| The ferry was taken at 8.30am the skies lighter than predicted as the Brixham President provided everyone with a very warm welcome. The covers were on and in this horrendous summer there appeared a real chance of play. Our hosts had one of the largest workforces on duty to ensure play was possible and the umpires proposed a 12.00noon start and 45 overs a side. The coach’s wretched radar predicted just one more shower around the revised start time but the wind direction changed and the cloud started to close in and the short shower lasted ages. The radar seemed stuck. An early and excellent Lasagne lunch with pear crumble with custard was taken. Eventually the cloud cover moved on and the patience ground staff and umpires ensured a twenty-five over a side game would start at 3.45pm. Hampshire invited Devon to bat and Rhys Davies, the ideal man for the occasion and the captain Josh Mailling opened up. They put on seventy-five at nearly a run a ball. Crane with the first ball of his third over bowled Davies for an excellent 33 off 42 balls hitting two fours and a six. The latter was eventually found far too close for comfort to a greenhouse clearly shades of the old Brixham ground. Mailling had also put his foot on the accelerator being unbeaten on twenty-seven. Paignton’s Ollie Higgs joined his captain and they put on an unlucky thirteen Higgs was caught by Crane off Scott. Wyatt-Haines and Mailling put on 60. The Bovey all-rounder was not caught in the Covers but off his bowling when Abdurahman held him for thirty-six off twenty-seven balls including three sixes and a four. The pair had taken seventeen off the twenty-second over. Jack Dart and the Plympton all rounder took Devon up to 161 scoring twenty-one off the last two overs. Mailling was unbeaten on 59 with four sixes and a four. He had faced 67 balls batting through the innings. This had been an excellent performance and considering the size of the boundaries at the superbly equipped Brixham ground reflected well on the Devon batters. However the onslaught would continue after the ten minute interval.
Devon needed to keep up the pressure their batting had achieved but Hampshire soon showed their intent The home sides first over went for eleven well above the required rate however Devon pegged it back taking their first wicket in the third over when Popham bowled the Hampshire keeper McManus. This brought in Halson, who had scored an undefeated ninety-seven in the corresponding match last year, who was then run out by Josh Mailling in the ninth over for eighty-six less this year. At the halfway stage Hampshire were fifty-nine for two. Hallam Kerton’s third over was a rarity in this match a maiden. Hampshire’s third wicket fell in the seventeenth over when the captain made his second telling contribution in the field removing opener Green off Dominic Bess’s fourteenth ball. The rate required was now 9.75 and the confidence was growing. With six overs left the rate was 9.8 an over and Devon thought the game was won. This deliberation did not take into account the opposition’s captain Porter. He won the game for the south coast side with eight balls to spare! Devon’s twentieth over went for seventeen and the twenty second for twenty-eight. Porter laced the leg side boundary with five sixes and four fours. His fifty came off twenty balls and his final product of sixty-three came off only seven more balls. Bess took a second wicket when he bowled Rishton and when Cherrington made a belated appearance to the attack he bowled Wood with his fourth In the midst of the onslaught he only conceded three runs off his single over. Devon simply lost their way not adjusting lines but hopefully a painful lesson was learnt.
This was our first game at Brixham and they could not have been more helpful or welcoming, it would not surprise anyone who attended this fixture if this superb facility does not appear regularly on the Devon fixture list. | 
