RUSSELL Perry's five wickets helped Corbridge move away from the drop zone following a crucial victory at Cramlington.

The bowling change proved a good move as he kept a lid on the scoring, the depleted visitors overhauling their target to move 25 points clear of the bottom two.

Following the recent wet weather, Corbridge captain Andy Dover had no hesitation in putting Cramlington into bat first, and he and Dave Cox repeatedly beat the beat and restricted the scoring.

Cox struck twice in the ninth over as he had Joe Ingram, playing at a wide ball, caught at slip by dover, and then Paul Bramley caught low down by Milo Robinson to take the score to 14-2.

A sensible spell from Andy Langley and Jonathan Marshall saw off the openers, but the introduction of Perry put Corbridge back on top.

While he finished with five wickets, he was ably supported by Zubair Ahmed with two victims to bowl Cramlington all out for 123.

Corbridge openers Dave Smurthwaite and Cox seemed in little trouble as they made their way to 38 for the first wicket, but the partnership was ended when the former was bowled.

Simon Walker came to the crease and added 28 runs, before fatigue induced a false shot by Cox.

From there, the wickets tumbled regularly as Walker, Perry and Steve Kent fell to have Corbridge in trouble at 78-5.

However, the youthful combination of Marcus Sewell and Milo Robinson stopped the rot as they took the score to 99 until Robinson was caught at short extra cover.

Joining Sewell, captain Dover made sure of the victory with a quickfire knock of 17, earning an all-important 26 points ahead of this weekend's crunch game with Stobswood Welfare.