Devon Cricket Board - Precious win for Devon as Staffs stumble

Precious win for Devon as Staffs stumble

Devon v Staffordshire, Sunday 29th August, Axminster CC

A low scoring affair at Axminster turned into a dramatic victory for Devon as they retain slim hopes of promotion as the season draws to a close. In reality they are looking at Lancashire doing them a favour this coming weekend when they face

Wales

and then

Wales

turning over Staffordshire. Should Wales be beaten by Staffordshire in a close game on the final day and Devon take maximum points from their remaining two games then they may still make it but realistically results need to go in their favour and in any event they must beat both Hampshire and Lancashire comprehensively to keep their promotion ambitions going.

That said a great performance to turn over pre-season favourites Staffordshire as Devon opted to bat first and what looked a difficult track. A slow and low pitch made scoring difficult but good contributions from Nicole Richards, Giselle Ansley, Aimee Watkins and Rebecca Bertrand meant that they could post 136, despite being bowled out in the 49^th over. Getting to 150 would have been useful for the extra batting point but it was not to be.

Devon’s bowlers then produced some quality stuff as they took wickets at regular intervals ensuring that the visitors could not gain any momentum, despite a fighting unbeaten 40 from their skipper Georgia Elwiss. Giselle Ansley and Aimee Watkins, in her final match for the county, both picked up 3 wickets as Staffs were bowled out for 89 to give Devon a 47 run victory. Full Scorecard

Devon 136 all out from 48.2 overs (N. Richards 28, G. Ansley 26, A. Watkins 23; K. Whyle 2-16, D. Wyatt 2-20) Staffordshire 89 all out from 34.5 overs (G. Elwiss 40*; A. Watkins 3-24, G. Ansley 3-28). Devon beat Staffordshire by 47 runs

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