Devon Cricket Board - Devon high and dry after third wash out

Devon high and dry after third wash out

SCORECARD
DEVON’S hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Minor Counties Triophy are hanging by a thread after the game against Bedfordshire at Bovey Tracey came to a soggy end.
In a game reduced to 23 overs a side due to wet weather, Bedfordshire were asked to bat first and made 100 for seven.
Devon were 23 for one with one ball left of the sixth over when the terminal downpour came.
Under Duckworth Lewis rules Devon had to bat for at least 10 overs for the formula to be used to decide the outcome.
Devon’s target would have been 47 – stiff but not impossible from 25 balls – but they never got a chance as the rain kept coming.
Umpires John Attridge and Steve Malone said enough was enough shortly after seven o’clock when it was obvious there was no prospect of carrying on.
“We could have waited another half an hour under the rules, but it was so wet by then it would have been impossible to play,” said Devon skipper Chris Bradley.
“Both sides wanted to play – Bedfordshire had to win to stay in it and we hadn’t started a game – but the weather gods were against it.
“Three points from three games is what we have got, Bedfordshire have two, Oxfordshire one and Cornwall and Hertfordshire four.
“It could end up with us, Oxfordshire and either Cornwall or Hertfordshire all on five points.
“I can’t see us finishing top as everyone apart from Bedfordshire already has, or can get more points than us – and we have played one more game than most of them.
“Basically, we have to win at Oxfordshire in two weeks and hope someone else slips up, or gets rained off.”
Batting was hard work on a soft pitch with little bounce – as the first four Bedfordshire batters discovered.
Five overs into the game Bedfordshire were four wickets down for 10 runs on the board.
Opener Steve Subbings was run-out by a direct hit from Matt Wood, Ollie Clayson was caught behind off Trevor Anning, then Gary Chappell bowled Robbie Keogh and Dan Bendon in successive balls.
Left-hander Andy Reynoldson, who had gone in at second wicket down, dug in for duration and batted through for an unbeaten 54.
For most of Reynoldson’s stay ball dominated bat by a distance. Indeed, only two balls of the 18^th over remained when Bedfordshire hit their first boundary: Reynoldson lofting Anning for six over the pavilion.
At the other end from Reynoldson, Jamie Kettleborough chipped in with 11 before he played on to Devon skipper Chris Bradley.
Christian Davies lunged down the track at Bradley and missed, which left Bedfordshire 34 for six.
A stand of 36 with George Thurstance got the score up to 70 for seven. When he was stumped by Mattt Thompson wafting at Chappell, Reynoldson started to play a few shots.

Reynoldson upped the tempo to reach his 50 off 48 balls in the last over by hitting David Lye for his fourth and final six.

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