On a hot humid day at Torquay, Devon were asked to field after losing the toss, who would have batted themselves, however the pitch looked good, short square boundaries and fast outfield so weren't too disappointed.
Opening bowlers Matt Jeacock and Harry Pryce both bowled exceptionally well, with control of line and length and made Gloucester work hard for their runs. Tommy Boorman played some superb cover shots, punishing anything loose from the pair.
A steady start from both with Gloucester 28 for 1 after 8 overs, Jeacock 4-1-13-1, Pryce 4-1-15-0, Boorman looking more and more comfortable and the wicket to get.
Last years stand out bowler Jacob Kopparambil came into the attack and struck straight away in his first over bowling McConkey. Kopparambil and Butler then proceeded to bowl with aggression and build pressure on the Gloucester batsmen. Kopparambil took another removing captain French and at drinks Gloucester were 57 for 3.
An excellent bowling and fielding effort by the whole team to keep them to that score, with 180 looking like par. Another massive effort by the team was needed in the next 20 overs.
Bowlers were chopped and changed to keep everyone fresh and every bowler who came on kept the same pressure and discipline as the rest of the attack. Devon continued to pick up wickets at regular intervals, Teddy Haffenden picking up two and finishing with 4-0-17-2, Boorman was still in though. However Devon bowled extremely well to him and stopped him scoring boundaries and he was only getting singles.
At 30 overs Gloucester were 101 for 5, with Boorman and Dark at the crease, Dark scored a quickfire 45 against Devon last season so were aware of his hitting abilities.
What was probably Devon's poorest period with some loose bowling and incorrect field settings, Boorman and Dark set about getting Gloucester to some sort of score. Jeacock came back into the attack and removed Boorman for 66 with the score on 150, Dark continued with some strong hitting but Jeacock managed to take another wicket and some good fielding from Ford contributed to a run out.
Dark finished on 39 from 26 and Gloucester closed on 168 for 8. Jeacock finished with 7-1-39-3. From the position Gloucester were in, Devon were disappointed to let them get that many and should have kept them around 150 but were confident in chasing the total.
Pascoe and Whittaker set off in pursuit of the target, steadily building the innings and looking extremely comfortable, with extras and enough bad balls coming from Gloucester, the pair of them batted brilliantly. With a strong powerful middle order, Devon were happy being slightly behind the rate knowing wickets in hand would be key, with a fast outfield and the short boundaries. At drinks Devon were 67 for 1, Whittaker out for 17, with Pascoe and Walker at the crease, 112 was needed off 20 overs.
All Devon needed was a steady start after drinks and continue to build, unfortunately Walker was out third ball. In came Ford, Pascoe's opening partner from last season and they like to bat with each other. Both of them started to up the rate and run hard, both hitting some excellent shots, and with 10 overs to go Devon were 120 for 2, Pascoe just passing fifty. Needing 48 off 10, Devon should win comfortably and Ford made sure of it taking leg spinner Maxwell for 17 in his one and only over.
Pascoe (54) and Ford (45) fell quickly after each other and Devon were 146 for 4, needing 22 off 7, Holifield and Butler didn't hang about getting them, both dealing in boundaries, two to Holifield (12no) and three to Butler (13no), knocked them off with 2.3 overs to spare.
Overall a fantastically profession performance from all 14 players, who worked very hard for each other, stuck to their game plans and was probably their best performance as a team, beating a very good Gloucester team!
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