CONRAD SUTCLIFFE REPORTING
DEVON captain James Horler will have one topic on his pre-match chat agenda before the Cluberly Championship play-off game against Buckinghamshire gets under way on Sunday (11am).
The four-day meeting between Western Division One champs Devon and their Eastern Division counterparts at West Bromwich Dartmouth CC will be their third at the same place since 2023.
Bucks went 2-0 up in the ‘series’ this time last year with an 19-run win in a low-scoring affair. Connor Haddow took 16 wickets in the match to turn it Bucks’ way.
Horler’s message will be concentrate on the here and now, not the there and then.
“The venue is the same as last year, the pitch and conditions are likely to be similar and the majority of both teams will be the same,” said Horler.
“The danger is we slip back and start playing last year’s final again, which we have to put out of our minds. What we must do is play what is in front of us, and not play from memory.
“Last year became a battle of the left armers – Haddow for them, Callum Harvey (12-100) for us – which detracted from how strong we were as a side.
“If anything we are a stronger, improved side all-round now, as our 50-over and Twenty-20 performances this season have shown.
“We defeated Bucks in the 50-over competition at Exeter earlier in the season and I firmly believe we can beat them again.”
Other than that message, Horler won’t have a huge amount to say in the briefing.
Said Horler: “As the season has gone on we have got more and more right in red-ball cricket, so there has been less to say.
“We won the Western Division with three wins and a draw, which shows how hard we have become to beat.
“If we win against Buckinghamshire we will have earned the silverware.”
One of the not-so-secrets of Devon’s success this season is fielding a settled side, in which players know their roles. Only 13 players have appeared, nine of whom are ever-presents.
The same XI that defeated Wiltshire at Salisbury inside two days is likely to be named, plus Devon-born all-rounder James Matravers, who may be required by Gloucestershire, where he is a 2nd XI regular.
Bucks will definitely be without ex-England under-19 spinner Bertie Foreman, who has signed a contract with Kent until the end of the season.
Batter Aaryan Sawant, another with England under-19s on his CV could appear. Middlesex picked the Bucks youth graduate for their Metro Bank Cup side and he has not featured since for his home county.
Devon (from): J D Horler. S J Elstone, E H Hamilton, C F Harvey, C G Kidd, S J Linnitt, J R Matravers. B H Privett, S O Read, M W Thompson, M G Whalley.
Buckinghamshire (from): B G S Dodds, A J Dodds, M G Pardoe, D Sabherwal, R Nicholas, G D C Harvey, C P W Haddow, T G Weymes, A S Sawant, J M Lincoln, E W H Bragg, R J Friend.
