In a match reduced to 30 overs due to the dodgy weekend weather, Exmouth and Heathcoat shared a rare tied match in a tense thriller at the Maer.

Both sides entered the game needing a victory to start make inroads on the teams at the top of the Tolchards Devon Cricket League Premier Division, and Exmouth made the ideal start, Peter Turnbull claiming the early wicket of Joseph Du Gay.

Heathcoat responded with a stubborn 92-run partnership between Dylan Penberthy-Hutchings (56) and Simon Sobczak (43). Finlay Marks eventually made the breakthrough for Exmouth, taking both wickets in quick succession.

However, a quickfire 54 from James Boyle took Heathcoat to a decent total of 176-4 from their 30 overs.

Louis Morison fell early for Exmouth and the dismissal of dangerman Jason Niemand left the home side on 28-2. James Horler (68) and Dan Pyle (38) steadied the ship for Exmouth before Marks came in to join Horler with a fluent 42 from 39 runs.

The Maer men were just 11 runs short of the target when Horler was run out and, incredibly, the same fate struck Marks with the home side needing two more runs to win. They did get one more to tie the match in a dramatic finale.  

Exmouth travel to lowly North Devon this weekend.

Budleigh Salterton are facing a scrap for their A Division survival after a disappointing 32-run defeat at Abbotskerswell.

Sam Whitehead trapped opener Toby Hard for a duck before Ed Doble claimed three more wickets for Budleigh, who had their hosts in trouble on 84-5 and 107-6. The Abbots, to their credit, kept plugging away and contributions down the order from Sam Carpenter (40) and Noah Tobias (30) took them to 188 at the close.

Budleigh suffered a poor start to the reply, losing openers Doble and Nathaniel James cheaply. Max Mejzner put together a determined 42 at number three and there were handy runs from Tom Oxland (19) and Will Oxland (18).

The problem for Budleigh was the regular loss of wickets and they were always behind the required run rate. Captain Lloyd Murrin chipped in with a 24 but they could only reach 157-9 and now need a positive result at home to promotion-chasing Torquay this weekend.