UPLYME & LYME REGIS 134 (6pts) lost to CLYST HYDON 135-7 (19pts) by three wickets

UPLYME & Lyme Regis endured a poor day with the bat in their three-wicket loss to Clyst Hydon in their Devon League C Division East clash at King George V Playing Fields.

Having lost the toss and being asked to bat, Lyme started badly when Laurie Thomas (2) was run out by Lewis Rhodes with just four runs on the board.

Lyme were reduced to 25-3 when Liam Gorfine (14) was ousted by Rhodes (1-22) and Mark Batey (3) fell to Kevin Sercombe (1-15).

But Steve Batey (26) responded with three fours and a six, sharing in a 44-stand with Harvey Brimicombe (18) as Lyme rallied.

Batey’s quickfire innings was ended by William Thornton (3-30), who then dismissed Bruce Maltby (0) as Lyme stumbled to 69-5.

Wickets continued to fall frequently with only Mark Brimicombe (16) and the counter-attacking Harry Felgate (24) making double figures thereafter as Uplyme closed on a disappointing 134 all out.

Clyst Hydon’s reply was led by captain and wicketkeeper Ian Sutton (33) who, together with the obdurate Mark Ashplant (22) put on 64 for the first wicket.

But Gorfine (3-19) removed Sutton and Sinthuran Thevaraj (0) in successive balls as Clyst reached 64-2.

And Steve Batey (2-8) then followed up with a brace to oust Rumesh

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Batagodage (7) and Graham Trude (1), before Ashplant perished to Gorfine as Lyme checked the visitors at 79-5.

It took a determined unbeaten 29 from Clinton Lewis to stop the rot and, even after losing Nicholas Hodgin (12) and Sercombe (2), the middle order batsman guided Clyst past the winning post.

Next up for Uplyme is a crunch tie against Braunton, with the respective two sides occupying the two spots above the relegation zone with just five points separating them.