Devon Cricket Board - East Devon U13s v West Devon U13s 2011

East Devon U13s v West Devon U13s 2011

East Devon Under 13s v West Devon Under 13s

Sunday 8th May, Bradninch Cricket Club

East Devon 202-6 (W Thompson 52, J Reddick 35, H Collison 27, C Parkin 26; M Borbon 2-33) beat West Devon 198 all out (C Barriball 63, D Hussey 49, H Williams 29; S Wight 3-25, G Southall-Brown 2-16) by 4 runs

Same ground, same wicket, same conditions, but a different blustery day saw the East host the West. Having survived an early pitch inspection, the blustery and bright morning conditions ensured the game would go ahead. With the overnight moisture in the wicket, host skipper Will Thompson hoped his opposite number Dan Goodey would call it wrong. Dan got it right and had no hesitation in asking the East to bat.

Goodey himself took the new ball and had East opener Will Thompson playing and missing several times in the first over. Once the East openers realised that the wicket wasn’t the mine field they had feared, they settled down and took advantage of some loose deliveries. Stuart Wight and Thompson had put on 52 at a brisk pace before Wight was bowled for 16. Jake Reddick joined the skipper and they worked the ball around well, accumulating runs and building a solid partnership. The pair had reached 93 before Thompson’s fine innings of 52 was ended by Matt Borbon. This bought Charles Parkin to the crease to join Reddick and both played with confidence adding 54 before Parkin fell for 27 runs. As the overs passed the East looked to accelerate the run rate and Harry Collison played aggressively as the pair pushed on towards 200. Reddick fell for 35 with the score at 167 for 4 and Collison pushed on for a quick 27 before being cleaned up by the impressive Dan Goodey (8-4-13-1). East closed on 202 from their 44 overs.

In response, the West got off to a flying start thanks to some wayward bowling and slack fielding. Dan Hussey plundered runs at will as the East continued to bowl too short. He had reached 49 before being bowled by the off spin of Stuart Wight (8-3-25-3). The West had scored freely and the East turned to spin from both ends to stem the runs. This worked well for a while until Charlie Barriball took a liking to the spin of Reddick and Wight, amassing a rapid 63 before holing out to Will Thompson of the bowling of Dan Pyle (7-2-33-1). At the fall of Charlie’s wicket the West were 183 for 5 and coasting to victory. The East continued to be profligate in the field and chances came and went. With only 14 needed for victory the West had 4 wickets in hand. Then the pressure of cricket struck as the East effected two run outs in quick succession and all of a sudden the East had a chance to win a game that they had no right to. With the score on 198 Tim Mitchell (5.5-0-25-1) was bought back in to the attack and tempted Dan Butler to go aerial through cover. In a flash Jake Reddick took off diving high to his right to take a spectacular one handed catch to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat for the East. A quite remarkable finish to what turned out to be a fantastic game.

The East won by 4 runs and were very lucky to get out with a win after some excellent batting and fielding by the West.

The West's player of the match went to Charlie Barriball for some fantastic hitting which pushed the game towards West Devon and the East's player of the match was split between Stuart Wight and Jake Reddick. Stuart for his miserly spell of spin, which tied West Devon down in the middle overs, and Jake for his superb diving catch which on another day could have so easily gone for four and won the game for the West.

DCB Ltd, University of Exeter Sports Hall, Stocker Road, Exeter, Devon EX4 4QN Company Registration Number: 7024773