A longer lie in was permitted and a new route taken to get to the ground and for the first time the trip went to plan. Sandy Allen concentrated on a quick sharp fielding warm up and it started to pay dividends. In the ninth over of the morning Came and went leg before to Dan Goodey with Hampshire two down one short of fifty. Goodey struck again in twentieth over of the innings, the twelfth of the day when Sam Maunder caught opener Duggan. This brought to the crease Hampshire most likely match winner Goodwin who had scored a hundred the previous week. He and Organ who had been dropped first ball put on sixty-seven for the fourth wicket. In all Devon missed five gilt edged opportunities to take wickets and in the end this was the decisive reason that a draw was the final result but at this stage Devon were really believing a win on first innings would take place. In the twenty-fifth over of the day Matt Petherbridge took another vital wicket in hitting Goodwin's pads in front. Hampshire were now 121-4 and the home side were shortly 122-5 when Dan Wolf held a brilliant short leg catch off Toby Codd. Lunch was taken with Hampshire on 167-5 with a minimum of sixty-five overs left in the day. Without further loss Hampshire picked up a second batting point in their fifty-seventh over (minus eight = forty-ninth of the day) when in the same over that much underrated bowler Billy Rudolph removed Calderia for fifty-four. His partnership with Organ had increased the score by eighty-one runs. Organ was on sixty-nine and he went on to score his hundred in the seventh wicket partnership of eighty-nine with Hovey. They took the score up to eight short of the final batting point when Pyle caught Organ off Petherbridge for one hundred and twenty-one. Just before tea, critically, Hovey was dropped and with the benefit of hindsight this was the end of Devon's chances of picking up the ten points. Tea was taken with Hampshire requiring one hundred and forty-six runs with three wickets left and Devon required to bowl twenty-seven more overs. In fact the visitors bowled another thirty-one as Hampshire pressed for a first innings win. Surprisingly for a two day game the pressure was continually mounting, due particularly to the short boundary. Hovey and Scriven added one hundred and fifty-three for the eighth wicket. A couple of run outs were missed but Devon actually responded exceptionally well to the developing situation with some outstanding fielding and sensible bowling. The two sweepers Rudolph, on the large boundary, and Hagan-Burt on the shorter one were extraordinary. Maunder kept at his fielders as the overs comparison always showed Devon to be ahead but Hampshire were going to receive one hundred and thirty-two more balls. The Manhattan indicated some very high skyscrapers (that dates the writer) in the extra overs but all of the bowlers performed exceptionally well with 5.09 (when the overs were running out) the most expensive and Rudolph's 2.70 the most miserly. This was difficult to watch with keeper Hovey now well past his ton but eventually Hampshire had one final over to score seventeen for ten points. Although FitzRoy had been bowling well, despite his ankle problems, Pyle turned to his senior bowler Goodey to ensure the draw. This decision was not well received by an opponent who believed he was bowled out but did not take into account the four overs bowled the previous evening. Hovey was on strike with only one shot in mind to hit over the short leg side boundary. The over could not have started worse, well perhaps two sixes, but the first ball cleared the rope and the second bounced over it. Seven off four now needed. It is unlikely that a game that has produced eight hundred and ninety-six runs has come down to such a finale. Thoughts of how we were going to build up the side were central but to his eternal credit Goodey then bowled four dots. Respect on both sides, an amazing game of cricket and some really sensible reality from the seventeens who have played Hampshire since they were eleven and have seen their opponents strengthened and in turn Devon have lost some important personnel. This reflects incredibly well on the selected twelve who were all in different ways MAGNIFICENT. The match will be remembered as Pyles Game, have been saving this, as he compiled a record breaking score but this was also a team performance. His side's score also rewrote the youth records even beating by one run the under nineteens 450 against Berkshire in 2001. We had enjoyed, although there had been some fraught moments, our time at the Southampton ground. The groundsman, who knew Devon well, had been most helpful. We departed taking the coastal A35 route home and we got back in record time. As usual we stopped at the Dorchester McDonalds where we met up with David Herbert a member of the successful 1994 Under 17 Winchester Festival winning team. After recalling that successful week together perhaps these four days had not been that bad!