DEVON find themselves on the back foot going into day two of their game against Herefordshire at Eastnor after suffering a first-innings batting collapse.
It appeared Herefordshire were the ones under the cosh after Devon dismissed them for 193 in the 69thof the 90 overs allowed in the Unicorns Championship for a first innings.
Wayne White, the former Lancashire all-rounder, marked his Devon debut with a four-wicket haul and Hugo Whitlock took four more.
Herefordshire were an unimpressive 83 for seven after Whitlock (4-23) dismissed Tom Hage and Barney Morgan in the same over.
A stand of 89 between Jujhar Johal (82) and Ian Bullock (30) detained Devon far longer than they anticipated in the field.
Devon had to bat for 40 overs last night and were 89 for nine when stumps were pulled five balls early after the ninth wicket went down.
Devon will start day two 104 runs behind, a deficit that clearly irritated director of cricket Dave Tall.
“Poor shot selection has a lot to do with where we finished – four out of the first six were caught behind of caught at slip – and Herefordshire were disciplined about the channels they bowled in,” said Tall.
“It looked like we were letting them bowl at us and doing nothing to make it difficult for the bowler, such as changing guard or batting outside the crease just to change the angles.
“The reality is things started going wrong for us in the field long before we went out to bat.
“We bowled really well before lunch and when we came back the went from 74 for four to 83 for seven quite quickly.
“Instead of putting the pressure on we took our foot off the gas and allowed Bullock and Johal to get settled.
“For an hour, maybe longer, we did not bowl that well and the next thing you know Herefordshire are 172 for seven. That should not have happened.
“Wayne then came back, bowled well and we wrapped it up pretty quickly.”
Devon lost openers Alex Barrow and James Degg to Dan Conway armed with the new ball and at 12 for two needed to regroup. Matt Thompson and Abraham Kopparambil used up time making a brace of 14s, but departed during an alarming spell when three wickets went between 39 for two and 43 for five.
Zak Bess (32) and Jamie Stephens took the tally to 84 for six. The rot set in again. Three more wickets fell, two to seamer Hage and one to Conway, leaving last pair Whitlock and Max Hancock to go out in the morning.
Herefordshire 193 (J S Johal 82, D G Ball 32, I T Bullock 30; W A White 4-49, H M Whitlock 4-23), Devon 89-9 (Z G G Bess 32; D O Conway 3-15. B E I Morgan 2-37, T A Hage 3-13). Full scorecard
