| The season opened with the traditional friendly with Haberdaskers’ Aske’s at Axminster. The school have been winning too frequently recently and it was hoped the trend could be reversed. With the School at 114-6 off thirty overs it looked as if this objective would be achieved. Not for the first time an under 16 side did not turn the screw and the visitors scored another 114 runs off eighteen point four overs for their last four wickets. The start was good with seamers Paul Heard and Jack Popham reducing Haberdashers to 15-3, with both openers being bowled by Heard. Hallam Kerton’s direct hit ran out keeper Selvakumar, who last year had helped win the game for the Middlesex under seventeens. Captain Tom Dyer got another important wicket, trapping Tom Edrich in front, when Haberdashers were two runs past the hundred. Brown was the second run out and Sofat’s demise was identical to Edrich’s. Devon now lost the initiative as eighty-six were added for the seventh wicket although Settia and McCormack scored at less than a run a ball. Settia was Popham's first wicket, caught Higgs, and twenty runs later McCormack was his second, bowled. Devon then wound up the innings with Cherrington bowling Patni and Kerton and Popham running out Shah. The fielding showed promise, three run outs was encouraging. However disappointingly there were only another three run outs in the whole of the rest of the season so this aspect of our game did not improve. Only two bowlers, Popham and Cherrington, went for under five an over which was not good.
Devon needed over four and a half an over which would be testing. At ten they were scoring at 2.5, at twenty 3.85 and at thirty and forty 3.7. They were never up with the run rate but the regular loss of wickets also put the side under additional pressure. The new opening partnership of Elliott Rice and Ryan Rickard put on 24, Rice and Mawgan Penrice 4. Devon were now 28-2 after 11 having lost two wickets in two overs breaking one of the more important team objectives. Penrice and Ollie Higgs put on 52 off sixty-two balls when Higgs was Sivarajah’s first wicket caught for 28. Cload had hit five off four before Sivarajah bowled him and Lawrence May, in his one appearance of the summer, was caught. The impressive Penrice became Sivarajah’s third victim for 27. Devon were now 109- 6 off twenty-eight overs. Tom Dyer dug in batting for sixteen minutes but was the seventh wicket with the score now only one run over fifty percent of the target. Hallam Kerton and Jack Cherrington gave the score respectability and actually transferred some pressure onto the fielding side. They put on the highest seventh wicket partnership of the summer scoring 73 off 91 balls. Kerton was in a typically belligerent mood and Cherrington was the perfect foil. Two short of a deserved fifty, Kerton was well held by Edrich. The fielding side’s response to this dismissal clearly showed how important this victory was. Eight down with forty-three needed with just twenty-three balls left. Jack Cherrington, whose batting in 2011 in the lower middle order was critical to the side’s progress, fell in the same over and Jack Popham was last out with ten balls unused. Aaron Conway, who had demonstrated how to run between the wickets, was left undefeated. This was a disappointing batting performance giving much food for thought as to the future balance of the side. |
