Devon Cricket Board - berkshiretwo

berkshiretwo

MONDAY, JUNE 8
Day One | Day Three | Podcast

DEVON hold most of the aces going into the third and final day of their Minor Counties Championship game against Berkshire at Newbury.

With overnight centurion Chris Mole finally falling for 142 – exactly 100 of which he got in boundaries – Devon moved from 246 for two to 377 for seven before their 90 overs ran out.

South Devon’s Chris Metters and skipper Bob Dawson then picked up two wickets each as Berkshire were held to 219 for five at last night’s close.

Berkshire will have just 12 more overs this morning in which to make further inroads into Devon’s lead, which is a useful 158.

How the game pans out will depend on what Devon do in their second innings and skipper Bob Dawson’s willingness to make a game of it.

Dawson doesn’t want to drop points against last season’s Minor Counties Champions, which could count against Devon if they are to be involved in the title race this season.

The Devon captain made it plain before the game this was one game he wasn’t willing to lose due to a risk, so the odds on a sporting declaration look slim, unless Dawson believes his bowlers can run through Berkshire’s batting in the last session and a half.

As wickets have been hard to come by since Sunday’s delayed start, the odds on a draw look high.

Mole, 127 not out overnight, resumed with Anthony Griffiths with his runner having pulled a hamstring in the final session on Sunday. He went on to make a new career best for Devon – beating the 136 he scored against Herefordshire at Torquay six years ago – before holing out to long-on having a bash at Tim Lambert.

Five balls later David Lye perished to the same bowler having caused minimal disruption to the scorers.

With Dawson already out for 26 – Richard Logan got him – Devon had lost three wickets for 29 runs before lunch.

Sandy Allen, who made 50 not out off 54 balls, and David Court (22) put up 31 to steady the ship, which rocked briefly when Court and debutant Aditya Rai went close together.

Trevor Anning with a quickfire 26 and Allen saw Devon through to the cut-off point at 90 overs by adding 53 unbroken for the eighth wicket.

Berkshire’s first casualty when they batted was Middlesex T20 player Dan Housego – bowled by Anning for 25.

David Barnes saw off the new ball to make 57, then opened up and was caught and bowled by Dawson having just lashed the Devon captain for a couple of fours.

Dangerman Jono McLean went five runs later when Dawson had him caught behind for an affordable 23. The former Hants and Western Province batsman has cost Devon far more in the past.

Metters struck twice in the final session last night, firstly when he had Berkshire skipper Bjorn Mordt caught by a juggling and tumbling Mole in the slips.

Steve Naylor went one run short of a half century few would have denied him when Metters had him caught by Court at mid-off.

Devon 377-7 (C M Mole 142, A P W Allen 50no, R J Holman 66; C P Crowe 2-21, T L Lambert 2-101), Berkshire 219-5 (D E Barnes 57, S P Naylor 49; C M Metters 2-40, R I Dawson 2-25). Bonus points: Devon 6, Berkshire 4.

DCB Ltd, University of Exeter Sports Hall, Stocker Road, Exeter, Devon EX4 4QN Company Registration Number: 7024773