EXETER, Sidmouth and Sandford are Devon’s primary venues for Minor Counties cricket next season – click here for fixture list
Sidmouth is the location for the warm-up game against Somerset 2nd XI on April 16, the KO Cup meeting with Oxfordshire on May 14 and the Championship match against Cheshire in early July.
Devon will visit the County Ground in Exeter on April 16 for a Lions Development XI match against the University of Exeter. They will return between August 13-16 to play Berkshire in the last three-day game of the season.
Sandford will stage the game against Shropshire starting on July 30.
Devon have four warm-up games before the season starts, two one-day games against Hampshire 2nd XI at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton, followed by Gloucestershire 2nd XI at Heathcoat and Somerset 2nd XI at Sidmouth.
The serious stuff starts on April 23 when Devon host Dorset at Instow in the first KO Trophy group fixture.
The 2017 Trophy programme takes Devon to one venues they have never played on before - Werrington in Cornwall - and one they have not visited for 39 years.
The last time Devon went to the Brakspeare Ground in Henley was in 1978 to play Oxfordshire. Doug Yeabsley had 13 wickets in a Championship match Devon won easily.
Henley is now a home venue for Berkshire, who will host Devon there on April 30.
Away games in the Championship are Oxfordshire at Banbury, Wiltshire at Salisbury and Dorset at Sherborne.
Dorset have lost the use of Dean Park in Bournemouth where they had played all their home games in the Championship since 1998.
Devon’s last visit to Sherborne School was back in 1995 when Gareth Townsend hit 111 in the second innings to set up an eight-wicket win.
Missing from the fixture list completely in 2017 is Exmouth, which lost its three-day game last year.
Devon first played on the Maer in 1951 and have used if for either one-day or three-day cricket every year since 1978.
Neil Gamble, Devon’s chief executive, said Exmouth was being kept in reserve in case it was needed.
“We stopped playing Championship games there because there was a view the pitch could not support three-day matches,” said Gamble.
“Fitting in a one-day game is difficult as the opinion is North Devon and Sidmouth are the best places to play them – and we only have two home games in the group stages.
“Sidmouth dropped out last year and we were able to use Exmouth instead – and if that happened we would ask them again.”
Torquay, where Minor County cricket ceased after 2001 due to low pitch marks, has been rewarded for its hard work on the ground with a prestige game in August.
Traditionally, the Minor Counties play the MCC at Sidmouth every summer, but that isn’t possible this year.
“The pitch has been improving for the past couple of years at Torquay and for that reason we were delighted to offer them the MCC game,” said Gamble.
Although senior fixtures have been completed, games for the Lions Development XI are still being worked on.
The game against Worcestershire is not being renewed this year. In its place is a friendly at Paignton against South African touring side Waterloof High School from Pretoria.
Gaps have been left in the Lions’ fixture list to insert two-day games against Cornwall and Somerset 2nd XI.
March 30-31: Hampshire 2nd X1, Southampton (FR): April 9: Gloucester 2nd X1, Heathcoat (FR): April 16: Somerset 2nd X1, Sidmouth (FR): April 16: Lions v Exeter Univ, Exeter (FR): April 23: Dorset, North Devon (KO): April 30: Berkshire, Henley (KO): May 14: Oxfordshire, Sidmouth (KO): May 21: Cornwall, Werrington (KO): June 4-6: Dorset, Sherborne (Champ): June 11: KO quarter-final, (KO): June 18-20: Oxfordshire, Banbury (Champ): July 2-4: Cheshire, Sidmouth (Champ): July 5: Lions v Waterloof HS, Paignton (FR): July 9: KO semi-final, Sidmouth (KO): July 9: Lions v Warwicks, Torquay (FR): July 16-18: Wiltshire, South Wiltshire (Champ): July 23: Lions v Dorset, Away (FR): July 30-Aug 1: Shropshire, Sandford (Champ): August 13-15: Berkshire, Exeter (Champ).
Fr = friendly; KO = KO Trophy; Champ = Minor Counties Championship.
