Devon v Lancashire

ESCA Festival at Kings, Taunton

Gabbitass defiant as he keeps Red Rose at bay

For once Devon won the toss and elected to field, a direct result of a poor batting display the previous day. Lancashire reached 107-2 at lunch with 21 overs remaining. Spinners Menheneott and Gabbitass again bowling well in tandem. The lunch break seemed to galvanise the Red Rose county as runs started to flow at an almost unstoppable rate. The Lancashire batsmen batted very positively and put Devon under real pressure which in turn produced the errors in the field which enabled Lancashire to post 284.

The key for Devon was to post a respectable reply and restore faith in the batting that had so badly let them down the previous day. Freddie Gabbitass gave an example of how to play well under pressure and batted all but two balls of the innings for his 63. George Stephenson joined him and thrashed 45 from 38 balls to briefly give Devon a glimmer of a chance. His departure with the almost immediate loss of Cameron Grainger left devon with no alternative but to bat out the draw, which they did fairly comfortably, closing on 201-7 to leave them i second place going into the final day.