Our thirteenth visit to the Isle of Wight Festival was approached with more trepidation than ever before, with superstition not being a concern but the worry, which was a major one, the weather. August 2008 turned out to be the wettest August on record and had already severely affected county youth cricket with the sixteen’s and seventeen’s affected as badly as any age group. With the two day trip to St Austell, the two dayer at Exmouth against Wales both complete wash outs, the first day against Somerset had been played in rain and generally awful conditions for cricket and there was no need to travel for the  second day. It had been the most disjointed under 16 summer on record. For the second year running the fifteens had reached the national county cup finals (to lose the final by just one run) ruling out all of their players for the festival and Lewis Gregory was called up for what was to be a very successful week with Somerset Seconds. Due to these circumstances for the first time ever an all under sixteen age group squad was selected for the festival. This in itself would defeat one of the prime objectives of the week in Hampshire - getting the likely 2009 under 17 squad together, to build up for the following year’s campaign.

The Festival is now under review, with so many demands on the Isle of Wight workforce and whereas at its peak there were more first class counties competing than not in the twelve teams taking part, standards have generally dropped off over the thirteen years and the weather has altered dramatically over the this period. With an Island geared to predominantly dry summers there has always been a paucity of covering and this has, over recent years, deterred some counties.  Irrespective of these thoughts it was still a major feat that Devon should win the festival picking up one point short of the maximum and finishing the season in a most encouraging manner . The fact that five games were played was truly remarkable as rain was never far away and was the direct result of the tremendous support given by the organisers and in particularly the GKN and Ventnor Cricket Clubs. Despite the concerns it was an uneventful journey to Lymington, with the woman’s coxless fours demonstrating the mighty lows of sport when they were unable to respond after picking up a mere silver medal. At least once on every journey to the Island the passport gag has been pulled or at least attempted and yet this year it was nowhere to be heard, they must be a much more intelligent group than usual. This was quickly dispelled when the brightest of this year’s GCSE contingent instigated a very detailed and thoughtful debate on urinal stall heights! It was good to be back at the Inglewood where we have been royally looked after for two years and the roast and indeed all the meals were even better than last year. The only real downside was that the luggage van was trapped by a very alert traffic warden who must have thought that Christmas had come early as there were only two other vehicles in the car park (both from Devon) and it then started to drizzle. Monday started in a similar vein, the Island which always used to have its own micro climate and tended to miss the rain has over recent years become something of a magnet for precipitations even attracting tail ends of hurricanes from the States. It was an overcast start as we left leaving Will Gater talking to himself in the lounge and with two new well tanned under 17s ready to wear their new vests. We arrived at GKN with rain in the air, the ground has in the past not been a happy hunting ground, with very few games being completed due to the weather that is of course apart from the Challoner onslaught that still haunts last year’s coach. On arriving at the ground their most accomodating groundsman was mowing a new track and somehow we played there on three successive days, having been initally scheduled to play at Shanklin on Tuesday where in fact no game was played during the week. Off the field it was a disastrous day perhaps the most catastrophic in seventeen years. The scorer had left her scoring equipment bag at the Inglewood, the car would not grip on the wet ground so the minibus was the only available means of transport to recover the kit. All seemed to be well when on the return journey there was a real difficulty in engaging gear. The AA were immediately summoned they checked their computer which revealed a possible loose bolt problem which could ruin a gearbox if the vehicle was driven. The mini-bus was taken off to the main Ford dealers but we were transport less as we could not get a replacement from the mainland until the next day. The IOW Cricket Board came to our rescue and kindly loaned us their own. With rain or forecasted rain a major concern the game plan was to bat and then get in the statutory twenty overs that make up a game in as soon as possible. Our opposition were a very young Isle of Wight Development side. The Island had entered the two day ECB LV competition this summer for the first time and have devoted all their resources towards this age group, hence their withdrawal, earlier in the summer, from the Inter County Competition. As they had a two day game later in the weak all their better under 16s and 15s were to be employed at Ryde so Devon were confronted with a frailer side than normal. In difficult conditions Devon disposed of their opponents in a very workmanlike manner winning by a comprehensive 134 runs. They were inserted and Matt Thompson and Luke Tuckett put on the highest opening partnership of the summer. After 126 balls and two runs over the hundred Tuckett was caught for his top county score of 2008. The second wicket did not fall until the thirty-fourth over when Ryan Stevenson was caught behind for a forty-one ball 36. His catcher had an infamous father, who was watching on the side lines – the former Coventry City goalkeeper and BBC presenter – David Ike who had made a memorable appearance on Wogan and had subsequently gone on to greater things. The partnership had yielded 68 and the third wicket partnership added another 57 taking the score up to 228 off forty-two overs with the captain adding 24. Thompson was unbeaten on 80 when he lost Matt Hickey and had in theory another 47 balls to reach his maiden county hundred. Twenty were added in conjunction with Will Gater, both scoring seven and then there was a major collapse including the demise of the keeper. Gater was caught two short of the two fifty. Steve Lewis and Miles Lenygon were both dismissed first ball and on the same score 249 the keeper went tamely caught for a 123 ball 88 having batted three hours six minutes, he should have scored a ton and there were many disappointed witnesses including his parents who had themselves created an interesting sight as they celebrated their wedding anniversary either side of the ground conversing by mobile! Debenham and Tom Field ensured that the two fifty was reached but immediately afterwards JJ was the third duck of the innings. Field and Toby Ingham took Devon up to the highest score of the summer 270 when with ten balls left the rain became too heavy and drove the players off for an early break.  Devon forfeited their remaining balls and it was now vital that one hundred and twenty balls were bowled in a record time. There was not great resistance as Devon achieved their objective in a remarkable fifty-three minutes, showing what can be achieved by a united effort. In the twenty overs the Island had been reduced to 48-8 on a now wet track that made batting even more difficult. The Hickey/Thompson combination started the rot, Toby Ingham took the second and Tom Field the third. Field was to be the chief executioner bowling straight and varying his pace and he fully exploted the conditions, he took a new Devon under 16 record haul of 7-27 off 11.4 overs he bowled four and was assisted by catches from Thompson, Tuckett and Debenham. Jonathan Debenham interspersed his fine spell taking the fourth wicket when he trapped the opposition’s captain in front.  It was a disappointing end as once the twenty overs were achieved the visitors appeared to take their foot off the accelerator, something the manager was to struggle with later, as the ninth wicket was taken in the twenty-second over two short of the fifty another 87 runs were added for the last wicket off 122 balls, a most unsatisfactory end.  It was the returning Field who took the final wicket to create a new record.

The disasters continued as the rain started again, and the driver experienced problems in differentiating between the break and the accelerator pedals of the borrowed Isle of Wight Renault mini bus and could not understand why the thing would not move, it was eagle eyed JJ that put him right. The final calamity was that the scorer had been left at the ground without any car keys or one of the three mobiles necessitating in the third return trip from Sandown to East Cowes of the day. Encouragingly Devon was the only side on the Island to complete a game so they were now in pole position and surely there would not be another similar problematic day.