Devon U15s v Somerset Wellington School Wednesday 3rd August 2016
What a difference a week makes!
On arrival at Wellington School, a late change of venue, we found we were playing on the second team square in front of the main school buildings. There was a nice damp patch on one end of pitch which if that was all given the horrendous weather of the previous two days we were lucky. There were inviting short boundaries for this age group though! A good toss to win we did and asked Somerset to bat.
It started well, very well, when Kers had Aldridge LBW first ball! James’ first ball a full toss was dispatched into the road! However it quickly became apparent that if you bowled in the right areas and put a bit in it was going to be difficult, very difficult as there was irregular bounce and sharp lift both ends. 110-130 a good score? Will Smeed and Charlie Reed batted cautiously taking a few hits until Smeed took on AB and was just run out. 23-2. JOG soon had Reed caught behind by Tayls and that is about where Devon’s good day finished! 30-3 off 12 overs.
Elliott replaced Kers and Degg came on for JOG; Sam Young and Will South at the wicket. Degg’s first ball was nicked by Young and a sharp chance was dropped at slip! He was dropped again in his 60s or 70s after drinks and caught off a no ball but by then he had almost singled handily, other than South’s fine contribution and partnership of 145, taken the game away from Devon. What made it so impressive was the quality of the pitch, what the ball was doing and how he manipulated the bowlers; 23 fours and 7 sixes in his 175! I thought it more sixes given how often the ball was looked for out in the road! We must not forgot Carps outstanding catch to get rid of Whitemore.
Last week on a track which was no where near as bad but needed only pace bowling we had just bowled our seamers but today for some reason, they could and should have had two or three wickets though, the spinners bowled 18 overs and went for 0-118 runs. We have to learn from this as Nick and I should not have to keep on telling you what to do and how to play on different type of pitches!
Enough said, again. Kersley bowled really well for his 35-3, James 50-2, Young was particularly harsh on James late in his innings, the Yorker on the stumps might have helped James but given his form then again it might not have. Elliot picked up one and Ben when he eventually came on 38-2 off his 4.
So a daunting task of 287 to win on a pitch seriously still favouring the pace bowlers. It would go one of two ways either we would get close or alternatively yes you guessed it, it would not and it did not! Other than AB who batted very well for his 27 and Carps for 19 we struggled and Somerset’s bowlers bowled with discipline in the right areas and we nicked off! All out in 24.5 overs for as Derek put it on the way home “well at least it wasn’t by 200 runs!” Thank you Derek no it wasn’t just 199!
A very disappointing day and I hope some hard lessons learnt again. I have not seen Nick quite as upset in the 16 years I have known him. You are better than this and have proved it but it does seem to depend upon which side turns up! As much as Nick and I try to motivate you it is very difficult and incredibly frustrating when we play like we did last week and then yesterday. Fortunately it is not all over and you have a chance to show how good you can be against Hampshire and Gwent.
Thank you Somerset for hosting us, the umpires, scorers and all the parents and others for your support once more. Come on lads!
