We were all saddened by the passing of Geoff
Evans. Naturally, the questi on in Devon cricket
circles during the past winter was who was to
replace Geoff as Devon’s Chairman? It was a huge
surprise when Roger phoned me to ask if I would
consider joining the Devon committ ee, initi ally to
‘shadow’ Neil Gamble and at an appropriate ti me
take over Neil’s role as Chief Executi ve/Secretary.
Neil would then move up to become Chairman.
I was very fl att ered and aft er asking for a few days to consider the off er,
I became involved. To be honest, I really did not need any ti me!!! In the
past, I had att ended many of Devon’s home matches, so I had an idea of
the set up and what would be required. Neil explained what would be
required of me and on occasions when Neil was absent I oversaw some of
the match arrangements. It was great to be involved and I was appreciati ve
of the welcome I received from the committ ee, players and supporters. It
was also great to meet the offi cials of other counti es, who again made me
very welcome.
I have been involved in Devon cricket for over fi ft y years as a player and
committ ee member for Bovey Tracey C.C. and Torquay C.C. My Father who
is 94 has been a member of Bovey Tracey C.C. for over 80 years. My Father
was the fi rst person to represent Devon C.C.C. from Bovey Tracey and
played for the County for 11 years, and was capped by Devon in 1950. I am
proud of the fact that I was the second person from Bovey Tracey to play
for Devon and although I only played a few ti mes for Devon, it was always
an honour. Of course since then there have been many players from Bovey
Tracey who have gone on to represent the County, Nicky Gaywood and
Chris Bradley to name just two. Chris skippered the County for a couple of
seasons and Nicky scored a lot of runs.
My playing career spanned two clubs, Bovey Tracey from 1966 to 1975
and Torquay from 1976 to 1986. I had 11 happy years at Torquay when we
won the Devon Premier ti tle (formerly ‘A’ Divison) in 1976, 1978 and 1982.
Additi onally we won the Devon Senior Cup in 1977. It was hardly surprising
that we were successful as the Torquay team in those years contained
mostly County players. One of those players was Barrie Matt hews who
captained the County to their fi rst ever Minor Counti es Championship in
1978 and captained the County for many years. Hiley Edwards another
player from my ti me at Torquay succeeded Barrie as County Captain. Hiley
was a good friend to me who sadly died at a relati vely young age.
I returned to Bovey Tracey in 1986 and became 1st XI Captain from 1989
to 1995. In 2003 I became Chairman of the Club and conti nue to hold that
positi on. I had taken on many roles and responsibiliti es as Chairman and
with my new Devon role I felt it was a good ti me to delegate some of the
roles at Bovey Tracey to other members of the committ ee. Last year was
a special year for everyone at Bovey Tracey as we won the Devon Premier
ti tle for only the second ti me in the Club’s history. It was a credit to
everybody on and off the fi eld.
My other voluntary roles as Logisti cs Manager and Discipline Offi cer with
the Devon Cricket League will conti nue as they involve a small amount of
my ti me.
I know my new role will present many challenges, however, the ti me I
have spent involved in Devon cricket at all levels will hopefully serve me
well. I am looking forward to being involved in what we all hope will be the
conti nued success of Devon County Cricket Club.
Nigel Mountf ord
CEO, Devon CCC
Dear Cricket Supporters
4
Minor Counti es Knock Out Trophy Winners 1992 | 1994 | 1998 | 2008 | 2014
Minor Counti es Championship Winners 1978 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 2004 | 2006 | 2011