Barrow slams maiden ton as Devon dump Wiltshire out of Unicorns Trophy

Alex Barrow - Devon

Scorecard

A maiden century by Alex Barrow teed-up Devon for a 56-run win over Wiltshire and a place in the last eight of the Unicorns Trophy.

Former Somerset staffer Barrow had a three-figure near miss in the same competition last season when out for 91 in the win over Cornwall at Werrington.

This time Barrow went all the way to 107 in Devon’s tally of 281 for six – a total almost certainly above par at overcast Sidmouth.

Barrow and Liam Lewis put on 87 with Liam Lewis (35) and shared stands of 62 with Josh Bess (33) and 58 with Finlay Trenouth.

When Barrow was fifth out on 226 he had faced 125 balls, 11 of which went for four and two more for six. He was brutal on anything with width and adept at taking sharp singles and turning singles into comfortable twos.

Trenouth finished undefeated on 65, which came off 44 balls and included four fours and four sixes.

Gary Chappell and George Benton took four wickets each as Wiltshire were bowled out for 225 five overs early.

It wasn’t a formality as Wiltshire chased hard with Tom Morton, Ed Young, Ashur Morrison and Brad Dawson all going for it. None of them got out of the 30s and without a significant innings to pin it on a long chase was always going to be hard.

Morrison’s demise at 170 for five – one of two excellent catches by debutant Joe Hagan-Burt off Chappell – was the beginning of the end for Wiltshire.

Dawson – England all-rounder Liam is his brother - kept whacking away, depositing Chappell (4-43) for two sixes in the same over, but perished lbw when he tried to sweep Devon’s left-arm spinner.

When Dawson went Wiltshire were 205 for seven and not going to win it from there.

Benton, who bowled with strength and aggression for his four for 50, returned from the Belmont End to knock over the tail and speed Devon towards a date with Berkshire at Sidmouth on June 10 in the next round.

Keith Donohue, Devon’s director of cricket, said quality batting from the early order was a key factor in the win.

“It was tricky for the first 15-20 overs, but Liam and Baz (Barrow) stuck at it using their expertise and skill,” said Donohue.

“The way they did it allowed Josh and Fin to play with freedom and get us to a total that was probably 20-30 above par for the ground conditions.

“We have been expecting a cameo from Fin for a while and he produced one that gave us impetus at the right time.

“When they batted we had to keep changing tactics to eek them out and without totally dominating we found a way to win.”

Devon 281-6 (A W R Barrow 107, F R Trenouth 64no, L J Lewis 35, J J Bess 33; E G C Young 2-42), Wiltshire 225 (E G C Young 36, A A Morrison 36, , T I Morton 34, U A Qureshi 35; G Benton 4-50, G R Chappell 4-43). Devon bt Wiltshire by 56 runs.