Record books being checked to confirm if Gribble is youngster player to turn out for Exeter in Premier game

Ollie Gribble gets off the mark for Exeter against Bovey Tracey

By CONRAD SUTCLIFFE

RECORD books are being tracked down to discover if Oliver Gribble really is the youngest player to represent Exeter in a Devon Senior League.

Ollie Gribble (left) and dad Mark outside the pavilion at Bovey TraceyGribble, aged 13 years and 12 days, was promoted from the second team to keep wicket for the 1stXI against Bovey Tracey on Saturday.

Charlie Fanouis should have been behind the stumps, but had to pull out of the team the evening before the match, giving the youthful Gribble his chance.

Although Exeter were heavily defeated by Bovey Tracey, Gribble did not put a foot wrong.

He took a catch – Lewis Hammett for a third-ball duck – and got through 45 overs without conceding a bye. And the not-out batsman in Exeter’s total of 107? Oliver Gribble.

They are a cricket-loving lot the Gribbles as dad Mark is the current Exeter captain, uncle Adam played with Mark for Devon, Bovey Tracey and Exeter and, going back further, granddad George and great-grandad Sam all played too.

Mark’s elder son Harry (16) plays for Exeter and daughter Elusha (15) is a keeper-batter for Exeter Ladies and the Devon under-15 and under-17 girls’ sides.

Since league cricket began for Exeter in 1972 Oliver Gribble is one of the youngest players to feature in a first-team game. But is he the youngest? That’s what Exeter officials are trying to determine by rummaging through old scorebooks as there is another candidate.

Wind the cricketing clock back to the early 1990s and a young cricketer named Orlando LeFleming was being hailed as a child sensation with a big future ahead of him in the game.Orlando Le Fleming back in 1995 when he was playing for Devon in a game at Bovey Tracey

Le Fleming, a pupil at Exeter School, was only 15 when he made his Devon county debut against Cheshire in the summer of 1992. He was playing regularly for Exeter the season before that.

Le Fleming could have been as young as 13 too if he first appeared in Exeter’s 1stXI earlier than July 1990. A club official has been delegated the task of finding the 1990 scorebook to check when Le Fleming first appeared.

For three seasons – 94-96 inclusive – Le Fleming was a regular in Devon’s one-day and two-day sides. He made more than 30 appearances in total. He was on Somerset’s books in 1995, but only stayed a year.

Le Fleming was a talented music scholar as well as cricketer and, after winning a place at the Royal Academy of Music, his passion for music displaced cricket. He moved to New York in 2003 and has made a career out of playing the double-bass and recording jazz music.

His new album Romantic Funk is due to be released in late September.

To catch-up with OrlandoLe Fleming post-cricket, click here.