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SUNDAY, APRIL 30

DEVON took the first step on the long road to Lord's when they defeated Cornwall by one wicket at Falmouth with just two balls to spare.

   Cornwall made 218 for eight in their 50 overs with opener Neil Curnow top scoring on 67 and Chris Hunkin chipping in with a brisk 35 at the end. Neil Hancock and Ian Bishop had two wickets each for Devon.

   Devon made a solid start with openers Matt Hunt (32) and Arul Suppiah (44) putting on 73 and upped the tempo while skipper Bob Dawson made 58 off 53 balls to reach 120 for two with 17 overs to go.

   Then Cornwall's bowlers got on top and wickets tumbled to Mark George and Jonathan Kent, who both finished with thee each as Devon faltered on the chase.

   A rapid 38 off 30 balls from David Lye got Devon back in the hunt – 19 came in one over from Kent – but with two overs left the target was 12 to win with last pair Ian Bishop and Mike Parsons at the wicket.

   Devon's last pair needed eight off the last over – and Bishop hit the first ball down from Chris Hunkin for six over point. He was dropped next ball by Curnow, but managed to scamper a single to level the scores.

   Two balls later Parsons sliced a shot over third-man for four to earn Devon an unlikely win.

   The day had started well for Devon, who removed   Somerset's Neil Edwards and Duchy skipper Tom Sharp thanks to catches in the slips by Neil Hancock.

   Both came off the bowling of Bishop and the second to remove Sharp was a brilliant one-handed reflex catch low to Hancock's right.

   Former Northants all-rounder Anthony Penberthy was the next stumbling block for Devon, but another superb piece of fielding had him trudging back to the pavilion. Mike Parsons, the Somerset youngster Devon have registered this season, gave Penberthy a bit of width to flash the ball through the covers, where it was caught on the tumble by Lye.

   Gary Thomas made 26 before he was caught and bowled off the leading edge of his bat by spinner Andy Procter.

   Surviving opener Curnow was still there and went on to reach 67 before the catch of the day by David Court, again in the covers, sent him back.

   At that stage of the game Cornwall were 138 for five and just about to go into the final 10 overs of their innings. They needed to up the pace fast to set a defendable total and Hunkin gleefully accepted the job of doing it.

Hunkin biffed 35 off 34 balls as Cornwall added 80 runs in the time left before the 50 overs expired.

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