Despite having lost his voice, the captain, Jamie Khan, succinctly and eloquently summed up this heavy defeat. The fundamentals required to win three day games or at least stay in them had not been demonstrated by Devonians over the preceding three days. Realistically if you take out the stand out performer of the game, Lewis Golsworthy's performance in the first innings Devon might have taken the game past the fall of the last wicket at 4.45pm on the third day. Since the inception of this competition in 1996 this fixture has invariably provided an early opportunity of witnessing, on both sides, some potential successful first class cricketers. Normally at least one goes on to gain a contract and some become household names on the county and international circuits. This Cornish all-rounder whether batting, bowling or fielding clearly demonstrated in everything he undertook why he is so highly rated in the South West - potentially a name to add to the current list which includes Hildreth, Buttler, Abell, Wood, the Overton's, Gregory, Bess and so many more. All showed at this age the attributes needed - natural ability and a decent attitude - to make it in the game.
Taunton Vale had had a small proportion of the five days continuous rain needed to raise their water table over the previous weekend and rain was in the forecast for the first day at least. It was overcast and the square had received a watering the previous weekend. Jamie Khan lost the toss but had his way as Devon fielded. Honours were even at lunch with Devon having removed Press, Reed, Young and Baird three short of three figures. Lunch was taken after thirty-six overs with one hundred and thirteen on the board. Importantly for the home side Goldsworthy was in occupation, despite a chance in the slip cordon not being accepted. The wickets had been shared between Moore, Adams, Medlock and Middleton Lunch was extended by rain and Moore took a second with the tenth post interval ball with another slip catch from Middleton. Kopparambil held a second catch off Hancock in the forty-fifth over and Devon were still very much in the game with the home side on 139-6. They then gradually lost their control of this innings and as it transpired the match. In all rain interrupted the game three times and the extra hour was implemented but in total nine overs were lost. At this stage Somerset had faced forty-four overs and disappointingly their last four wickets batted for another forty-three overs. Interestingly of these overs only three of them were maidens and this clearly shows how Devon failed to pressurise the batsmen as they were simply milked for the remaining two hours nineteen minutes whilst another one hundred and six runs were added. This team tinkers with their fields more than any other. One of the major problems with imaginative field settings is that they create gaps and any half decent batsmen should be able to find them. Goldsworthy is more than a half decent batter. Nearly a third of the final 103 runs were singles. The seventh wicket fell in the fifty-six over one of the more unusual caught behinds with Kopparambil also involved, the bowler was Middleton. Four overs later the same combination in a more conventional manner removed Sumerauer. But their one day bowling tormentor, Ned Leonard, and Goldsworthy put on the highest partnership of the innings before a change in bowling removed the last two wickets - Leonard was Taylor's third success this time off Adams. Goldsworthy fine innings ended when Sam Read bowled him. He had batted for four hours playing the perfect match changing innings of 116. The next highest score was eighteen. Somerset were four runs short of a third batting point.
Despite a short rain break Devon batted for ten overs with the first four in deteriorating light but fortunately following the break it became much lighter. Devon reduced the deficit by ten runs for the loss of Read, caught at slip and then rushed off to the Griffin with the Love Island final top of many agendas. The judgement of Jack Moore on the 2018 winners proved to be unusually indifferent, particularly in view of his outstanding cricket acumen so he may well have to revise Plan A -take the train to Nandos.
On day two Devon had a real battle ahead of them to get back into this game but most importantly to secure four batting points. It was still overcast and as always the first hour would be critical and at drinks Devon were four down ninety short of their first batting point. Night-watchman, Ed Middleton, batted for nearly three quarters of an hour so very much achieving his mission when Goldsworthy, the fielder, caught him off Aldridge. Three balls later Kopparambil fell caught by Reed off Hall and five balls later on his second delivery White drove and gave keeper Reed his second catch and Aldridge his second wicket. This was in the tenth over of the morning - Devon's twentieth. By lunch Devon were forty-eight short of the first batting point and eight down. Goldsworthy removed Moore and Onley-Gregson and the Under fourteen off spinner Horton, who had taken seven wickets against our Development team two weeks earlier, removed Khan and Taylor. Adams and Medlock took Devon up to lunch but were looking down a double barrel shot gun. Somerset had bowled nine pre lunch maidens and Devon had scored just eighteen singles in the thirty-fours overs bowled. The important lesson being either Devon cannot rotate the strike (milk the bowling) or Somerset's orthodox field settings did not allow them. It has been really encouraging this summer that our bowlers have clear game plans as to how they intend to take their wickets but it is equally important that they employ field settings that will put sufficient pressure on the batsman to achieve their plans. Devon batted for another twenty-six minutes and were all out sixteen runs short of a batting point. With Gloucestershire beating Worcestershire even a couple of batting points would have helped Devon's cause. Harding caught Medlock and keeper Reed caught Adams both off Leonard. Hancock was unbeaten. Devon had avoided the follow on but Somerset had a number of options how to close the game down. They decided to simply score sufficient runs not to worry about Devon getting back into the game. Some thought this would be at a tempo to get Devon back at the crease before close of play. Devon can therefore take some credit for keeping the home side out in the middle until the third day as the home side scored at less than two an over for the final thirty-three overs of the day. Up to fortieth over they had scored at just under fours but from the forty-first the runs dried up as four wickets were taken. Hancock took them all including Goldsworthy with catches from Kopparambil, Middleton, Read and Taylor. Somerset were three hundred and twenty-one ahead at close. Devon made new friends at the Griffin.
Somerset batted another thirty minutes in the morning adding forty runs to their lead. Devon had to bat for nearly three sessions. They were all out at 4.45pm and were on the back foot all day losing by one hundred and seventy-nine runs. An unnecessary, self inflicted, net hand injury reduced their batting resources by one and some tame and incredibly naivé dismissals did not help. For the record we had six partnerships over ten, the highest between White and Kopparambil - 58 - Abraham scored thirty-seven and James thirty-eight. Sam Taylor, despite being bounced and retiring for a short time, looked his normal self and Sam Woodcock drove a classical four.
It is important that the players learn from what was not a pleasant experience and that coming from behind is always difficult. It is vital that for the final game, against Worcestershire, the side revert to the tried and tested basics and revisit Sandy Allen's core messages. Individual brilliance is an essential part of cricket but so is collective pressure. In Devons first innings four batsmen scored more than ten of Somerset's but no one got close to Goldsworthy who added to his man of the match rating when he threw out a Devon batsman on the charge. Devon have to turn the clock back two weeks, get back on the bike and get a minimum of eight points to complete a generally satisfactory season.
