With Somerset Under Seventeens playing their Surrey counterparts four days out of five in their one and three day semi-finals our opponents were unable to consider their better under sixteens and to honour the fixture fielded a predominately under fourteen and fifteen side with two players coming up from Cornwall. The weather for the game was excellent and this would be a less pressurised opportunity of developing our own longer format skills. Somerset won the toss and batted. Jack Gibbs struck in the sixth over bowling Press, his opening partner Szymanski took his first wicket in the ninth with that safe pair of hands Ashley Causey making another catch look easy. From 26-2 Somerset progressed to 67-3 after Yabsley had keeper Reed caught behind by Tom Oxland. Devon bowled thirty-seven overs in the first session and their visitors were nine short of one hundred. In the forty-third over Somerset had progressed to one hundred and fourteen when Leon Horn bowled Hall. Cornwall's Lewis Goldsworthy was batting beautifully and had to sit back and watch a major change in his sides fortunes. The transformation was the result of a remarkable spell from the home sides captain. With Somerset on one hundred and fifty he bowled Samuel, seventeen balls later be bowled Aldridge, he then removed Toohey and Draper in successive balls both bowled. This was the first hat trick in under sixteen history and was an amazing spell of bowling as balls were left only for stumps to be knocked back. Somerset were now 165-9 but Goldmsith and Green started to dent Gibb's figures until the captain bowled Green in the fifty-eight over. Goldworthy was unbeaten on 76. Gibbs had taken, in this spell, six wickets off twenty-five deliveries for twelve runs and he finished with remarkable figures of 11.1-2-31-7, the second best return in under sixteen cricket.
Devon would now have fifty overs before close of play to make a large indentation in Somerset's final score of one hundred and eighty-five. Devon reached tea on 37-0 off ten. The fifty came up in fifteen overs but Causey was fifteen runs later then bowled by Goldsworthy, an equally talented bowler, in the twentieth over. Jamie Khan and James Bovey took Devon up to three figures in the thirty-first over and secured the first notional batting point in the forty-five over. It was hoped that the pair would remain in place until close of play. Unfortunately Khan was bowled by Hall in the forty-seventh over with one hundred and sixty-five on the board. He was twelve short of a second successive hundred at Exmouth. The pair had added one hundred in seventy-minutes. Ben Abrahams joined Bovey and Devon were fourteen short of a first innings lead. There was apparently a local Exeter barbecue as the pavilion was invaded with fist pumps although it was good to catch up with Tom Lammonby again. The plan next day was to take the lead and reach the fourth batting point as quickly as possible and have as many overs as possible to bowl their opponents out and chase.
The first session of the second days did not go to plan. It took just twenty-three balls to take the lead and then Devon should have gone all guns blazing to get to three hundred as quickly as possible. The captain was keen to have at least twenty minutes bowling before lunch. Considering the situation the run rate was disappointing . It took fifty-four balls to reach batting point two. Ben Abrahams was leg before to Draper in the sixty-fourth over with Devon scoring at under three an over. Horn joined Bovey who was now past his fifty which had taken one hundred and twenty-four deliveries. Drinks were taken with Devon on two hundred and twenty with the message we needed to score at between four and six an over. In fact over the partnership of eighty-nine in sixty-one minutes off one hundred and thirty-one balls eighty-one were dots with very little intent. Indeed once a maiden was bowled it was time for Devon to get into whites. In the real world not to utilise nearly fourteen overs is simply not acceptable. The problem was that an important personal milestone was on the horizon. The maiden was the seventy-five over and Bovey was on eighty-four. It is hoped that in a competitive match this situation would not have arisen as it is likely that the signal would have gone out that a declaration was imminent. This would have given the captain the twenty minutes he wanted. As it was the batsman faced another sixty-six deliveries to add forty-one runs, most certainly not the four to six an over. In fact during the course of the entire pre lunch session Devon did not get near the minimum of four an over that would have been considered the lowest acceptable rate against this opposition. Disappointingly the run rate graph remained the same, after an initial burst on the first day. The inability to accelerate and utilise as many balls as possible could be a major problem for this side in 2017. Bovey reached his maiden county hundred in the eighty-five over seven minutes before lunch. He had faced one hundred and eighty-six balls in three and a quarter hours at the crease he was unbeaten on one hundred and one hitting twelve fours. Horn was stumped off the last ball of the eighty-sixth over ten short of fifty. He had faced seventy-four balls in a stay of one minute over the hour.
Baked potatoes with bread and butter pudding at Roger Tolchards request - this is his last County Age Group match before he returns to the Midlands. He has been one of Devon's outstanding umpires which is remarkable in itself as he has had to rely on his colleagues with regard the match day regulations! He will be a huge loss to the County. Devon were now in catch up mode and even had entered into discussions with the opposition with regard an early closure as the game meandered. Twelve minutes before tea Somerset were on 94-3 after thirty-one overs. Press was dismissed by Gibbs for the second time caught behind, Thirty-one were added for the second wicket when Kazi Szymanski struck in the fifteenth over bowling Wyatt. Goldsworthy and Reed added thirty-nine when Szymanski caught and bowled Reed. Twelve were added for the fourth wicket when Tom Williams removed Goldsworthy the vital wicket of the innings. At tea Somerset were on 100-4 and the game appearing to go nowhere. The fifth wicket added forty-nine and took Somerset to quarter to five on one hundred and forty-three when the fifth wicket fell. As in the first innings Somerset then fell down like a pack of cards to be bowled out at seventeen minutes past five, fifty-seven ahead with twelve overs left in the day. Abrahams picked up two wickets Szymanski three more to take his return to 5-47 off fourteen and Gibbs took his ninth wicket of the game again bowled. Devon had seventy-two balls, more than enough deliveries (4.75) to chase this down but somehow got into a mess. Fortunately Jamie Khan kept his head as he watched Devon loose five wickets in getting home, he was unbeaten on thirty-seven and Tom Oxland picked up another red inker, his average might be interesting at the end of the summer if he keeps being not out! There were many disappointments in not the hardest test this group will face this year but they were actually put under real pressure in their final hour's chase. It is important that individuals do taste personnel success in order that they are better prepared when they are in similar situations in the future and they will know what is then required. This was the final day of the summer at Exmouth and they had been amazing hosts all year.
