| Devon returned to Wolverhampton Cricket Club where the nineteen’s had played Worcestershire in 2012. This time the sixteens were being entertained by Staffordshire. The home team won the toss and by lunch the game was evenly poised at 132-3. Dominic Bess had utilised six bowlers in the opening session and the captain thanks to catches by Gater and Green took two of them. The third fell to Jack Thomas who trapped opener Weston leg before. Devon had bowled at an excellent rate of twenty overs an hour in the first two hours play. Bess took his third wicket with his first ball of the forty-ninth over with a catch behind from Dan Powell. Staffordshire were on 153. Ten overs later Bess, in his twentieth, took his fourth when he bowled Washington. His figures were 4-71 and he finished his full spell with his best return of the summer 25-5-82-4. This had been his third visit with the sixteens to play Staffordshire. The home side were now 171-5 but their sixth wicket pairing then made the highest partnership of the innings putting on 84 off 186 balls. Hugo Whitlock broke the pairing when he bowled Sandhu in the ninetieth over. Thomas took the next two wickets to fall thanks to a catch behind and a bowled. The Knots had reached 270. Dan Wolf had been introduced in the ninety-second over and wound up the innings by bowling Hunte and a caught and bowled to remove Mahmood. Devon needed 276 for first innings points but would first have to face thirteen overs before close of play. It was however a disastrous fifty-seven minutes as Devon lost three key wickets in reducing the deficit by thirty-seven runs. Debutant Harvey Sargent fell in the eighth over and so did Ben Green. Sargent was caught and Green, second ball, leg before. The situation worsened when Powell was dismissed five balls later. Overnight another Harvester and Sainsbury’s Café satisfied the player’s appetites as play started on time.
Devon’s initial target was 177 to avoid a second follow on of the summer which would be a record. All seemed to be going well as the overnight Matthew Skeemer and Reid Mawdsley put on 30 off seventy-three balls in forty-five minutes when Skeemer’s brave vigil can to an end. He had batted for an hour and twenty minutes for his 15. Mawdsley was joined by Henry Gater who was out first ball. The captain joined Reid Mawdsley and they took the score up to 62 when Bess was out. The follow on was now looking a formality but the tail did their best to avert it. The last four wickets took the score from 62-6 to 160. Mawdsley and Wolf added twenty when Mawdsley was out forty-three minutes before lunch for 39. He had batted eighty-nine minutes and faced seventy-three balls. The under fifteens Wolf and Codd nearly took Devon to lunch and made the largest shared contribution of the innings – 40 off seventy-nine balls but Dan Wolf was out giving Jack Thomas three balls to face before the interval. Jack Thomas departed with Devon still 42 short of avoiding batting again. Toby Codd was batting sensibly and was joined by debutant John Kerridge, shortly arrived from Lincolnshire. The pair advanced the score by twenty-five with neither batsmen looking in any difficulty. Indeed it was apparent that the home side were getting increasingly frustrated . Devon was all out off the final ball of their fifty-ninth over when Codd nicked one behind. They were immediately invited to have another go with the bat.
Devon fared a lot better second time around and Harvey Sargent took the opportunity of showing his real potential as an opener for 2014. The visitors would have to face at least forty-two overs to avoid an outright loss. Staffordshire actually bowled forty-five overs and Devon were sixty-four runs ahead with six wickets in hand at close. The second innings did not start well, the openers put on twenty-five when Skeemer was out. Gater and Sargent added five all contributed by Gater, Green and Sargent put on twenty-four when Green was out in the fifteenth over. Devon had scored 54-3 with sufficient overs remaining for Staffordshire to turn the screw. Fortunately Powell and Sargent batted for a further twenty-two overs putting on a hundred runs. Powell reached his fifty off forty-four balls and was eventually out for a sixty-seven ball seventy-three. Devon was now thirty-eight ahead and an unbeaten partnership of thirty-six between Sargent and Mawdsley completed a more satisfactory batting performance. Sargent was unbeaten on 52. He had batted for sixteen minutes over two hours, facing one hundred and fifty-eight balls reaching his fifty with his seventh four |
