Honiton Cricket Club 1st XI match report v Clyst St George 2nd XI

Another important game in Honiton's quest for promotion came and unfortunately went without the opportunity being taken leaving the side in 6th place and 30 points behind second place.

Skipper Dave Haysom won the toss and asked Clyst to bat first on a hard but damp wicket. Unfortunately, an early breakthrough didn't arrive for the Honiton bowlers who weren't helped when on numerous times the batsmen played and missed, plus a couple of miss fields and catching chances that were not taken or didn't go to hand.

James Matravers was introduced as first change and bowled magnificently, his 9 overs across 2 spells went for just 19 runs and he took 4 wickets. Again, he deserved more wickets, continuing to bowl in the right areas and making the batsmen play most deliveries.

Corey Lapping plugged away from the other end and again unlucky to not take the wickets his efforts deserved, a dropped catch early on didn't help his cause. After an expensive 4 overs from Robert Ingram, Ian Kelly came into the attack and bowled with control, a mixture of flight and flatter deliveries to cause problems for the batters and picking up 2 wickets from his 9 overs for 31 runs. Brandon Knight bowled a spell that was much improved on the previous week but unfortunately picked up a hamstring injury and was unable to bowl his final over.

Chasing 218 for the win, Haysom and Andrew Lapping opened up against some tight bowling with little width on offer. At 86 for 3 with both openers plus Robert (I need to leave at 6.30pm) Ingram back in the pavilion, Honiton looked to James Matravers, Mike Docherty and then Ben Kennell to pick up the pace. However, it was the arrival of Adam Holmes with a quick 45 from 30 balls including 3 sixes, that pulled Honiton back into the game. Cory Lapping with 34 from 18 balls including 2 sixes, 2 fours and some quick running between the wickets gave a glimmer of hope to the Honiton faithful but unfortunately as a side we again fell short of what was needed to secure the win.

Man of the match went to Corey Lapping for both his spell of bowling and for his batting that took Honiton so close to an unlikely win.

Time still remains with 7 games left to pull the side up into a promotion place, but we all need to be on top of our game, as we cannot afford any more slip ups if we are to achieve this.

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