Devon very much enjoyed their two days at Torquay where mist and rain of various intensity only allowed 150.4 overs to be bowled of the allocated 204. This is itself is a real tribute to Ian Western and his team as the Recreational Ground was flooded the previous week. Matt Thompson’s assessment of the condition of the ground on the eve of the match was very fair – damp and soft. There was heavy cloud cover and mist on the way through Totnes but it started to clear at Shiphay and remarkably the umpires decreed that play would start on time. Mailling won the toss and invited Hampshire to bat. Their side had five players from the tie the previous summer whilst Devon had four. The Hampshire side were joined by a new left arm quick bowler Barber who had been at Loughbourgh whilst his colleagues had enjoyed the Brixham hospitality. Jack Popham mad a most decisive strike with his seventeenth delivery when he knocked back Porters off stump. Yesterday’s hero was back on his way to the pavilion for a seventeen ball eleven out of a total of fifteen. Sixty-one were added for the second wicket off eighty-three balls. Green was then Bess’s first wicket leg before. The third wicket fell thirty-minutes before the sausages when Heard held Halson again off the off spinner. Lunch was taken with 121-3 on the board, honours perhaps even.

  In the post lunch spell Devon turned the screw. At two minutes to three Jack Dart held his first quality catch off Popham, six runs later the same bowler caught and bowled Scott – 134-5. One run later Jack Dart assisted his Blundellion colleague and the keeper McManus was out. Hampshire’s seventh wicket put on seven when Hallam Kerton took his wicket trapping Covers in front. Devon had taken four for fourteen off seven overs. The annoying partnership of the innings took Hampshire up to 185 as Barber and Wood put on 43. Popham now in his third spell had Barber caught by Penrice, Cherrington had Jackson caught by Mailling and Popham took his fifth wicket when he had Abdurahman caught behind by Davies. Hampshire was six runs short of their second bonus point. There were two disappointments – Ben Stein had limped off before lunch and gone home for attention having torn fibres of his hip flexor muscle. Secondly the intensity of the side in the field and general ground fielding was not of the required standard, this has to improve. This was a bitter disappointment as Ben had worked so hard in the winter to gain a place in the squad and offered variety to the attack. The second disappointment was the general lack of intensity in the field and the ground fielding still needed attention and hard work. Jack Popham finished with the figures of 5-59 off seventeen whilst Bess took 3-46 off the same number of overs. Devon faced one over from the impressive Barber before tea and Devon were seven for none at the interval. With Wood arriving the day before injured Hampshire were a key bowler short but misfortune struck Devon in the second over after tea when with his first ball Barber struck Penrice’s instep. He was the second Devonian of the day to limp off and the second top order batter so some alarm bells rang. Confident that he had broken a bone Penrice was rushed off to his local Accident and Emergency Department. Higgs batted for twelve balls and minutes when Covers had a successful appeal for leg before upheld and next over Mailling was bowled by Barber – Devon not well placed at 18-2 with two more batters currently not able to walk. A sensible stand was the order of the day and Davies and Wyatt-Haines provided it. They took Devon up to 76 with their partnership of 58 coming off 234 balls. This partnership had stabilised the situation but it was still disappointing when Davies was caught behind for an eighty ball thirty-three. Dart had put Bess on night watchman duties but the coach had overruled and Dart now joined Wyatt-Haines with seven overs left in the day. Devon suffered no further loss as they finished a rather mixed day on 94-3. Wyatt-Haines had played the perfect innings for the circumstances and was unbeaten on thirty.

  There was good news overnight as Mawgan had only suffered bruising and Ben Holmes agreed to act as Twelfth Man. The weather was not good news as it was decidingly depressing with heavy drizzle and mist. The forecast was post lunch sunshine and so it proved to be. Lasagne was again enjoyed and play recommenced at fifteen minutes to three with Devon having fifty overs to score the outstanding one hundred and three. Dart and Wyatt-Haines batted with a real confidence as they took their partnership past three figures. They took one hundred and two minutes, faced one hundred and seventy deliveries and hit thirteen fours and one six. Wyatt-Haines had passed his fifty being on sixty-one and Dart had contributed a valuable thirty-six. They took their side up to their initial target as the first innings points were taken in the seventieth over. This left Devon one hundred and twenty-four balls to score the one hundred and four needed for maximum bonus points. With Devon on 208 Darts fine innings came to an end. He was four short of a deserved half century. He batted sixteen minutes over two hours and faced one hundred and twenty balls. The pair had put on the third highest fourth wicket for the seventeen’s behind Hunt and Wilcock in 1994 and Wright and Arnold in 1999. Wyatt-Haines who had also been in majestic mood but slowed up in the nineties but did reach his fourth hundred in five county innings. This is a remarkable achievement and it is hoped he will go on in 2012 and score some more. His hundred came off two hundred and six balls. He was out eight runs later having hit twelve fours and a six. This had been vital contribution. With his dismissal went any hopes of a fifth batting point, the fourth was secured in the eighty-second over and the captain called his side in on 269-6 with eight balls unused. The inability to get close to the final point was a disappointment from an otherwise outstanding team performance. Penrice had returned to the crease at the demise of Dart and was unbeaten on thirty-one. The seventeen points were a reasonable return for the work put in and resulted from the hard graft of the Torquay club in making the game possible.