Devon eased into the last eight of the ECB 38 Counties Cup with a crushing nine-wicket win over Wiltshire at Torquay yesterday.

It was winner take all at the Recreation Ground as Wiltshire were top of the group and Devon had to beat them to go through to the knockout stages and a date with either Berkshire or Northants CB at Bovey Tracey on August 1.

And Devon did it in some style with Bob Dawson hammering 93 not out as Wiltshire's modest total of 187 all out was overhauled the best part of ten overs to spare.

Chris Budd held Wiltshire's innings together with a knock of 69 before he was sixth out on 128 – caught off the top edge by a running Dave Townsend down at third man.

Apart from Russell Rowe, who made 12 prior to losing his leg-stump to David Lye, the only other batter to reach double figures for Wiltshire was wicketkeeper Neil Shardlow.

He made a patient 42, helping to squeeze another 59 out of the bottom half of the order after Budd went, and was ninth man out to pacer Ian Bishop. Bishop, like the rest of the seamers, didn't get much out of the pitch and it was the spinners who prospered with skipper Peter Roebuck bagging three for 32 and David Lye's mixed bag accounting for two for 22.

Some sharp fielding also aided Devon's cause, notably Dawson's over-the-shoulder catch to send back Paul Marsh and a snappy run-out by Matt Hunt, when he only had one stump to aim at from sideways on, which disposed of Richard Bates.

Devon lost Lye with 21 on the board, but that was the only breakthrough Wiltshire managed during a one-sided chase.

Surviving opener Dave Townsend batted through for 59 not out while Dawson fired 12 fours and three sixes in his 93.

© MCCA