Seaton suffered a second successive C Division East loss when they went down at Alphington by a margin of just seven runs!

The Exeter side batted first and got off to a flyer having 71 on the board without loss of wicket after 15 overs!

Seaton skipper Ben Morgan turned to Robbie Prior and Chris Aplin to take on bowling honours and the pair worked in tandem to first stem the flow of runs and then bite into the home batting order.

Prior claimed 3-17 and Aplin 2-23 as the home side slipped to 116-6 and then 139-7 before the final pair to bat took the total to a close of 193-7.

The Seaton reply was hit with the loss of Will Mudd and Joel Seward, the latter for a most rare duck, and they were seven for two after three overs!

A third wicket fell before skipper Morgan and Mike Wheeler set about digging in and getting their side back into the game.

The pair added 61 for the fourth wicket, but a rash shot from Morgan led to his demise for 26. Tim Mitchell, at a tender 16 years, joined Wheeler and the pair continued to take the game to the home side. Mitchell eventually fell for a splendid 39 and Wheeler for a terrific 42. However wickets continued to fall and the final over arrived with 18 runs required. Phil Collins launched the first ball over the boundary rope, but next ball his stumps were knocked over. Batsman number ten Ben Libby then took on the responsibility and he smashed the penultimate delivery, but unfortunately straight down the throat of long-on and was caught and that was that! Morgan said: “It was a case of what might have been and, given that we were not at our strongest, the biggest plus for me from this game is that it underlines once again that we do harbour strength in depth and everyone in the eleven is capable of doing a job at some stage in a game. Young Tim (Mitchell) showed great composure and Mike (Wheeler) so nearly took us home. I am annoyed with myself for I had a rush of blood to the head to get myself out! Other plusses were the fabulous spells with the ball by Chris (Aplin) and Robbie (Prior).”

On Saturday Seaton host leaders Ottery St Mary who will start the day five places and 41 points better off than them. Morgan and Prior both miss the game, Morgan through a wedding and Prior through work.