Devon Cricket Board - Devon beat Cambs in Minors final

Devon beat Cambs in Minors final

DEVON are the Minor Counties champions after beating Cambridgeshire by 169 runs shortly after lunch at March Town in the play off final..

Devon bagged three early wickets to take the upper hand having set Cambridgeshire 242 to win in around 90 overs.

There were two for Man of the Match Josh Bess (pictured) and a third for Trevor Anning as Cambridgeshire dipped to 27 for three. However the home side recovered to reach 56 for three as Jonathan Atkinson and Glen Goosen fought back.

The fightback ended when Goosen was caught down the leg side by keeper Matt Thompson off the bowling of Craig Overton for 12, leaving Cambs 58 for four in the 20th over with 184 still needed for victory.

Anning came back after lunch for a crack at Atkinson and took six balls to get him out leg-before. Having been called back earlier over a disputed lbw decision, there was no third chance!

In the next over Scott Barlow bowled Matt Patemore to leave Cambridgeshire 59 for six and struggling to stay in the game.

Any hopes of survival just about vanished in the next over when Anning induced Lewis Bruce to nick the ball into his own stumps.Cambridgeshire were 61 for seven then and staring defeat in the face. Paul Summerskill was next to go when Barlow had him caught at first slip by Bob Dawson.

The ninth man out was skipper Paul McMahon, who flicked a catch to Anning at short mid-wicket to give Barlow his third scalp since lunch and bringing last man Tom Mees in to join Joe Barrs at 65 for nine.

The last man out was Tom Mees, caught one-handed at square leg by Scott Barlow off Chris Bradley to dismiss Cambs for 72.

Earlier, Devon resumed on 181 for seven and hung around for another 12 overs while adding another 14.

Josh Bess, not out on 52 overnight, was bowled by Tom Mees for 54 as Cambridgeshire got the wicket they wanted.

Next to go was Trevor Anning, who was caught behind pushing forward to Mees.

Two balls later Scott Barlow was given out lbw to Mees as Devon were dismissed for 195. Devon were 46 ahead on first innings.

Cambridgeshire raced to 21 without loss in the first two overs - Bess going for 17 after opening up with the new ball from the Gas Works End.

Alan Burton, who hit Bess for three fours and snicked one through the slips, was the first man out. Anning found the outside edge and Bess took a great catch low in the slips.

In the next over Bess had his radar switched on and a rising ball clipped the edge of Peter Richer's bat to give Matt Thompson a routine catch and leave Cambridgeshire 21 for two.

The new man in was Nick Ferraby, who had top scored with 72 for Cambridgeshire in the first innings.Bess found Ferraby's edge in the same over, but the ball failed to carry to Rob Woodman at second slip. His luck didn't last.

Bess worked up real pace in his next over and was too quick for Ferraby, who played and missed then looked back to see his off-stump leaning back at a drunken angle and the scoreboard reading 28 for three.

Devon thought they had collected a fourth wicket when Jonathan Atkinson was given out lbw to the third ball bowled by Craig Overton after he replaced Anning at the Pavilion End.

The batsman protested on the grounds he had hit the ball, umpires Izzard and Debenham consulted Devon captain Chris Bradley and after a lengthy conference the decision was overturned.

Predictably, the next ball down from Overton was a bouncer, which let Atkinson know what he thought about the latest turn of events.

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