Zak Bess  - 55 off 28 balls for Devon in a losing cause against Wiltshire<br>credit: www.ppauk.com

DEVON face an uphill task to qualify for finals day in the Unicorns T20 Trophy after a disastrous double date with Wiltshire at Sidmouth.

Having been beaten by Wales twice at Newbridge in Sunday’s opening round of pool games, Devon needed wins against Wiltshire.

Defeat in the first game always looked likely after Wiltshire posted 187 for six. Devon lost by 34 runs despite the best efforts of Matt Golding and Zak Bess to haul it back.

Tom Morton (72) and Jake Goodwin put on 115 for the first wicket before Devon got the brake one.

Golding (47 off 26 balls) and Bess (55 off 28) made a dash for the runs but no one else made more than 15 and the chase fizzled out.

Devon appeared to be heading for victory in game two when they reached the last two overs needing seven to win and had five wickets intact. It should have been a doddle.

Matt Golding had smacked 60 off 36 balls, Joe Hagan-Burt made 21 and Alex Barrow weighed in with 37 to get Devon to 143 for five chasing 150 to win.

Three Devon wickets fell in the space of five balls to Wiltshire spinner Joe King and that set Devon alarm bells ringing.

Devon’s target became four to win with two wickets left, six balls to go from Art Godsall and Toby Codd on strike. 

Codd went third ball with two still needed and last-man Matt Petherbridge facing. Petherbridge and Joe Thompson managed to scamper a single off the last ball to tie a game that had been as good as won minutes earlier.

Team manager Dave Tall said Devon had been taught a painful lesson and needed to learn from it.

“We got into a winning position against Wales and let it get away – and we allowed the same thing to happen again against Wiltshire,” said Tall.

“When we get on top of the opposition we have to be more ruthless killing games off, which we just aren’t doing.

“It is not impossible for us to qualify from the group, but we need to beat Dorset twice in our next game and get some favourable results in the other matches.”

Devon have one point from four games played and are propping up the group four table

Tall had been critical of Devon’s bowling performance after the defeats by Wales and said there remains plenty to do despite a modest improvement against Wiltshire.

“The spinners bowled well again in both games and the seamers bowled better lengths,” said Tall.

“The score we chased in the second game reflected the improvement.”

Wiltshire 187-6 (J Goodwin 64, T I Morton 72; J O Hagan-Burt 2-26), Devon 153 (Z G G Bess 55, M C Golding 47; J M King 3-17). Wiltshire (2pts) bt Devon (0) by 34 runs.

Wiltshire 149 (E G C Young 32, B C Dawson 50; Z G G Bess 4-15, D J Goodey 2-38), Devon 149-8 (M C Golding 60, A W R Barrow 37; J M King 5-22). Match tied. Devon (1pt), Wiltshire (1).