Devon v Worcestershire

ESCA Festival at Kings, Taunton

Blistering knock from Stephenson secures second win

The second day of the Festival saw Devon in the field first for the second successive day. George Benton took a wicket with the last ball of his first spell before Andy Curtis, son of former Worcester player Tim, shared a 103 run partnership to leave Worcestershire handily placed at 125-1 at lunch. The key for Devon was to stay calm and not panic. Curtis was run out shortly after the break for a well made 80 and then a fine spell of bowling from Alex Hill (3-30) saw Devon restrict Worcester to 195 from their 50 overs.

Devon could not have got off to a worse start losing both openers for 0. Alex Brown restored some parity with a brisk 28 but at 64-5 things did not look good. George Stephenson was then joined by Chris Kelmere and together they added 78 before Kelmere was caught for a determined 16. Stephenson went on to hit 69 from 58 balls before he too was caught out in the deep. This left Cameron Grainger to again come in and close out the game with an unbeaten 26, helped out by George Benton who kept him company with 9. Two out of two and everything in the Devon garden was looking rosy.