Tall has tinkering to do before settling on squad to take on Herefordshire at North Devon

Jamie Baird – not available to face Herefordshire

DEVON team chief Dave Tall has some tinkering to do before settling on his squad for the Twenty20 double date with Herefordshire at Instow on Sunday (11am).

Tall had hoped to include Somerset’s Ned Leonard as new-ball cover for the unavailable Dan Goodey. The England under-19 seamer has a back injury and has withdrawn from consideration.

Jamie Baird, the Sidmouth batsman, was due to return to the match-day squad after missing the Bank Holiday Monday defeats by group leaders.

Baird, a student at the University of Exeter, has exams next week and has withdrawn to concentrate on revision.

Tall’s initial teamsheet contained Cornwood bowling all-rounder Elliot Staddon, but he remains unavailable due to the imminent arrival of his first child.

Paignton opener Harry Ward, who made a hundred against Bovey Tracey in a pre-season friendly last Saturday, could be a replacement for Baird at the top of the order.

Jack Popham, the North Devon paceman, is an option to replace Goodey in the attack and an attractive one as Instow is his home ground.

“The other option is to register someone new who has not played before – if we can do that in time,” said Tall.

This is the final round of fixtures in Group Two. Neither Devon or Herefordshire can qualify for the knock-out stages of the competition.

Devon cannot qualify from their group for the last four as two defeats by Dorset on Bank Holiday Monday left them out of touch at the bottom of the table.

Devon’s hopes ended when Dorset defeated them by seven wickets then 41 runs in the two-match format used in the group stages.

Devon (from): C J Haggett (Bridgwater), J D Horler (Exmouth), B A Beaumont (Cornwood), A J Small (Sandford), E H Hamilton (Plympton), S O Read (Exeter), E W O Middleton (Taunton Deane), K B Szymanski (Swansea), F Sabir (Ombersley), M P Skeemer (Cornwood).

Herefordshire: M G Pardoe, N A Hammond, J W Rudge, L J Powell, C A Steele, O J Walker, Z Abbas, P G Harris, R Venkataraman, A K Russell, J S Johal.

Umpires: A J Wheeler, R Patel.