Devon v Cornwall

at Axminster CC

3rd July 2005

Devon Lions lose their roar to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory

Devon somehow managed to lose a game of cricket which they had comfortably looked like winning. After doing everything right, restricting Cornwall to a score of under 200 and setting a solid base when batting which should have ensured an easy win we let the pressure get to us and rather gifted a victory to our West Country neighbours.

Asked to field first Devon found wickets hard to come by initially as although Barny Huxtable and George Benton bowled well enough, the pitch was good and the Cornwall openers added 50 in fourteen overs. The breakthrough came as the West Devon pair of Chris Sanders and Ryan Skinner applied the brakes. Chris Sanders bowling a miserly four overs for just five runs and Ryan chipping in at the other end with the wickets of both openers.

They were backed up by skipper Zak Bess who picked up two wickets in his first spell to leave Cornwall 66-4. In a game that swung one way and then the other a half century stand followed before George Benton came back to claim a wicket. Another half century stand seemed to give Cornwall the platform to post a big score before Sanders picked up a wicket and skipper Bess four more to bowl Cornwall out for 169.

The Devon reply got off to the worst start as Henry Bennett perished to a ball that rolled along the ground and bowled him. He was soon followed by Tuesday's centurion Alex Brown, caught at mid wicket. There followed a 113 run partnership between Tom Mitcham and Will Chapman which on any other day should have sealed a comfortable win. As my colleague John has eluded to in one of his reports, the wheels well and truly came off the wagon as a combination of poor decision making and poor strokeplay saw Devon slip to a disappointing 23 run defeat, losing the last seven wickets for just 18 runs.