Exploring possibilities

v Berkshire at Hurst CC on Sunday 10th June, 2007

On a hot, sunny day, Devon won the toss and made a conscious decision to field – taking the opportunity to explore the effects on the side chasing a total in such conditions.

The two Jacks (Lilly D’Cruz and Hughes) opened up and their control was excellent as only 1 wide came in the first 10 overs. Hughes bowled a tight line while Lilly D’Cruz looked quite formidable, especially when unleashing the quicker ball. In the fifth over he got the breakthrough with a catch behind to Cameron Grainger (20-1). Sam DeFriend and Ryan Skinner replaced the opening pair and posed real problems going for only 4 in the next 4 overs. The home side batters tried to wrest the initiative and this succeeded somewhat but they lost Boobyer to impetuosity when he was bowled by DeFriend. (58-2). They lost another wicket when Barney Huxtable bowled Brooks in the 21st over with the score on 74. At this stage Devon were keen to try their spinners on the interesting surface in the guise of Foyez Rahman, Andy Collier and (latterly) Alex Brown. Unfortunately the lads struggled to find any rhythm against two very positive and dominant batters and Berkshire soon got up to 128-3 in the 30th. The opening bowlers returned and Hughes immediately ended the 60 run partnership. Not long after he picked up another wicket to an amazing one-handed diving catch at backward point by DeFriend (153-5) – but with a good platform in place the new batters came in with clear intention to have a go at everything. Although Zak Bess picked up a wicket in the 44th over the home side were up to 188 and rattling along. They finished on 200 for 6 having put on 62 in the last 10 overs.

Tom Mitcham and Dominic Bracher opened up for Devon and there was an almost immediate setback. On the ninth ball of the second over which was full of wides, heads were scratched as Mitcham was adjudged lbw . In the ninth over Bracher was bowled and the visitors were 25-2. Barney Huxtable and Alex Brown kept them up with the run rate but by the 17th over they were both back in the pavilion each having been bowled by Boobyer for 14 and 11 respectively. When Cameron Grainger fell an over later for 3 Devon were looking down the barrel of a lengthy gun at 62 for 5.

The lower order rebuilds

Zak Bess led the way with astute patience and had partnerships of 20 with Sam DeFriend and 47 with Jack Lilly D’Cruz which restored Devon’s credibility. Bess and Lilly D’Cruz in particular showed how straightforward run scoring could be, hitting gaps, running well, frustrating the bowlers and rotating the strike. Ironically they both fell to somewhat unnecessary stumping dismissals – but their approach gave confidence to the end of the order and Jack Hughes, Ryan Skinner and Andy Collier all kept things ticking over in the final few overs. Collier’s bizarre shouldering of arms when he was bowled off the last ball of the match rather took the gloss off Devon’s recovery, but the stats spoke volumes for the bottom half of the batting who put on 98 in 27 overs.

Fielding

Catches - Grainger, DeFriend 1

Devon lost by 40 runs

Zak Bess