At last the sixteen’s actually attended at a ground having lost their first two fixtures without travelling. We counted our blessings as it was evident at the splendid North Devon ground that a full days play was more than a strong possibility. Cricket seems to be increasingly driven by the Met Office radar as again according to the satellites more torrential rain was predicted for the second day. With this in mind total agreement was reached between the two sides and the most accommodating umpires as the original format was changed. There would now be 110 overs in the day with the team batting first entitled to utilise 60 per cent of them. The warm ups were completed in sunshine and Sam Wyatt-Haines won the toss and Devon had sixty-six overs to post a decent score. Tom Richardson and Harry Choule opened against an asylum seeking quick bowler from Afghanistan. They gave the side a reasonable foundation putting on forty-nine off one hundred and twenty-three balls in five minutes over the hour. Man of the Match Tom Smith entered the attack in the sixteenth over and in his second and with his twelfth ball Richardson was caught by Ellison. In Smith’s next over he bowled Searle leaving Devon 53-2. Ollie Higgs and Harry Choule added another nineteen when fifteen minutes before lunch the sides anchor appeared to loose patience when Smith caught and bowled the Thorverton keeper. Choule has to realise that his role in this side is bat sessions and accumulate. To expose a batter for fifteen minutes before an interval is not part of his brief. He had batted sensibly but will be required to bat for much longer than the eighty-eight minutes he occupied the crease at Instow. Higgs has a tremendous record against Gloucestershire including a hundred against their sixteen’s last year was joined by his captain and another centurion from last summer - Sam Wyatt-Haines. They took Devon up to lunch with ninety-seven on the board. Cottage pie went down well and the afternoon session continued in bright sunshine. Although North Devon’s conscientious and hard working Groundsman Andy Cameron radar predicted a heavy shower at four o’clock.

 Higgs and Wyatt-Haines put on fifty-three when at five minutes to three Higgs was Smiths fourth victim when he gave the third tame catch of the innings. Extras had contributed an important twenty-nine to the home sides total of 125. Wyatt-Haines presence at the crease had increased his sides momentum and he then entered into an excellent unbeaten partnership with Sidmouth’s Declan Lines. They put on 138 off one hundred and fifty-five balls in only seventy-nine minutes. They completed the third highest fifth wicket partnership and another couple of overs together it is likely they would have beaten the 143 complied by Wyatt-Haines and Ryan Rickard at Stafford last year. After the agreed quota of overs had been bowled Devon were 263-4 boosted by another hundred from Wyatt-Haines, he scored two at this level last year and now has started 2012 with another. His strike rate was 97 and he hit nine fours and four sixes including one lost ball. His hundred came up off one hundred and nine balls in one hundred and four minutes. This had been an outstanding innings and bodes well for the rest of the summer, should it stop raining. Declan Lines, who broke into the county side in 2011 and had worked hard all winter gave him outstanding support. He hit one boundary and faced seventy-five balls. The pair had taken sixteen off the sixty-fourth over and eleven off the last. Extras had played a vital part in the final score adding fifty-two.

 The cloud was building up and the wind found some force as Gloucestershire batted. The ten minute interval put tea back by thirty minutes. Ben Holmes who is enjoying a very successful season at Chudleigh and is the sides fashion guru bowled Martin with his tenth ball - Gloucestershire 5-1. It started to drizzle and the radar which had been watched in the warmth of the Groundsman Store was bang on as at tea the covers were rushed on.  Rushed is perhaps not totally true as the Devon players had extreme difficulty in steering the covers experiencing problems with the fixed wheels. However the covers were in place to take the short deluge and tea was enjoyed. The standard of catering at North Devon continues to impress and matches their hospitality. A mere three minutes was lost in getting the covers off and Gloucester then accelerated from their thirty-four for one at tea to one hundred and one in the twentieth over when Choules dived to his right to take a special catch off Crouch to remove Randhawa. He had faced fifty-seven balls for his nineteen. Crouch had suffered a strain the previous evening preparing for his forthcoming rugby tour of Namiba was unable to fire on all cylinders. Smith who had taken 4-87 off his twenty-five overs was now pounding Devon. His fifty came off 47 balls, his hundred ninety-five and his hundred and fifty off only one hundred and twenty-three balls as he hit twenty-one fours and two sixes. At the other end the captain trapped Sharam leg before in the thirty-fourth over with the score on 170. Twenty-four balls and thirty-four runs later the impressive Holmes took his second wicket bowling the visitors captain Ellison. Despite desperate negotiations from Smith to extend the days play at the end of their forty-four overs Gloucestershire were 245-4 in bright sunshine. This really had been a valuable exercise if not for just getting the players out playing. This 2012 summer is proving to be most dispiriting for players and officials alike.

 The radar was again proved right as rain started at nine on the second day and did not stop until late into the night. An early lunch was taken and it was home time. Luke Ansell and his family set off for the Western Isles and Crouch to Africa. The sides scorer came of age in 2012 being her twenty-first county season and in some ways it is an end of an era. She has put away the coloured pens and now let’s fly at a keyboard. Her coach is satisfied and appreciative as he now has the stats as the game progresses on his iPad. Our games can now be followed on devoncricket.com. Modern technology rules!