Honiton Cricket Club 2nd XI match report v Braunton 2nd XI

The 2s made the long trip to Braunton knowing that points may be hard to come by against the runaway league leaders.

Captain Hext called correctly, and on an evidently damp wicket made the straightforward call to insert the opposition.

Richard Hill made the early breakthrough before 'that calf' decided to make a reappearance and forced him to hobble off after just 9 balls. Lewis Blackwell was struggling at the other end, so was replaced by Alan Ostler after just 2 overs.

Ostler bowled beautifully to decimate the leaders top order, leaving them 81-4 by the end of his spell. (8-0-24-3). Will Smith was called into action earlier than planned following Hill's breakdown, and the young bowler kept it tight through his spell, showing that he could well be a mainstay of the Honiton attack in future years.

Craig T Mudd lured number 6 batsman Brierly into lopping a simple catch up to Nathan Groves before the score had passed 100, however Groves clearly had a very different definition of simple as the opportunity tumbled through his crocodile hands to the turf below. As drops go, this would prove to be one of the more costly, as Brierly then set about demolishing the remnants of the Honiton bowling attack. With Hext, Cowley and Lewis Blackwell all feeling the full force of the batsmans onslaught, it was left to Matthew Matravers to try to tie him down with 5 tidy overs.

Blackwell finished with 2-73 from his 8, but Brierly's 127no had propelled the home side to a likely out of reach 276-6 in their allocation - Honiton left to contemplate the fact that at least for them this weekend, it probably wasn't 'coming home'.

Honiton's reply was in the most part entirely predictable:

Potter slashed a few boundaries before being bowled, Hext continued his miserable season with another blob, Ostler managed only 5, and Mudd hit a couple of nice shots before falling for 10.

Groves as usual managed to somehow contrive to throw away another excellent start, nicking to slip for 33. Blackwell and Matravers flirted with the idea of a partnership, before Blackwell saw his middle stump rocked back for 29, and Matravers departed for 13. Smith, Cowley, Haysom, and Hill managed to scramble a 3rd batting point, but HCC were eventually dismissed for 135.

So a thrashing in the scorebook, but in reality a game that could have been close had a certain chance been held earlier on in the day.

7 games to go, and no major damage done in the relegation fight. The 2s welcome Exeter to Mountbatten next weekend.