Devon Cricket Board - Comprehensive win by Seventeens

We left the Ibis on time; the route to the car park now finely tuned but the journey to Brislington took us against the rush hour traffic through the City Centre. Not an easy exercise but all three vehicles completed the difficult part interspersed by a dozen set of lights and we found ourselves on the same route to our Sunday night pub. The van missed a sharp left that gave the others some estate driving and we ended up at the wrong end of Ironmould Lane at a scrap yard having been reassured by a Gloucester player that we were at the right place. We turned around followed by the player who later admitted he had never been to the ground and after seeking directions from a football academy and five left turns found the right end of the Lane. The host Club were most welcoming they were also hosting a Somerset / Wiltshire under 12 game on their second pitch. It appears that Brislington has had allegiances in the past to both Gloucestershire and Somerset. Dominic Bess made it two correct calls in the week and Devon batted. Devon started well putting on twenty-four in five overs. However the batting hero from Sandford was again dismissed cheaply as he chipped a return catch. He had again struck a classical four. In intense heat Harvey Sargent and Dan Powell put on a further fifty-eight runs in forty minutes off sixty-five balls. Sargent was out in the fifteenth over to a truly exceptional catch by Loud. He dived full length to tale it one handed, a catch of the season at any level. Sargent had scored twenty-seven off fifty balls with four fours. Powell who was nearing his best form was joined by Dan Wolf who for the first time in the week did not make a major contribution but shared in a partnership of twenty-eight. After twenty overs Devon were 114-3. The next three pairings took the visitors up to 137-6 eleven balls into the second half of the innings. The fourth wicket to fall was the keeper who was bowled for his sides top score of fifty-six off fifty-nine balls. He did not bat on but was playing most of his trademark shots. He hit eight fours and a six. Eleven balls later Reid Mawdsley was back for two. Gloucestershire then took another important wicket when Hopkins caught the captain off the bowling of his opposite number. Devon now needed to regroup and utilise all their overs. This they nearly succeeded in achieving batting for all but eight balls. The key to this success was dogged determination by the later order led by Jamie Drew. He and Billy Rudolph put on thirty-seven for the seventh wicket which the Ottery all rounder contributed twenty-two. William had made a good impression over the three days. He was run out going for a second, he hesitated slightly but DRS might have been interesting. Ollie Dawe took three balls to hit a boundary, also ran a single but was back on a bench after a triple five (runs, balls and minutes). After forty overs Devon were one hundred and eighty-five for eight. Drew was looking totally at ease and pacing his innings perfectly but was next out in the forty-seventh over when he was bowled by Currill for a fifty-seven ball forty-five. He had batted for four minutes over the hour and hit seven fours. His contribution had been critical to his sides ultimate success as was his partnership of fifty-five with Toby Codd whose involvement was also very important. The final pairing put on fourteen taking their side up to an acceptable return of 254. Dan Goodey played a couple of high pedigree shots in his five ball eleven. Codd was the last wicket to fall for a very important nineteen.

Devon had fought back and placed themselves in a reasonable position and their situation got even better. After four overs they had reduced their hosts to 13-3. Goodey struck first getting Bracey caught behind sixth ball, In the third over Powell repeated his involvement catching Lezar off Ollie Dawe and the top three were all back in the pavilion when Dawe trapped Hopkins leg before. The fourth wicket fell in the eleventh over when Goodey gained a leg before to remove Grieshaber. The home side were in some difficulty on 53-4 still needing two hundred and one off two hundred and thirty-four balls with six wickets remaining. Now at the crease were two key batsmen - Hankins and under sixteen Loud. They added their sides best partnership - forty-four but the Devon spinners were exploiting a track that favoured their type of bowling. Both Petherbridge and Bess were regularly beating the bat. The Cornwood left arm spinner took out the Gloucestershire captain for the second time in the week when he bowled Hankins. Five runs later Loud was out caught by Codd driving Petherbridge. One hundred and two for six became 102-7 when next ball Summerfield was caught at slip by the captain.. Petherbridge was on a hat trick but with an over to determine how he would get it, so he hatched a cunning plan. Deep thinker Petherbridge ensured he had a very able catcher, Billy Rudolph, on the rope bowled a perfect full toss Slade directed it perfectly like a tracer bullet down Rudolph's throat but the under 15 captain incredibly selfishly over stepped the line to convert a hat trick wicket into a six!!!!!! It was an exceptional effort nearly matching his catch the previous day. Ellis and Slade offered some resistance putting on forty before Toby Codd had him leg before appeal upheld. This was in the thirty-third over and by the forty-second it was all over. Drew caught Slade off the captain and Dan Powell stumped Propert off Toby Codd. Devon had won by ninety runs due to a fine all round team performance, a really most encouraging result.

We had an interesting return trip home. Getting onto the A4 proved more difficult than could be imagined; indeed it took at least ten minutes for all three to join the continuous flow of south bound rush hour traffic. It was impossible to follow one another and all three vehicles took different routes. The quickest to Tiverton was the luggage van that went north disconcertingly followed signs to South Wales but reached the first drop off twenty minutes before the mini-bus and twenty-five before the scorer. All reached Moto together and a very successful trip concluded with a drop off at the Airport recalling the Thrifty years.

Scorecard