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"Somerset Crumble to Crombie in another thriller!" An inspired spell of hostile fast bowling from Iain Crombie ripped the heart out of Somerset's middle order reducing them from 96-2 to 105-6. His first spell, 5 overs 4-9 included 2 wickets in two balls. Earlier West of England batsmen, Jack Cooper had hit a Joel Seward full toss straight to David Wrench |
and James Fear had been tempted by a wide delivery from Charles Martin to be smartly stumped by Dan Hardy. Campbell restored some pride with 66 before being 7th out. David Wrench again bowled well 5 overs for 11 runs and Charles Martin came to the party with his leg spin , 10.0.37.1. Crombie then returned to pick up his 5th wicket, quick thinking from Danny Carroll noticing the Somerset runner at point, was taking his time getting back and Dan Hardy throwing down the stumps.Somerset's total of 208-8 (which only included 29 wides!) did not appear enough as the pitch was the best played on and the boundaries short.
A brilliant start by Martin (34) and Chappell saw Devon 88 in the 19th over, Chappell (44) playing with real style before being bowled by a ball that kept low. Martin soon followed then Smith (35) played another class knock before his first real error saw him LBW. Will Murray (44) who has been determined to stamp his mark all season, at last found a hard bouncy pitch to his liking and after the first ball was nicked for 4 he followed it with a upper cut for 4. On adrenalin he produced a gutsy innings off 32 balls and when he was out, one shot too many, Devon only needed 8 runs to win with 31 balls and 4 wickets left. EASY!!!
Crombie went for 0, Carroll for 16 ball 3. What was needed was a cool head. Harry McDowell and Joel Seward at the wicket- did they have one between them? With 4 needed off 12 balls Harry took a quick single and Joel on his heals was just run out. Enter Ollie Robinson. Harry had a word and another and another. Good plenty of talking no need to panic. Ollie plays straight- Phil Bayliss is seen hopping from foot to foot trying to video the action.McDowell takes a comfortable run off the first ball of the 49th over. Robinson plays 2 perfect forward defences before smashing the 4th wide ball to the cover point boundary to win a fantasic match. All hell lets loose and McDowell runs past his team mates in the excitement and seeks santuary in the dressing room to collect his thoughts for the first time since going out to bat. Phew!
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