DEVON’S don’t have time to dwell on their Dojo Twenty20 Cup finals day defeat by Berkshire as there is another final just around the corner.
Devon move on from losing by six wickets to Berkshire in the semi-final, played on the Getty Ground at Wormsley in Buckinghamshire, to the Cluberly Championship play-off game against Buckinghamshire this Sunday.
Buckinghamshire retained the Eastern Division One title they won last season to set up a third meeting in four summers with Western One champions Devon at West Bromwich Dartmouth CC on the outskirts of Birmingham.
An unbeaten 86 from captain Jonny Connell swept Berkshire to victory over Devon in the second semi-final of the day.
It was Connell’s first innings for Berkshire since the NV Play National Counties Trophy final victory over Cheshire in mid-July since when he had been on a short-term contract with Somerset.
Connell struck five sixes and five fours in a dominant 47-ball innings which got Berkshire to a target of 153 with an over to spare in a match that was reduced first to 19 overs then 18 overs-a-side by heavy showers.
Devon lost Ben Privett, who spooned Andy Rishton to mid-wicket, to the second ball of their innings but Dan Pyle, with a 32-ball half-century, and Seb Linnitt (44) counter-attacked with a second-wicket partnership of 95.
Pyle’s departure, taken at long-on, saw Devon lose some momentum with Linnitt soon run-out coming back for two, closely followed by James Matravers, Cameron Kidd and captain Callum Harvey in quick succession.
Having slipped from 109 for two to 121 for six, Devon needed a lift. Sam Read provided it with a 14-ball 30 not out – five fours and a six – towards a total of 152 for seven.
Connell and Rhys Lewis opened with a partnership of 33 but Berkshire then lost three wickets for 15 – Privett nabbing two of them – before Connell and Euan Woods (30) repaired the damage by adding 58 for the fourth wicket.
Woods reverse swept slow left-armer Harvey to what would have been point but Connell and Andrew MacEwen (21 not out from nine balls) finished the job with an unbroken stand of 50 from 20 balls.
Sandy Allen, Devon’s coach, said Connell was the big difference between the two sides.
“I think we played our game and played a good one,” said Allen.
“Jonny batted superbly and only made one mistake in his innings. Had we have got him early it would have been a different game.”
Berkshire (149-7) went on to beat Bedfordshire (148-7) by just one run in a nail-biting final. They are the first county to win both white-ball competitions since T20 was added to the 50-over and three-day NCA programme full-time in 2017.
