The seventh wicket partnership took the total to 162-7 when skipper Morgan hit the stumps. However, having been 160-6, the Barton innings collapsed to 167 all out as Morgan picked up two more wickets and Kersley Sutton got a second.

Morgan took the bowling honours with his return an excellent 4-19 from 6.5 overs and the Sutton return was 2-27 from seven. Joe Seward also bagged a brace on his way to figures of 2-33 from a full shift of nine overs. The other two wickets were shared by Ben Libby (1-30 from seven) and Joe Berry (1-31 from nine).

The Seaton reply got another solid start as Matt Hewer and Brian Cann took the score to 45-1 when Cann fell for 16. Joel Seward joined Hewer and they took the reply to 103 when Seward was dismissed for 25. Josh Cann was next in and he chipped in with a good 25 before Hewer was out for 45 with the total then 135-3, but the loss in quick succession of Cann and Joe Berry, the latter without scoring, and it was suddenly 137-5 with Seaton still 31 runs shy of victory. However, captain Morgan was determined to lead his side to a fourth win of the B Division season and, despite the loss of Ollie Pinnock, run out for four with the reply on 153, Morgan saw his side home with an unbeaten 26 to seal a four wicket win.

A delighted Ben Morgan said: “I must praise each and every one of the players. Collectively they put in such a great shift and I have to give special praise to both Kersley [Sutton] and Joe [Berry] who bowled the middle overs superbly. The pair of them played a big part in this win and, considering both have seemed low on confidence of late, it was a terrific effort.”

The Seaton skipper continued: “I was away during the week so did not see any of the lads, nor had I been to our midweek net. We had another chat before the game, going over the things we had discussed the week before and the response from the players, to a man, was simply top rate. We fielded well and, while winning the toss in bowler friendly conditions was a key, the lads still had to do the business and they did just that, first with the ball and with the support fielding and then the batters chipped in where they had to and we got over the line in a degree of comfort. Yes, this was a ‘very good day at the office’.”

On Saturday (June 23) Seaton travel to Plymstock. They will be without Robbie Prior, Stephen Pritchard and Alex Paget and continue to miss Tim Mitchell, who is at university. However, Chris Aplin is back and a couple of the trio who missed the Barton win may also be back. Skipper Ben Morgan says: “Given the way we played against Barton I am looking for some consistency of that level of performance. It’s good to think we are still being competitive with players out and I am looking forward to improved availability and the ‘knock-on’ effect of them having to think deeply about who gets left out!”