Whimple missed a real chance to boost their E Division promotion hopes when, on the day that the only team to sit above them in the table, Babbacombe, were beaten, they lost too!

They went down by 113 runs at home to Kentisbeare.

The Mid Devon side batted first and were restricted to 213-9 with home skipper Ben Silk claiming a fivefer. Silk took his fifth wicket his final delivery to finish with figures of 5-42, but his batsmen could not match the bowling feat and were hustled out for just 110 with only Paul Gillard and Phil Hope making any impression with knocks of 24 and 23 respectively.

Silk said: “It turned out to be a day to forget! It’s all the more frustrating that we were unable to chase down what I felt was a very achievable target on our superb batting track. I thought they (Kentisbeare) were 30 runs short, but it turned out that had more than enough. Mind you, we were our won worst enemies, contributing to our fate with some poor batting.”

On Saturday Silk and his men entertain Kilmington. The skipper says: “We have to improve and we will. Kilmington will see this as their chance to make a statement and I am very keen for us to quickly forget our woes against Kentisbeare. It seems everyone is going to be beating everyone else this season in this section. We all need to sharpen our acts and stop relying on the next man to get runs if we fail with the bat or expect the next bowler to do the business if we are not on top of our own game with the ball.”

Whimple II also fell to Kentisbeare opposition, going down in Mid Devon despite a fine 62 from Jono Burden in the teams 207, passed for the loss of eight wickets by the hosts with Burden completing a fine all-round shift with a brace of wickets.