MICKEY Copeland reeled off an unbeaten half-century as Ivybridge steamed to a seven-wicket win over Thorverton.

Two wins on the bounce have taken the Bridge up to third in the A Division table, which is a dream start for the A Division’s new arrivals.

Thorverton were all out for 147 in the 49th of their 50 overs. Opener George Daldorph mixed aggression with circumspection to make 83 off 90 balls. He was fourth out on 102, which highlighted the lack of runs at the other end. Harry Choules (22) was next best.

Spin was king for Ivybridge with three wicket each for Adam Huxtable (3-10) and Dinesh Raheja (3-25). Lewis Clarke spun out a couple. Copeland bowled 10 overs for just 19 runs given away.

Knocking off the runs was not an issue for Ivybridge, who had the job done in the 31st over. Wickets fell at 43, 55 and 108 on the way to victory.

Abraham Kopparambil (20) and Huxtable (22) got the chase started, Raheja (18) kept it going; Copeland (54no) and Harry Solomon (18no) tied up the loose ends.

Huxtable described it as ‘A very good team performance’ before going into specifics.

“We didn’t give anything away with the ball,” said Huxtable. “Mickey bowled a brilliant spell and was well backed up by Dinesh and Lewis.

“A very routine chase, which was nice to see. Mickey showed his class and made it look very easy out there.

“Very happy with the all-round performance and the effort the lads put in.”

Meanwhile, Stoke Gabriel captain Jack Tolley said his batters have to sharpen-up their act after suffering an 80-run defeat at Bideford.

Chasing 229 to win in the B Division clash at Westward Ho! they were bowled out for 148.

“We bowled and fielded well but needed to bat long on the chase and didn’t,” said Tolley.

“We gave wickets away and lost the game ourselves. Batters need to take responsibility and play the situation.

“After the disappointment of not getting a chance to play last week, through no fault of our own – or the weather – we needed to be better.”

Fred King was the only one of Bideford’s top six batters to miss out as they home side got to 228 for nine in 50 overs.

Jack Ford top scored with 65 and his stand of 79 for the fifth wicket with Fawaaz Gallie (38) kept the scoreboard flickering.

Stoke’s Isaac Withington (2-29) and Mike Smith (0-23) were hard to score off. Justin Pringle (1-27) was only hit for 16 in boundaries during his 10 overs. That’s a lot of dot balls!

Stoke skipper Jack Tolley picked up three wickets in the latter overs to finish with four for 44.

Stoke struggled for a significant partnership to hang a chase on, with nothing better than the 45 put on by Withington (23) and Tolley (37) for the fifth wicket. Tyler Hunter had long been and gone for 39 by then, the first of three wickets for Marcus Bulled.

Elliot Curry (4-20) parted Withington from Tolley and with Bulled (3-41) mopping up the visitors were bowled out.

Elsewhere, Kingsbridge imposed a crushing eight-wicket defeat on visiting Plymouth 2nd XI, Freddie Ford blazing away for 91 not out as his side won the game with 18 overs still to go.