LEWDOWN will have one of the youngest captains the Devon League has ever seen when Tallan Burns leads them out against Bradninch tomorrow.

Burns, a Devon youth player, is only 17, which makes him almost unique in the Devon League.

There is no one younger this season, although South Devon’s Jonty Parsons was the same sort of age when he led the Newton Abbot side four years ago.

Lewdown only just held on to their A Division place last season – and that was despite an impressive performance from overseas player Johan Wessells, who took 29 wickets and 828 runs.

Lewdown have brought Wessells back for a second season to had some weight to a largely youthful side.

Left-armer Ben Williams had left for Torquay and all-rounder Billy Searle, who joined the club from Exeter last term, is unlikey to play to much.

Searle has recently signed to play rugby for Championship side Bristol, who won’t be too keen to see him dicing with hard cricket balls.

Dan Fogerty – he plays rugby for Okehampton in the winter – has arrived from C Division side Bridestowe, for whom he took 26 wickets last season.

Looking ahead to the season, Burns told the Evening Herald in Plymouth: “It is all about giving youngsters a chance to prove themselves.

“If we can stay in A Division then that would be a great bonus.

“But we know that if we were to go down then it wouldn't be the end of the world because our young squad would be more than capable of coming back up once they had a few years of playing together under their belt.”