Devon Women enjoyed two comfortable wins over West Country rivals Gloucestershire and Somerset at the weekend.

“Despite the cold conditions I’m really pleased with our approach to these fixtures” said Captain Jodie Dibble (Pictured Above). “In both games our batters showed positive intent and our bowlers improved their consistency from last year - the two things we’ve worked really hard on over the winter. There are still areas for us to improve on, but that’s to be expected at this time of year. Overall, two wins out of two is a great start to our campaign for promotion” continued Jodie.

In fresh conditions at Instow on Saturday, Devon bowled first in a match that was eventually reduced to 30 overs per side, with a hailstorm forcing an early lunch Rebecca Donohue, retuning after a season away, opened the bowling with debutant Evie Pitman, a left arm seamer and one to watch for the future.

It was Pitman who made the breakthrough in the 6th over, clean bowling Gloucester skipper Charlie Walker. Wickets continued to fall with only a 3rd wicket partnership between Alice Hill and Bev Devchand of 33 the highlight of Gloucestershire’s innings that never really got going. Wickets were shared around, the pick being Hazelle Garton 3-12 and Jodie Dibble 2-6.

Devon’s reply was hit by the early loss of opener Amanda Higginbotham, but a 2nd wicket partnership between Amara Carr (39 rtd) and Jodie Dibble (30 rtd) broke the back of the chase. It was left to Alli Kelly (15no) and a brisk 12 from Hazelle Garton to take the hosts to a 6 wicket win.

Sunday brought more weather challenges when Somerset were the visitors to Knightshayes. Batting first, openers Amara Carr (33) and Aylish Cranstone (50 rtd) put on 78 for the first wicket in just 13 overs, when Carr was out caught at mid off . Rosalie Fairbairn, returning after a year out, spent useful time at the crease making 33 and shepherding the middle order through to a competitive 164-6, adding 20 with u15 player Becca Halliday and 32 with Amanda Higginbotham.

Tight bowling and good ground fielding made it difficult for Somerset to get going, only 4 boundaries in their innings – add to that 3 run outs & Somerset were never in the game, finishing on 122 for 4. U17 and Development XI player Steph Hutchins took the only other wicket and finished with figures of 1 for 12.

“Our objective for this weekend was to continue our training progression ready for the season ahead” said Head Coach Trevor Griffin. “These 2 games gave us exactly what we wanted, time in the middle for batters, overs for bowlers and a chance to have a look at some of the Development XI players” continued Trevor.

A huge thank you to North Devon and Heathcoat in getting the grounds to such a good condition so that both games could go ahead, in particular groundsmen, Andy Cameron and Martin Selby.

Devon v Gloucester scorecard http://www.totalcricketscorer.com/TCSLive/TCSScorecard.aspx?id=41252

Devon v Somerset scorecard http://www.totalcricketscorer.com/TCSLive/TCSScorecard.aspx?id=41271