"I'd rather write up an exceedance than use speedbrakes in cruise."
Could not agree more.
Have seen quite a few overspeed-in-the-cruise-reports for the A320 over the years, and people intervening - reducing thrust, speedbrake, lifting nose etc. almost invariably make the situation worse.
The A/C is a completely different beast at cruise level, and people are not used to it.
As earlier mentioned no inspection is required if exceedance is less than 20 kts (and I have never seen one higher) , so let the A/P+A/T sort itself out, and write the ASR........