| The season ended on a high. Leamington Spa, which is becoming more of a home than an away venue, were once again their normal brilliant selves but inner gloves for the keeper necessitated a trip into the attractive town centre of Warwick. Josh Mailling won the last toss of the summer and batted. He repeated his opener’s role but lost keeper batsman Mawgan Penrice for a rare failure at fifteen. West Devon’s Ryan Rickard did not build on his outstanding innings the previous day and Devon were two down two short of the fifty. Ollie Higgs, now over the disappointment of Monday’s LBW decision, shared in a partnership of one hundred and thirty-eight, the third highest partnership of the summer and the best for the third wicket. Lunch was taken at 134-2 off thirty-two overs, above par. Warwickshire took their third wicket at twelve minutes past two when the captain infuriated once again. He was bowled six short of a hundred, he should have gone on and scored a big hundred not fall short of one. He had been in total control of the situation. He had been at the crease for over two hours and had faced one hundred and twelve balls hitting ten fours and five sixes. Everyone was disappointed at his dismissal and the need for members of the top order to bat a long time and take responsibility is a key message for 2012. Higgs was now past his fifty and had hit his only six of the summer. Again the set batsman did not bat on and Ollie was next out eleven runs later with his side three short of a second bonus point. A clear message for the winter will be scores of 350 plus must always be the side’s initial target and the top order has to sow the seeds to allow the others to blossom. Devon were 264-5 at tea after sixty-eight overs with Jack Dart the fifth batsman out. The post tea session was interrupted by rain but close of play was reached after eighty-eight overs with Devon interestingly placed on 318-8 with Jack Cherrington and Dominic Bess at the crease. The sixth wicket had fallen at 251 when Wyatt-Haines was caught, Cherrington and Dyer had added forty before Tom Dyer was the fifth Warwickshire catch of the innings. The two Jacks (Cherrington and Popham) had put on 15 when Popham gave the sixth catch of the innings and discussions revolved around whether Devon had scored enough runs. Our last meal together was a pleasant affair.
We left the Holiday Inn on time, sadly only one night scheduled there in 2012. The coach infuriated our opponents by batting on, a declaration had been anticipated and he nearly brought our relationship with the Bear and Ragged Staff to a premature termination. Results seemed satisfactory as Cherrington and Bess batted with total aplomb. They passed the previous highest ninth wicket partnership, completed against Gloucestershire by Adam Parker and Craig Miles at the Isle of Wight Festival in 2002. After eleven overs and forty-eight runs Matt Wood recommended to Mailling that he called his side in with 366 on the board. Jack Cherrington was unbeaten on another personal best and Dominic Bess proving he might actually be an all round asset. It looked a sensible declaration as the Warwickshire openers put on eighty-eight off twenty-eight overs before Mailling broke the partnership with a neat catch from Jack Dart. This was off the last ball of the captain’s first spell. To their credit Devon kept nagging away, a critical virtue as they reduced Warwickshire to 157-7 off fifty-two overs. Tom Dyer was bowling his best spell of the summer which was encouraging for everyone. He trapped opener Marney leg before (109-2), Penrice held a brilliant catch to remove Best off the off spinner (129-3). At the same score Wyatt-Haines, one of the safest slip fielders we have had for a long time, held another slip catch off the captain. The fifth, sixth and seven wickets fell in four overs with Mailling picking up two bowled and a leg before and a third for Dyer caught Cherrington. At 153-7 off fifty-two overs, it was now critical to finish the opposition off. Forty-four were added for the eighth wicket, thirty-seven for the ninth and sixteen for the last wicket. This was not what had been envisaged. The management started to tour the boundary, a bench seat or two were taken up. Three short of two hundred Cherrington took his wicket bowling Newis. The immortal words “get this sorted” to Jack Popham were imparted at six o’clock and in his next over he bowled Sajid one short of a personal fifty and finally at 6.30 Alex Hunt pitched one short for Ollie Higgs to complete the win with a catch right in front of the bench. It had taken Devon seventy-three overs to bowl their opponents out for 250 to end the season in the ideal frame of mind. |
