DEVON’S batting frailties surfaced again as they were skittled out for 113 in the 29th over by Cheshire at Alderley Edge.
Play started more than five hours late due to overnight rain leaving parts of the pitch too wet to play on – and when Devon skipper Josh Bess called incorrectly he knew what to expect.
Bess knew Devon would be batting, but wouldn’t have expected Cheshire to reduce them to 35 for five in the 11th over.
There was some brief resistance – Bess made 25, Zak Bess had 20 and Justin Yau 21 – which doesn’t leave much from the rest.
It wasn’t as bad as 87 all out against Wales or 97 against Herefordshire earlier in the season, but that is hardly something to be proud of.
Former Glamorgan staffer Will Owen (3-37) and Dan Lamb (2-34) gave Devon the early treatment, then debutant Matt Tully (4-34) finished them off.
Cheshire had the right bowlers for the condition – and were helped by some indifferent bating by Devon.
Keith Donohue, Devon’s director of cricket, said too many wickets were given away and that was hard to take.
“We knew we were going to lose wickets because of the conditions and that is cricket,” said Donohue.
“What I find hard to accept is that we made it a bit too easy at times for Cheshire to take a wicket.
“If you are a bowler you don’t want to see batsmen chewing up over after over and wearing you down. We didn’t do that
“Josh Bess battled hard, so did Zak, and we were started getting a nice partnership together between Justin Yau and Josh King which I would have liked to see go further.
“There were some forgettable shots and a lack of thinking at times what the state of the game was. You need to know when to go at it hard and when to guts it out. Not enough of ours make that differentiation at the moment.”
Devon’s early order struggled against the seaming ball with five of the first six either bowled or caught at slip. Matt Golding was the odd one out as he was lbw to Lamb to a ball that pitched and came through at periscope depth to trap him lbw.
Zak Bess got to 20 not out at drinks and was out to the first ball after the break, caught off the leading edge to give Tully his second wicket.
Yau and King mingled determination to stay in with some ambitious wafts and their stand of 38 was Devon’s best of the innings.
King wafted once to often at Tully and was well caught running away from the strip by Rob Jones off Tully.
Yau was the only batter spun out, missing a turning ball from left armer Danny Woods.
Cheshire batted out the final six overs last night and reached 28 without loss
Devon 113 (J J Bess 25, Z G G Bess 20, J W Y L Yau 21; D J Lamb 2-34, W T Owen 3-37, M Tully 4-34), Cheshire 28-0. Bonus points: Cheshire (4), Devon (0). Today 10.30am-7.30pm.
