Devon Cricket Board - Devon T20 Cup final report and reaction

The winning Bovey Tracey team with the Devon T20 Cup

FORMER Devon captain Neil Hancock has ruined Plymouth’s day before and did it again in the final of the Ivor Dewdney Devon T20 competition at Exmouth.

Hancock (pictured) was Bovey Tracey’s man of the moment and DCB chairman Jim Wood's man of the match as they beat Plymouth by nine runs to take the title for the first time.

When Plymouth reached the Devon Cup final in 2009, Hancock was playing for Sidmouth. His 112 helped condemn Plymouth to a 46-run defeat.

Three years on Hancock made a top score of 44 in Bovey’s total of 136 for seven, which didn’t look enough given the way Plymouth had buried Sidmouth by eight wickets in the morning semi-final.

Any hopes Plymouth harboured of winning the cup were seemingly dashed as Hancock steamed in to take four wickets for 13 runs as the city side dipped to 28 for six in reply.

Current Devon captain Chris Bradley took two wickets in his first over and another in his second as Plymouth subsided to 35 for seven.

Then it got interesting as Plymouth’s Andy Birkett – he is a Newton Abbot rugby player in the winter – set out on the comeback trail with Henry Bennett.

Birkett’s 55 off 38 balls, featuring four fours and three sixes, took Plymouth from 35 for seven to 112 for seven with three overs to go.

His stand of 77 with Henry Bennett (27) left Plymouth needing 25 to win off 18 balls. Then Birkett got out trying to smash Peter Bradley down the ground for six but finding fielder Andrew Longstreet a yard inside the boundary rope.

Bovey pulled the fat out of the fire in the time left bowl Plymouth out for 127 and win a thriller by nine runs.

Said Birkett: “If only I hadn’t gone for that shot down the ground we might have pulled it off.

“I should have gone for something sideways on to the wicket, but thought I could hit it straight.

“We are a better side than 50 all out – which is what could have happened after we were 35 for seven.

“Henry Bennett did a great job for his 27 and I thought he might have gone on at the end to finish it off.

“There was no doubt Bovey were rattled. We were scoring at nine, ten and eleven an over and they didn’t seem to have the bowling to stop us. Before I got out, we were definite favourites to win.”

Bovey Tracey skipper Peter Bradley said he breathed a sigh of relief when Birkett finally holed out.

“The way he batted it was always the most likely way for him to get out,” said Bradley.

“You have to take your hat off to Birkett and say he batted well – he certainly turned it into a cracking final if you were watching.

“I thing we turned off a bit after getting them down to 35 for seven, thinking the game was in the bag.

“Hanks had done a fantastic job taking those four wickets and my brother had played his part too.

“What we didn’t have was someone to come on and carry on doing what Hanks and Chris had been doing.

“Ryan Bougourd had an off day in both matches – he doesn’t go for 57 in five overs ever – and the fielding started to get a bit slack.

“Luckily, we woke up when it mattered. Andrew Longstreet took the catch to get Birkett out, then came up with the run out to remove Bennett, which really finished them.”

Bovey’s Ben Ayres, who top scored in the semi-final win over Heathcoat with 44, didn’t come off in the final as he was first out for seven in a running total of 26 after lashing Henry Bennett to Jack Bryant at point.

Plymouth skipper Callum Whittaker had worked out in the morning semi-final win over Sidmouth that getting the spinners on early was the key to keeping the runs down and got Chris Bryan and Henry Bennett on early.

The dividends were clear as Bovey reached a modest 72 for one after 10 overs.

Hancock hit out for Bovey when he could – his 44 came off 36 balls – but he didn’t get to see much of the strike.

Having seen Delon Mullins bowled by Barr and Aren de Young bowled by Matt Hooper for a duck, Hancock tried to up the tempo and paid the price.

Trying to cut Barr he was well caught by an alert Jake Luffman at short third-man.

Peter Bradley and Chris Clayton were both bowled swinging as Bovey dipped to 99 for six.

Chris Bradley swung the bat to make 36 before Rob Bennett bowled him in the last over.

Winning the final has presented Bovey Tracey with a problem as the match was the qualifier for the ECB regional final at Pontarddulais this Sunday.

For both Bradleys and Bougourd are in Devon’s 13 for the Minor Counties Championship game against Dorset at Exeter.

It is unlikely all three will play for Devon, but Bovey will be below the best without their Devon trio.

Peter Bradley said: “There are a couple of other players who can’t go – Ben Ayres being one of them – but Charlie Carter is back and we have players like James Fulner who can come in and do a job.”

Click here for semi-final reports