Devon Cricket Board - Devon and Dorset call it a draw

Devon and Dorset call it a draw

DORSET v DEVON at BOURNEMOUTH, June 12-14

Day One | Day Two

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THE limitations of trying to squeeze three days cricket into less than two were underlined as Devon’s game against Dorset at Bournemouth petered out into a tame draw.

There was no play on day one due to bad weather, on top of which 90 minutes were lost on day two while drying out went on.

Once Devon scored 333 for eight in their first innings they were never going to lose – and once Dorset got past the follow-on point at 183 they couldn’t lose either!

With former Devon League cricketer Darren Cowley – he used to play for Barton – cracking an unbeaten 108, Dorset totalled 265 for nine in reply to trail on first innings by 68 runs.

Devon got some batting practice in during the time left – David Lye made a quick 54 and Matt Thompson made 52 at a more leisurely pace – in a going nowhere total of 118 for thrrr.

Luckily for all concerned there are rules to cover dead games like this, one of which allowed the players to walk off at six o’clock and call it a draw.

The last couple of hours were hardly inspiring, although that’s not to say they game wasn’t without highlights.

Rob Woodman’s 170 on Monday for Devon was a message to the managements at Somerset and Gloucestershire, both of whom have discarded the compact left-hander in the past few seasons.

As Woodman is averaging a fraction over one hundred in one-day cricket for Devon, no one could say he just got lucky against Dorset.

Tuesday’s highlights were Cowley’s batting for Dorset and Chris Bradley’s bowling for Devon.

Cowley played for more than 10 years in the Devon League at Barton and old enmities from those days live on five years after he moved to Bournemouth Sports Club. The stocky left hander always tries that little bit harder against Devon, but has not managed a ton against them before.

He nearly didn’t get one yesterday either as the jitters set in on 98, resulting in Mark Wolstenhome being run out by Devon skipper Neil Hancock as Cowley tried to farm the strike away from his tail-end partner.

The next man in was the last man – Jack Leach – and realising there was no margin for error Cowley waited for a bad ball to come along and dispatched it to the boundary.

Bradley bowled 38 overs on the trot either side of lunch to finish with figures of four for 87. During one passage of play he bowled seven maidens in 10 overs as Dorset got badly bogged down.

With Trevor Anning bowling a tight spell at the other end, Dorset went six overs without scoring a run at all!

James Burke missed out on batting practice when Devon went back in as he was caught behind by a tumbling Chris Park for two.

Surviving opener Thompson and Lye put on 92 for the second wicket with Lye getting to 50 first. The scoring shot to reach 50 was a pull for six off Dorset captain Tom Hicks.

Having got to 50 off 40 balls with 38 in boundaries, Lye was bowled by Hicks in the same over swinging from the hip.

Thompson, whose 50 came more sedately off 63 balls, was the last man out when Mansoor Khan knocked over his off-stump.

Devon 333-8 (R J Woodman 170; T C Hicks 3-86) & 118-3 (D F Lye 54, M W Thompson 52), Dorset 265-9 (D J Cowley 108no, N G Park 46; C Bradley 4-87).

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