There seems to be a pattern at all Devon U13 games this season. Firstly the weather must be unsettled with the real threat of heavy rain meaning no game; secondly at some point before during or after the game there will be an injury to atl least one player, and thirdly the Manager will forget something important. The pattern was there for all to see today.

 

A phone call to Taunton elicted the fact that the covers were on, the forecast was for it to clear up, with the possibility of heavy showers.  The one plus(?!) was a strong, cold wind which would help blow the rain over, and dry the outfield. Despite the obvious need for warm footwear, the Manager arrived without his trainers and spent the day with frozen toes. Many thanks to Dan Pyle who could have cemented his place in the side for the rest of the season with his offer to lend his trainers.  If only the offer had come before the last ten overs of the game!  More on the injury front later.

 

For the first time this season the coach had a feeling of unease.  The warm up was sloppy, unprofessional and looked like the players thought it didn't matter.  This was also noticed by Julian Wyatt, Emerging Player Programme Manager, who had come to watch. Add to this, the sight of Captain Codd on the ground, and in obvious discomfort having felt pain in the back of his knee, and the omens weren't good.

 

It was decided that if the toss was won, we would bowl, partly because of the weather forecast, and partly to give us time to assess the injury to the skipper and buy him some time. Part one completed. Toss won and Somerset inserted. With the umpires advising all leg side deliveries would be wides, and the knowledge that Somerset were a strong team, with an exceptional talent in their captain, a top drawer perfromance in the field was paramount.  Will Thompson, taking back the skipper's role ,as Codd was clearly unable to field, had a great start as the impressive Goodey got an early breakthrough. When Goodey bowled the Somerset skipper with the score on 36, they were 2 wickets down and high hopes in the Devon camp.  Somerset bat in depth, and missed chances and some sloppy fielding were to prove costly.  The Somerset number 4 scored 55, but should have been run out well before then.  We lost our way in the latter overs after the spinners Huxtable (8-0-40-3) and Reddick (8-1-35-3) had done a good containing job and taken wickets.  Tthe opposition were dismissed for 192 in 37 overs. Dan Goodey deservedly returning the best figures of 7-0-23-4.

 

A fitness test (well a run up and down the outfield) confirmed what the management knew and the skipper feared - he couldn't bat. The decision was taken to promote Ben Steer up the order to take the attack to the opposition. After 10  overs with the score on 29 for no wicket this had been a partial success.  No wickets lost, but behind the run rate.  With the threat of rain in the air, the game could be decided on run rate.  Devon took the view that  if we batted all our 40 overs we should be close, and we would back ourselves to score enough runs in the later overs. We lost two wickets in quick succesion, Lathwell playing on for 8, and Reddick LBW to one that kept low.  The innings required rebuilding, and Steer and Thompson set about the task before Thompson was bowled for 15 with the score on 81.  Ben Green was sent in to beef up the run rate.  A plan that did not come to fruition.  He was back among the spectators a run later, with the instruction not to break any more chairs!

 

Dan Hussey joined Steer at the crease and set about putting the team back in to contention. They put on 55 to get the run rate down to just over 5 an over in the last 10 overs.  It was vital to our chances that one of these batted through to win the game.  Steer got to a well deserved 56 in 84 balls before playing across a sraight one. Hussey then holed out trying to hit over the infield for 38.  This put the onus on the later order, who gave it a go. Charlie Bariball (15) and Alfie Huxtable (10) got he score up to 175 and Dan Pyle (9*) Fredie Filor (5) and Dan Goodey(1*) got the team to within 4 runs off the last ball. A single meant that Somerset held on to win by 2 runs.

 

A wonderful game for the neutral to watch.  A hugely disappointing one to play in for Devon, and extremely frustrating for the coach and his team.  This team is mature enough to look at their performance honestly, and in an after match review realised how important the little things are in a tight game.  The pre match preparation has to be taken seriously.  We cannot get diverted by the unexpected ( injury to the captain).  We have to bowl disciplined lines and set fields for individual batsmen. We need to take our chances.  Saving runs is vital. Finding a way of scoring singles to keep the score ticking over and rotating the strike is an important skill.  If you are the batsman who is "in" you have to take the reponsibility for getting the side over the line.  It is hard for the new batsman to come in and score at 5 an over from the start.

 

This team has come a long way, and have reached the point where we can talk seriously about the little things around personal reponsibility , which make big differences. It is only the good sides that get to this point.  We are a good side and are looking to challenge ourselves to improve in every game.