In a gripping fixture, Honiton 1st team’s hopes of a win at Mountbatten Park were smashed by Feniton.

The match, full of dramatic swings, started with the visitors inviting their hosts to have the first hit.

Nathan Groves and team captain, Dave Haysom, were tasked with this, with both players making a brave display on the pitch.

Femia and Davies kept things immensely tight, and with only 16 runs off the first 8 overs, a win for the hosts seemed distant.

An unfortunate play saw Groves dismissed at 3, bringing Jon Hext onto the middle.

Hext and Haysom made solid if not spectacular progress for the next 18 overs, nudging the score up to 85, with the latter commanding the pitch and dispatching several full tosses to the ropes.

However, a miscommunication led to Haysom being run out by just 1 short of a half-century.

Ben Kennell joined Hext, but with the boundary rope a considerable distance away, the two struggled to rack up quick runs.

Kennell was dismissed at 29, leaving Honiton with 144 on the board and 7 overs to go.

Enter Adam Holmes, the sportsman managed to turn around the game entirely, dispatching boundaries at a hasty pace.

Meanwhile, Hext made slow but steady progress to a maiden 1st team half-century, before being dismissed at 54 from 103 balls in over 2 hours.

Holmes, who only lasted 20 balls, made a significant contribution, smashing his way to a defining 50 (4 x 4s & 3 x 6s). Brad Groves was the last to fall for 5, and Honiton closed on 212-6.

In the second innings, Holmes partnered with Lapping to share new ball duties.

It was Lapping who took the first blow - successfully taking out Pyle for a duck.

Holmes demonstrated proficiency with all 9 of his allocation from the top end picking up Gibbons, Davies, Salter & Kingdon, severely hamstringing Feniton’s innings at 54-5.

Feniton’s Sammy Brook, however, staged a brilliant comeback.

Watching the carnage from the other end, Brook made his way to 47 from 52 balls, before succumbing to first-change bowler Rob Ingram and being declared out LBW.

Despite Feniton being down to 107-8, resilient number 10 Femia and wicketkeeper Joe Blackmore swung the tide by amassing runs and keeping the innings alive.

Honiton's chances of a swift end to the game were thwarted with Femia hitting spirited boundaries and Blackmore managing calculated nudges.

Femia's run finally ended at 190, thanks to a brilliant piece of fielding from Brad Groves.

As a final twist, even after Brandon Knight hit Blackmore's stumps, the bails did not tumble.

Undeterred, Blackmore managed to steal the game for Feniton, racking up an unbeaten 66no and leaving the home team disappointed.

Thanks were given to Andrew Lapping, who served as the umpire and bore witness to the exciting swings.