ALL-conquering Sidmouth II had their closest shave yet when they ran into Exeter II on the County Ground.
Henry Gater flogged 10 sixes and nine fours – that’s 96 in boundaries - on his way to 111 in Sidmouth’s total of 265 for eight.
Gater went in at 90 for one after Issac Thomas (61) and Nick Mansfield (25) had given Sidmouth a 90-run start. He was fourth out on 233.
Exeter skipper Sean Langford turned to spin in the form of Mike Wilkinson to slow the scoring rate out and was rewarded with a five-wicket haul.
Exeter set off in hot pursuit with Dominic Tuohey (45), Tom Richardson (75) and Charlie Kidson (44) getting them up to 227 for five.
Skipper Langford (25) chipped a few more off the target, which came down to 11 to win off the last over and seven from the final ball, bowled by Issac Thomas to Harry Conway.
As long as Thomas bowled a legitimate final ball, Sidmouth could not lose. But Exeter could tie if Conway hit a six.
Anthony Griffiths, the Sidmouth captain, placed a fielder out at deep mid-wicket for the expected hoick. It turned out to be a smart move.
“The only place he was likely to hit a six was by hoicking over was cow corner – and low and behold he did,” said Griffiths.
“The ball was going for six all the way until Nick Mansfield parries it volleyball-style to stop it going over. They ran three, end of game.”
ALPHINGTON have dropped into the bottom three following their 74-run defeat at Kilmington.
Opener Tom Gooding struck a century as Kilmington posted a total of 274 for six in their 45 overs.
By the time D J van Vuuren bowled Gooding for 104 he has put on 67 with Matt Rockett, 75 with Brett Garner (27) and 90 with Alex Rockett (48).
With all the stick flying round, van Vuuren (2-44) and Mark Halse (0-33) bowled cheap nine-over spells.
Alpington lost both openers getting to 25 then set off in pursuit with Matt Taylor (94) and van Vuuren (38) going for it.
Taylor was closing in on a ton when Rob Crabb (4-31) had him caught behind. It was a key wicket.
With Taylor gone the lower order crumbled. His was the first of five wickets to go for 16 runs as Alphington subsided to 200 all out.
Kilmington skipper Brett Garner said: “It was a really good all-round show.
"Having won the toss it was a no-brainer to bat first as it looked a good strip and I targeted a 270-ish total, so to close on 274 was a case of ‘a job with the bat’ well done."
He continued: “Then we bagged a couple of key early wickets and, while we dropped their overseas – he hits the ball some distance – we got him before he did too much damage and I was really pleased with the four spinners, who all bowled well and helped make sure that the Alphington run chase was never getting out of control from our point of view.”
CLYST Hydon are stuck fast at the bottom of the C Division East after losing by 34 runs to visiting Feniton.
Opener Chris May got on with it to make 57 in a running total of 78 for two as Feniton made a rapid start.
Mark Kingdon (35) and Mark Salter (20) kept the runs coming, then Jon Pyle (39) and Jack Tucker (44) put on 52 for the sixth wicket towards the final tally of 246 for seven.
Clyst bowlers James Billington (1-76) and Lewis Rhodes (2-52) got some punishment. Will Thornton (1-18 off 9) and Mike Cliff (2-22 off 9) were more frugal.
Hydon were in a good place at 144 for three in reply with Sean Devine on his way to 64. Skipper Ian Sutton had already been and gone for 35.
Keeping up with the asking rate proved hard for Hydon and after Devine went to Jon French no one made more than 15.
Jack Tucker (2-23 off 9) came back at the end to keep the lid on Hydon, whose overs ran out at 212 for eight.
New Feniton skipper Jon Pyle, who has replaced Mark Salter, he was quietly confident at tea of defending the total.
“The home side had been a bit erratic with their bowling and I think our lads seized on that and made sure they kept good discipline,” said Pyle.
“The bowlers all did a great job for us with some terrific line-and-length delivery.”
BUDLEIGH Salterton II came off badly second best at Ottery St Mary, who defeated them by nine wickets.
Will Oxland top sored for Budleigh with 42 off 53 balls – six fours and a six in his knock – in a total of 133 all out.
Skipper Adam Jones will have been upset by the way the bating collapsed as Budleigh were 120 for five before he got out to Oliver West,
West (3-14) and Jody Clements (3-17) blew away the lower half of the order after Joe Birch (2-18) posed problems at the top.
Ottery had the runs knocked off inside 24 overs. They were never in any danger of losing after openers West (37) and Alex Clements put on 87.
Clements (50) and Dan Flower (19) were the not-out batsmen at the end.
Budleigh host Exeter this Saturday.
BRAUNTON pulled off an unlikely 17-run win over Whimple in a game of twists and turns at Kelsey.
Braunton batted in fits and starts to reach 162 for eight with Mark Russell (74) holding the innings together. Russell was on 51 not out when Martin Smith joined him for a stand that changed the game.
Braunton skipper Dan Brierley had kept Smith in reserve for a lower-order assault on Whimple’s supplementary bowling and the ploy paid off.
Smith bushwhacked the bowlers for a rapid 67 and is stand of 98 with Russell took the total of 264 all out.
Before Smith cut loose, Whimple’s Simon Harris (3-20) and Camero Kidd (1-24) had done a useful containing job.
No one could accuse Whimple of shirking the chase and as the Kidd brothers – Nathan (62) and Cameron (67) notched 101 for the second wicket there were a few anxious faces in the Braunton camp.
Nathan Kidd kept going up to 196 for six when Mike Taylor (3-47) got him out.
Spinner Jon Baglow – nine overs for 27 runs – got the brake on the Whimple chase before they could get ahead of the asking rate and they fell short on 247 for eight.
Smith’s knock edged the game Braunton’s way, a point not lost on Whimple skipper Ben Silk.
“Everything, and I mean everything, he tried, came off,” said Silk.,
“He batted well and this sort of thing happens to you probably once a season.
“We had a right go at chasing and just came up short.
“We did come home with 10 points which, when you get beaten, is what you need to be looking to do.
“There really are so many positives we can take from the game, none more so than we got as close as we did.”
