Sidmouth were three wicket winners on their visit to Exmouth in a contest that went the distance.

The home side batted first and were bowled out in the 48th over for 200.

Jake Fawcett span his way to figures of 4-35 in 10 overs and there were two wickets each for skipper Will Murray (2-30 in 8.1) and Andrew Mathieson (2-41 in 9). Charlie Miles and Liam Lewis each picked up a single wicket.

The Sidmouth run chase was hit by the loss of Liam Lewis who was trapped leg before by Trevor Anning to the very first ball he faced!

Two more straight deliveries were missed by Nick Gingell and Harvey Sargent, to the bowling of Marques Clarke and Trevor Anning, and both were gone the same way as Lewis leaving the reply 19-3 after 6.3 overs.

A 30-run fourth wicket partnership between Fawcett and Antony Griffiths saw Sidmouth to 49-4 in the 15th over. A fifth wicket fell soon after – Will Sobczak, left the reply 50-5.

However, the previous weeks 2nd XI centurion Dan Powell then joined Griffiths and the pair took the fight to the home side, adding 72 for the sixth wicket before Powell fell for 43 with the reply 122-6 after 33 overs. A Seventh wicket fell with only a dozen more runs added to the total, but that was as good as it got for the home faithful as Will Murray joined Hewer and the pair saw their aside to victory, with the winning runs scored off the second ball of the final over. Hewer finished unbeaten on 239 and Murray was not out for his run-a-ball 23.

The victory means Sidmouth stay second, though table-topping Torquay stretched their lead by a single point and now have a 12 point lead with two thirds of the season gone. This Saturday Sidmouth host second bottom Paignton whilst Torquay will have their title credentials put to the test at North Devon.