| The Devon Cricket Board Under 14 Inter District Competition
for the Jonathan Mears Cup
2008 Champions - The North
Cricket’s a funny game! The game between the East and North lived up to that cliché, but perhaps that was a foregone conclusion for a match between these two competitive sides. The East squad had been on the losing side of every game – certainly as far back as the boys could remember – so the East’s win this year will surely be remembered, not only for the outcome but also for moments of pure drama. North, having been inserted by East, got off to a good start, with a damp outfield and slippery ball not providing the bowlers with much help. Overton (C) and Booker put on 49 for the second wicket, with Overton scoring 40. Booker was eventually run out for 22 – although his bat was in, he’d managed to lose contact with it! Curtis (M) held the rest of the innings together with a well crafted, mature undefeated 58, but North were bowled out for 172 in the 48th over. Richardson (J) and Chapin (G) took three wickets each, both bowling very good second spells, whilst Steward (M) and Caldwell (A) added a bit of ‘heat’ at each end. Reed (M) bowled useful off-breaks until rain prevented any useful grip on the ball. Farnell (T), Lockhead (T) and both Overton boys bowled well, but East eased their way to 156 for 2, with Bosomworth (A) sharing 50+ run stands between Folland (28) and Sharkey (14). Bosomworth (77) played a wonderful controlled innings, moving up through the gears, timing the ball beautifully and picking the right balls to hit over the top. However, there was to be no cruise to victory as East lost 4 wickets in 4 balls (Overtons taking 2 each), with five wickets being taken whilst the score remained on 156. At 160 for 8 the game might have gone either way, but Caldwell (A), with an assured 10, and Bath (T) saw the East home – but not before the umpires had spent some time being absolutely certain that 2 not 3 overs remained in the game and the scorers (helpfully) intervened as one bowler tried to bowl the last over, which would have been his 11th! Overton (J) finished with figures of 4 for 28 and, commendably, North used 9 bowlers. It all happened – you had to be there! |
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League Table |
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Played |
Points |
| North |
3 |
44 |
| West |
3 |
38 |
| East |
3 |
31 |
| South |
3 |
24 |
East v North
North 172 (C.Overton 40; H.Booker 22, M.Curtis 58*, J.Richardson 3-25, G.Chaplin 3-29)
East 173 (A.Bosomworth 77, H.Folland 28, J.Overton 4-28)
East won by 2 wickets
Men of the Match
East A.Bosomworth, North M.Curtis
South v West
West 170-5 (T.Cummins 84, R.Coltham 22, Extras 40)
South 138 (T.Drake 21, W.Fairley 30, Extras 36, R.Coltham 4-24)
West won by 32 runs
Men of the Match
South W.Farley; West R.Coltham |
The game between the South and West was an entertaining game taken to 47th over before West finally won. The West had solid start with Tom Cummins batting through to 50th over for his 84 though things could have been different if he had been run out in the third over following excellent fielding and a direct hit by George Yates from cover, Rory Coltham with 22 put on 89 runs for the 3rd wicket with Cummins in an excellent partnership before he was run out by quick thinking from the wicket keeper. South’s fielding was excellent throughout especially from Yates and Woolcott who conceded only 5 byes in the 50 overs who played as makeshift wicketkeeper for the first time following injury to the selected keeper during a rugby match the previous day. This deprived the South of the spin option but Buckner with 2-14 and Ballman, who conceded just 9 runs from his 4 overs, helped restrict the West to a modest total that was eventually found to be sufficient.
In reply the South got off to a solid start through Yates (18) and Drake (21) that saw them to 47 before the first wicket fell. Eaves (12) played three imperious shots to the boundary before falling caught at extra cover by Amara Carr to the impressive all round display by the West captain Rory Coltham 4-24 who took 3 of the first four wickets to fall. Drake and Woolcott (10) steadied the ship and with the South at 92-3 were about to launch the attack on the remaining total with 20 overs to go when Drake fell to Alam and Garforth with 2-6 from 4 overs and Cummins 2-9 whittled out the middle order leaving Will Farley to smash a brilliant undefeated 30t to inch the South closer to the total that ultimately proved elusive as Shillabeer was run out following a mix up with 3 overs left, to give the West the win just when it looked as though the South would hold out for the draw. |
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South v East
South 175-9 (J.Abbott 23, S.Mckenna 29, H.Davis 34, D.Adderley 21*, G.Chapplin 3-25)
East 112 ( A.Coldwell 25)
South won by 63 runs
Men of the Match
South H.Davis, East G.Chapplin
West v North
West 87 (O.Aslam 22,T.Lockhead 3-19,
C.Overton 4-11
North 88-2 (T.Ansell 24*, J.Overton 32, Extras 22)
North won by 8 wickets
Men of the Match
West O.Alam, North T.Ansell |
The East travelled to the South's Dartington Cricket Club full of confidence following last week’s win over the North strengthened by the inclusion of Devon captain Matt Golding. East captain Jack Richardson won the toss and inserted the South whose start was slow and steady through Drake (13) and Woolcott (5) against tight bowling from Steward and Bath. Skipper Abbott (23) and Eaves (7) seemed to increase the tempo but fine bowling from Chapplin (3-25) had South rocking at 61-5. McKenna (29) was still in and played a mature innings that contained just one boundary for the team rather than his aggressive style and this let Davis (34) bludgeon the East attack including one colossal 6 over long off. A fine cameo in last few overs from Adderley (21*) saw South to a fine 175-9 off their 50 overs in the overcast conditions.
The East’s reply started brightly with Bosomworth (3) and Golding (14) particularly looking in good touch but for the second week the South’s bowling and fielding was excellent and runs were hard to come by. Buckner (2-11) made the breakthrough that brought Folland (12) to the crease. The South applied the pressure knowing that with the next wicket being either Golding or Folland, could easily turn the game their way. Abbott (2-3) took the prized wicket of Golding to a sharp catch by Buckner in the gully followed by Starkey the very next ball and the South then believed they could win. Powell (11) began to lead a fight back with Steward (13) who played the most awesome shot seen in a long while, a sweetly timed six to deep midwicket that cleared the boundary by a country mile and then some. While he and Coldwell (25) were at the crease anything might have happened but fine swing bowling by Ballman (2-6) and the steady left arm spin from Woolcott (2-10) saw the East succumb to 112 all out. The South’s bowling analysis typifies the all round team performance in that the four main wicket takers bowled 21 overs between them taking 8 wickets for 30 runs. More importantly just 16 extras given away by all the bowlers in 43 overs bowled.
With the other losing side last week the North also beating the West today the District title is up for grabs!
The West lost the toss and were inserted by the North on a slow track with a slow outfield. This made batting difficult for the West and they stuttered towards a total of 87 all out in the 34th over. Only Osama Alam batted with any authority scoring 22 off 42 balls batting for 20 overs. The North’s bowlers dominated proceedings with Craig Overton the pick with figures of 5-1-11-4 ably backed up by Toby Lockhead 7-2-19-3 and Tom Ansell 5-1-5-2. The West couldn’t cope with the swing of Craig who ripped the heart out of the West batting. Tom Ansell bowled very straight and Toby returned to claim 3 wickets in his second spell.
In reply Tom Ansell batted very sensibly scoring 24 not out off of 80 balls sharing in a partnership of 59 for the third wicket with Jamie Overton who scored 32*. Jamie was the only batsman who was able to dominate the bowling and look comfortable at the crease. The West bowlers tried hard and made the North work hard for their runs with the win coming in the 32nd over. Rory Coltham and Jordan Hancock were the pick of the West bowlers with their joint spell of 10 overs only going for 13 runs. However the pressure couldn’t bring wickets and in the end the North won comfortably by 8 wickets. |
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North v South
South 68 (M.Curtis 3-21, T.Ansell 4-14)
North 71-3 (C.Overton 48, C.Eaves 3-7))
North won by 7 wickets
Men of the Match
North: T.Ansell; South: C.Eaves
West v East
East 189 (H.Folland 47, M.Steward 61, Extras 50, T.Cummins 4-28)
West 191-8 (T.Cummins 41, R.Coltham 67,
J.Hancock 25, G.Chaplin 3-39, T.Bath 3-19)
West won by 2 wickets
Men of the Match
West R.Coltham, East M.Steward |
The East won the toss and asked the West to field on a bright sunny day in Plymouth. The pitch was on the slow side as was the outfield, which meant every run had to be earned by both teams. Harrison Folland opened the batting and held the innings together whilst wickets fell regularly at the other end against some good bowling mixed in with some indifferent batting. Harrison eventually fell for 47 off of 98 balls in the 36th over with the score on 122. At this point Merrick Steward carried on where Harrison left off to play an excellent innings including 7 fours and 2 sixes. He was last out in the 49th over caught brilliantly on the boundary by Adam Stephenson whilst attempting his 3rd six for a well made 67 off of 55 balls. The only other major contribution was Extras at 50. For the West, Osama Alam (10-0-17-0) bowled well backed up by the captain Rory Coltham (8.3-1-34-2) and the leg spin of Tom Cummins (47-3-28-4) who was on a hat trick and had the figures of 3-3-0-3 before Merrick got hold him for 22 in his last 2 overs. The ground fielding was both brilliant and sloppy in equal measure, including the English trait of not being able to hit the stumps on at least 8 occasions’ whilst attempting a run out!
In reply for the West Tom Cummins again showed his ability scoring a fluent 41 off of 61 balls before being the 3rd batsman out with the score on 70. At this point Rory Coltham played a truly Captains’ innings coming in at the fall of the 2nd wicket with the score on 33 in the 9th over to carry his bat through to score the winning runs in the 49th over. Rory finished on 67 not out off of 97 balls in what was a very mature innings against some testing bowling. A mention also goes to Jordan Hancock, who came in at number 8 in the 33rd over with the score on 107 to score an excellent 25 off of 31 balls in a partnership of 57 with Rory, which was the crucial partnership in the West winning with 8 balls to spare. For the East G Chaplin (9-1-35-3) and T Bath (8-0-19-3) were the pick of the East bowlers backed up by the off spin of H Folland (6-0-23-2). The wicketkeeper R Powell took two excellent catches stood up to the medium pace bowling of T Bath, but the fielding as with the West probably lacked some intensity together with the ability to adapt field placing to suit the match position. An excellent game of cricket played by two equally matched sides, which was a great advert for District Cricket and for Youth Cricket in Devon. Well done to everyone involved!
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The North/South match was played at the picturesque West Buckland School. The toss was won by North and Craig Overton invited Joe Abbot’s team to bat first on a good looking pitch. The opening attack of Lochead and Jamie Overton bowled a disciplined line and runs were extremely hard to come by. After 10 overs the score had crept to 17-2, with Abbot and Drake dismissed, the later to a mix up which left the umpire making a decision as to who was run out as Drake and Eaves were at the same end. A double bowling change kept the score crawling along to 29 after 16 overs. Craig Overton decided to take the pace of the ball and introduced the slow medium pace of Tom Ansell (5-1-14-4) and the spin of Max Curtis (5-0-21-3), the match turned dramatically. In the next 10 overs 7 wickets were taken for 37 runs, including the vital wickets of Craig Eaves (17) and Seamus McKenna (0). The innings was rapped up in the 28th over when Shillabear was caught of the bowling of Mutlu. South 68 all out, which only included 3 boundaries, the first of which came in the 21st over!!. North’s bowling and fielding effort was excellent and its intensity squeezed the life from South innings.
South needed to fight back quickly and Craig Eaves produced the perfect start by having Ansell caught behind for 0 – game on!!! Eaves’ continued to be unplayable and his first spell was 5-4-1-2. However, runs were coming easily at the other end which eased the pressure on the North’s batters. Craig Overton and Harry Booker (10no) produced a 49 run 3rd wicket partnership to dispel any thoughts that South would keep this as a contest. Craig was caught at gully off the ever impressive Eaves (6-4-7-3) for 48 (5 x 4s) with the score on 67, a shame as his innings showed a high level maturity to lead his team home in style. 2 balls later and 4 byes, and the game and District title was won inside 23 overs. Great effort by both teams and the match was played in an excellent spirit. Congratulations to all the teams this year as the “bar was raised” and great 4-way tussle ensued. |
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The 2008 Under 14 Champions - The North |
