The last week of the summer was approached on a high, Thrifty supplied us with a seventeen seater Transit and, despite an unexpected number of cry-offs, the squad arrived at Exeter for the annual trip up to the Midlands. We had reversed the fixtures in 2011 so we travelled up to Rugeley on Sunday afternoon. The Ash Tree provided some good fayre and we learnt of Callum Cload's cruise exploits, which sounded some alarm bells! Morrisons provided a decent breakfast and we travelled across Cannock Chase to another attractive modern ground. The selected keeper was making sounds that he was not keen and he had lined up Penrice to fill the void. This was not accepted and the gauntlets returned but a dislocation occurred in the warm up. Apparently this was a common occurrence and arrangements were made for an X-ray but declined and the decision was made that, despite a willingness to bat at six, Cload should return home to Plymouth. The time table was checked, his kit recovered from the Travelodge and he was on his way by mid afternoon. So for the second game running we were down to the bare eleven. A birthday party foiled our attempt to bring in another keeper so Penrice would keep for both games. He was soon in the game as the home side won the toss and batted. Sidmouth’s under 14 off spinner Dominic Bess was making his debut and he made a huge impact both on and off the field over the four days. The stand in keeper held a good catch off Alex Hunt to remove Lewis with the score on two. Two wickets fell on ten, when with the first ball of his fourth over Popham removed the second opener with another short ball caught  by Rickard and with the last ball of the over Tom Dyer caught Moores. Lally and Shau had added sixty-nine for the fourth wicket before Dyer took his second catch, this time off his fellow spinner Jack Cherrington. Staffordshire  were 84-4 at lunch with Devon having delivered an excellent thirty-three overs and Dominic Bess having his first bowl. Eleven runs after lunch the hosts lost their fifth wicket, their captain, giving Bess his first under 16 wicket, caught Hunt. Devon were on top but keeper Lally was in resolute form unbeaten on 44. He was to pass his half century in the next partnership. This pairing took Staffordshire up to one hundred and twelve before Bess did it again, bowling Jupp. After fifty-two overs it was 125-7 as Bess now returned the complement catching Shah off his captain, Mailling. The initiative was lost over the next eighteen overs as a vital sixty-one were added and Staffordshire took tea at 169-7 off sixty-six overs. Bess had completed one of the best debut spells with the excellent figures of 25-5-50-2, an exceptional start and the longest spell of his brief career. It was anticipated he would sleep well! Cload by now had added Stafford Central to his list of railway stations visited. The stand was broken in the seventieth over when Sam Wyatt-Haines and keeper Penrice ran out Cooper, who had batted nearly an hour for his 20, with Lally now two runs past his hundred. It had taken him two hundred and thirty-six minutes and he had faced one hundred and ninety-seven balls. He was next out for 122 having scored over 50% of his side’s total. Tom Dyer trapped him leg before with Staffordshire now 229-9 off seventy-nine overs. One over later Cherrington took his second wicket with Warrender’s pad stopping the ball hitting the stumps. Devon now had a tricky session of twenty-two overs before it was time for the Ash Tree. The pub was visited in excellent heart as Penrice and Mailling put on sixty-two off sixty-four balls before the captain was caught. Penrice was testing a new personal approach to batting - the long handle. This he did amazingly effectively and was fifty-one not out overnight and, with Rickard looking secure, Devon were well placed on 113-1 off twenty-two overs.

Morrisons were now expecting us and Ollie Higgs was joined at his table by a mature admirer although little conversation took place. The day started with another good warm up, the coach has provided a consistency to these sessions and this has proved to be most beneficial. The onslaught did not continue past the fifth over of the second day when Penrice was caught for a tone setting fifty-five which had included forty-four runs in fours. Ollie Higgs was soon looking for legal representation for his disciplinary hearing as he was adjudged leg before and uncharacteristically he reacted. Considering the pressure he had been under all summer it was a surprise he had kept his feelings in for so long The Travelodge received another unplanned visit to retrieve a new bat that had been left under a bed! From 121-1 Devon were now not so well placed at 121-3 off twenty-seven. Fortunately Ryan Rickard was at last showing his worth to the side and the potential he sometimes hides. Jack Dart plundered a quick fire twenty-two and fell at 157 with his team still seventy short of the first inning’s points. These were never in doubt as one hundred and forty-three were added for the fifth wicket by Rickard and Wyatt-Haines. This took their side up to the potential fourth batting point. The previous best fifth wicket partnership took place in 1994 at Eastnor Castle when Richard Goldring and Chris Hurrell had taken Herefordshire for 140. This was on the old one day Midland tour when the side was based at the Cheltenham Race Course when fixtures were played against Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Avon. Tea was taken still seventeen runs behind but their opponent’s score was passed in the fifth-eighth over. Both batsman reached a half century – Rickard off one hundred and thirteen balls and Wyatt-Haines off fifty-four. It was Sam who was out first at 300, two past his second ton of the season. He reached it in eighty-eight balls, hitting thirteen fours and two sixes, another special performance. Rickard could not continue without his partner, which was unfortunate because there had been a hundred in the offering for the Cornwood batsman, and he was out for an admirable seventy-four. All-rounders Cherrington and Dyer put on thirty-nine before Cherrington fell and perhaps that was the time to declare as both Dyer and Hunt fell on the same score of 343. Devon had looked a very well balanced two day side and there had been sufficient indicators to hope that 2012 might not be too bad a season. Forty-two overs remained in the day and it was agreed after eighty-two minutes and twenty-two overs to call it a day with the home side on 90-3. Staffordshire had lost two wickets in reaching twenty-eight with wickets to Popham and Bess. It was Bess who removed Lally at 81 caught by the captain and nine runs later it was a shake of hands all round. The Devon eleven had done really well, now for Warwickshire. The M6 Toll was a new venture for many and the Leamington Holiday Inn as welcoming as ever. It was good to be back at Leek Wooton’s Anchor, even if the coach missed the turning.