HELSTON skipper Dan Jenkin admitted the league is ‘wide open’ after the Blues moved up to second in the ECB Cornwall Premier League table with a six-wicket victory over previous leaders Wadebridge on Saturday.

After reducing the Swans to 93-8 at a sun-drenched Beacon Parc, the visitors fought back as James Turpin’s superb 82 got them up to 170 all out, helped by a 70-run stand with number 10 Matt Lawrence who made 28.

But despite Helston slipping to 18-3 in reply, in part to Callum Wilson’s 2-26, Australian Jayden Mitchell’s superb 85 not out in partnerships with Karl Leathley (27) and former captain Mark Jenkin (32no) guided the West Cornwall outfit to victory, a result which saw champions Penzance go top by 14 points.

A delighted Jenkin said: “We knew what a tough day it would be as it was baking hot and Wadebridge give you nothing, especially so with the form they’ve been showing of late.

“Although we’d have batted as well given the conditions, we’re never too disappointed to be bowling first given how well we have been going chasing scores over the past few weeks.

“We’ve not hit our levels early in games this season, so we really made a conscious effort to be bang at it from ball one, which I thought we did superbly well on Saturday.”

Wadebridge lost openers Tom McLachlan (7) and Matt Robins (3) early as well as Aussie Lachlan Crump for four (19-3), and although Matt Rowe (18) and Turpin added 31, wickets continued to fall with Ryan Tonkin (2-19), Mitchell (2-43), Sunshine Osmont (2-30) and Harry Saunders (1-20) bowling tight spells.

Young off-spinner Ollie Black got the eighth wicket before dismissing Lawrence and Turpin in the final over for figures of 3-43.

Jenkin continued: “Once we’d made a few early inroads then we squeezed hard. We know they bat deep and didn’t want to give them anything but Turps played a really good knock to get them to a decent total in the end.

“We always felt it was under par but would still have to bat well to get there. It was a little bit tricky early on but Jayden was top class, supported nicely by Karl and Mark. They all took the sting out of the game and made it look fairly comfortable.”

Helston have yo-yoed between the top two divisions in recent years and only survived with little to spare in 2024, but something is special is building before Saturday’s top-two clash at Penzance (1pm).

Jenkin said: “The league is certainly wide open and from top to bottom, everyone is beating each other. We’ve put ourselves in a great position with our form of late but we know it’s still early days and we’re hungry for more.

“As for Penzance, everyone is excited. You want to be involved in games that mean something, even more so when they are at the right end of the table. We’ve come out on the right side of one this past weekend and we’ll be going even harder to do so again on Saturday.”

Wadebridge skipper Kelvin Snell, who saw his side win their inaugural Edwards Cup crown in midweek, admitted they weren’t good enough.

He said: “Helston outplayed us in all three disciplines of the game and thoroughly deserved the victory.

“We were very thankful to James Turpin who batted superbly on a tricky pitch to get us to a competitive score, but it wasn’t quite good enough in the end.

“Helston are a very youthful and energetic team and seem to have got the better of us in the last few games and I’m sure in the next few seasons they will progress further as they gain more experience.”

The result leaves Wadebridge 15 adrift, but with Penzance to come at Egloshayle Park next Saturday, they remain right in the mix.

Snell continued: “I think we will find out a lot more about the title race after the next two weeks. Penzance are on top and have Helston, then us, so we will see.

“All we can do is keep applying ourselves and putting in the effort and hopefully get back to winning ways!”

Wadebridge are away from home again on Saturday when they visit a Truro side who are just two points above bottom side Grampound Road (1pm).

Snell concluded: “This weekend will be another tough test. They seem to have found themselves near the bottom of the table, so they will be fighting for a victory probably more than ever now!

“They have match-winners in their team and we will not be taking them lightly.”