Devon V Dorset U13 15th June 2008 at Whimple C.C.
Dorset 251-8 (40 overs)
Devon 215 (39.3 overs)
This was a good game between two sides who were fairly evenly matched. There was a glut of runs on a large playing area, which made for an entertaining spectacle, at the end of both innings.
We chose to field, but then put in a lack-lustre performance. Early wickets fell, all three clean bowled (44-3 after 8 overs), but the real problem was the runs that seeped away to wayward bowling and ,frankly, lazy fielding. Dorset had a big 4th wicket stand of 119, when we looked a bit shell shocked, although yet again we came back quite strongly towards the end of the innings. It is runs rather than wickets which count in this competition, however, and giving away over 6 an over meant a challenging task for our batsmen.
We batted well, with moderate contributions from the middle order, with Lawrence May top-scoring with 38. No batsman, however, played the anchor role for long enough, although we were on schedule at 103-3 at 20 overs. We lost momentum and wickets after that, and fell short by 36 runs at the end. However, to score over 200 in the 2nd innings is very creditable. Running between the wickets was improved on last week, especially at the top of the order.
It is disappointing to lose again, but we are making incremental improvements match on match, and soon we should be able to put things together!
GHC