Honiton Cricket Club 1st team match report v Budleigh Salterton

Honiton travelled through several heavy showers to arrive at Budleigh Salterton's ground to see most of the square under water. Whilst there was no chance of the game starting on time, the slim hope of getting some sort of a game played kept both sides interested, and they were rewarded when the wind and sun combined to dry out the pitch sufficiently to enable a shortened 26 over a side game to be played.

Honiton won the toss and elected to bat first on what looked a dry and hard wicket that demonstrated the value of covers. Openers Dave Haysom and Kev Kelly looked to put last week's run out mix up behind them by agreeing to not run any singles!

As the innings progressed with a mixture of defensive and aggressive strokes, the scoreboard was ticking over nicely and Honiton were well placed when Haysom was first out bowled for 48 (7 x 4 and a 6) with 88 on the board. James Matravers joined Kelly and together they took the score to 121 when Kelly was bowled for 47 (5 x 4).

This brought Mike Docherty to the middle and the runs continued to flow with Matravers stroking 3 sixes and a four in his 39 off 23 balls before he was bowled, but with Docherty running quickly to score an unbeaten 30 from 23 balls with only a single boundary and with Ben Kennell also not out with 12 from 8 balls the Honiton innings closed on an outstanding team effort of 190 for 5 from their 26 overs.

Budleigh needed a good start but lost their first wicket with only 7 on the board. Tidy bowling from Kevin Kelly and Corey Lapping helped keep Budleigh behind the run rate initially but as runs scored starting to increase and with the game in the balance it was Rob Ingram who bowled the dangerous looking number 3 with the second ball of his spell leaving Budleigh on 71 for 2.

With a second wicket for Ingram 4 runs later, the game stating to swing back Honiton's way. The next breakthrough came following an attacking one handed pick-up and throw by Ben Kennell which enabled the run out of Budleigh's top scorer to leave their total on 116 for 4.

Throughout the innings, tight overs from Kev Kelly (1 wicket) Corel Lapping, Robert Ingram (2 wickets) and Ian Kelly (2 wickets) all going for under 4 runs an over helped push up the run rate which Budleigh were unable to keep up with as they ended their innings on 132 for 6.

Whilst there were many top performances, it was agreed that openers Kev Kelly and Dave Haysom shared the Man of the Match honours for their partnership at the start of the Honiton innings.