CORNWOOD and Plymouth slugged it out toe-to-toe at Oak Park in a West Devon derby that finished in a tie.

Skipper Matt Skeemer top scored with 52 in a Cornwood total of 258 for nine.

Plymouth reached the last of their 50 overs needing eight to win and finished on … 258 for nine. Two to win from Mohsin Khan’s last ball would have done it, but Hal Kerton and non-striker Jason Degg could only scuttle a single.

Plymouth’s position was marginally improved by the result. Although they remain bottom of the table, the distance between them and safety has narrowed to 11 points from 24. Cornwood remain third in the table.

Opener Robin Dart (39) gave Cornwood a start that Khan (49) and Skeemer (52) improved on by adding 59 for the fourth wicket. Skeemer kept going after Khan departed and put on another 81 with the bottom half of the order.

Callum Williams and Surya Suresh had two wickets each for Plymouth. Dan Goodey (1-34) was easily the most difficult to score off.

Cornwood probably scored 30 more than we wanted to keep them to,” said Teddy Haffenden, the Plymouth captain. “We were unlucky at times with some key moments not going our way with the ball.”

Opener James Webb (33) was as steadying influence at the top of the order as Plymouth reached the halfway stage at 90 for three. What they needed was some impetus, which Kerton and Goodey provided.

Goodey (41) dominated a fifth-wicket stand of 55 with Kerton that took the running total to 156 for five. Kerton (86no) kept going and going. He and Williams (20) got the pursuit up to 243 for six with three overs to go.

Losing Williams, Saiesh Reddy and Ben Smith adding the next eight runs, left Kerton on strike going into Khan’s (3-31) final over. Eight to win was fractionally too many.

Skeemer said a tie was probably the right result at the end of a great game.

Skeemer added: “We were pretty happy with the total we got and felt very comfortable during the start of their innings.

“Goodey came out and changed the momentum, then Hal played a very impressive innings that deserved to be on the winning side.

“Mo (Khan) deserves a mention as well for defending eight in last over.”