Devon Cricket Board - ECB Regional T20

ECB Regional T20

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PLYMOUTH skipper Callum Whittaker was full of praise for his battlers after they lost by 18 runs to Bristol in the regional final of the ECB National T20 competition at Usk in South Wales.
Bovey Tracey should have represented Devon in the regional play-off having beaten Plymouth by nine runs in the county final at Exmouth two weeks ago.
The regional final was rained-off at the first attempt, which left Bovey Tracey with a problem for the replay date.
Bovey had a Devon KO Cup semi-final against Exeter on Sunday and as they couldn’t be in two places at the same time asked Plymouth to take their place instead.
And the city side did Devon proud by beating Cornish champs St Just by two wickets in a thrilling semi before dipping out to Bristol, who will represent Wales and the West in the national final at Edgbaston next month.
“I was really proud of the boys,” said Whittaker. “We lost in the final to a team wh o bowled really well.
“We put up a great show and although it was a long day the trip was well worth it.”
St Just made 126 for six in the semi-final – former Cornwall pair Mark George (38) and Gareth Edwards (32) putting on 56 for the fifth wicket.
Dave Burke dismissed dangerman Dave Roberts, the former Northants batsman, for a duck with the fifth ball of the day. Pick of the bowlers with four for 20 was Rob Bennett.
Plymouth limped to 62 for six in reply, not helped by George taking three wickets in his first over.
The situation was salvaged by Matt Hooper (31), who got Plymouth down to the last over needing 13 to win.
Four singles didn’t look promising – the George (4-45) chucked down five wides. Hooper took a single off the next ball, leaving Henry Bennett to slam a four back past the bowler to win it with a ball to spare.
Bristol made 125 for nine after opting to bat first in the final – Adam Miles top scoring with 48 and batting through until the score was 123 for seven.
Burke had to leave the field after taking a direct hit on the foot while bowling, which did Plymouth no favours at all.
There were two wickets each for the Bennetts and four for Barr.
Plymouth then ran into former Worcestershire and Gloucestershire all-rounder Roger Sillence with the ball in his hand and fell behind the clock from the start.
Sillence only went for eight runs in four overs, and with Graeme Brown taking three foor 26 the pressure was on.
Barr (38) did his best, but 40 off the last five overs proved too many and Plymouth ran out of overs at 107 for five.
St Just 126-6 (G Edwards 32, George 38; J Burke 1-13, S Stein 0-21, R Bennett 4-20, C Barr 1-22), Plymouth 129-8 (M Hooper 31, J Toms 25; M George 4-45).
Bristol 125-9 (A Miles 48, M Khan 30; R Bennett 2-30, H Bennett 2-13, C Barr 4-13), Plymouth 107-5 (C Barr 38, G Brown 3-26).

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