DEVON gave Somerset a scare in the Twenty20 Showcase game before going down to a 22-run defeat.

Spectators basked in the early evening sunlight at Exmouth as Somerset made their way to 173 for eight – dual-registered Devonian Fin Hill top scoring with 55. Zach Vukusic, another player with a foot in both camps thumped 19 off five balls at the end. Kian Roberts (21) was best of the rest on the Somerset scorecard.

Despite losing opener Louis Morrison and third man in Brendon Parr cheaply – Adam Small (35) and skipper Lawrence Walker (31) made inroads into the deficit.

Devon were 62 for two at the halfway stage, ready to accelerate in the second half of their innings. A miserly spell of bowling from Somerset’s Josh Thomas, whose first three overs only cost 16 runs, put Devon a bit too far behind the clock.

Sam Read (31) and Callum Harvey made a brave attempt to catch-up – jointly taking 18 runs off Thomas’ fourth over – but the asking rate hasd crept too high. By the time the same Devon duo laid into Roberts and Alfie Ogborne to the tune of 29 runs in two overs, the outcome was obvious.

Harvey finished on 39 not out in a Devon total of 151 for five.

There were a number of highlights in the field for Devon, including a spectacular diving catch by Harry Passenger that accounted for Somerset’s top-scorer Hill, who was a contemporary at school in Taunton. Josh Knott made an acrobatic over-the-head catch to remove Seb Linnitt look easy. Harvey's diving effort that accounted for Jack Thomas was in the nine-out-of-ten category.

Passenger’s three-overs only cost 12 runs – remarkable economy in this format. Seamer Matt Jeacock finished with four for 30. Bowling at the end in the dash for runs helped, as did the over-ambitious shot Oscar Coleman (pictured, below) deployed in the penultimate over!