DEVON team chief Keith Donohue said he got what he wanted from the Treleavens Trophy  T20 tournament even though the county side lost both games.

Cornwall Cricket Board stated the triangular tournament at Truro with Devon and Somerset 2nd XI the opposition.

Devon were five-wicket losers to Cornwall in game one – and lost to Somerset by 49 runs in game two.

Left to right are Torquay trio Matt Thompson, Joe Thompson and Mitch PughThat set up and all-or-nothing decider between Somerset and Cornwall for the new trophy.

Cornwall gave Somerset a run for their money before going down to a nine-run defeat.

Devon always planned to take a partly experimental side to Boscawen Park, and it became a bit more experimental when James Burke and George Benton dropped out.

Torquay’s Mitch Pugh and Exmouth’s Callum French, a former Minor Counties player with Cambridge, came in as short-notice replacements.

Pugh showed what he could do with 46 not out off 47 balls against Cornwall.

Torquay team-mate Joe Thompson, who was always in the travelling party, took an unbeaten 37 off Somerset from 26 balls faced.

Keith Donohue, Devon’s director of cricket, said losing both games wasn’t a disaster in the grand scheme of things.

Devon are likely to be pitched into a revived Minor Counties T20 competition next year – the proposal is to scale back the existing 50-over cup to a straight knockout rather than played in pools.

Donohue knows there are few chances to look at players in realistic conditions for T20 cricket against appropriate opposition so when this one came along he took it.

“Cornwall were very keen to win the tournament, you could see that form the pros they brought into the side for the day, and Somerset had some experienced white-ball players of their own like Allenby, Davies and Waller,” said Donohue.

“We weren’t as serious about winning as Cornwall or Somerset, not that we were taking it lightly either.

“We wanted to give players chances and development opportunities and as an exercise it worked both ways.

“Mitch Pugh and Joe Thompson showed what they can do in this sort of cricket and I was impressed by some of the bowling.

“Spinners are so important in T20 and Toby Codd impressed in both games – six overs for 25 runs and a couple of wickets.

“Moving forward we have some ideas where we will be going.”

SUMMARIES

Devon 110-9 (M Pugh 46, G M Smith 3-10), Cornwall 113-5 (M L Robins 32, N Curnow 27; T R J Codd 2-15). Cornwall bt Devon by 5 wkts.

Somerset 184-6 (T D Banton 71, J Allenby 24; J V King 2-25, M C Golding 2-32), Devon 135-9 (L J Lewis 26, J E Thompson 37no, M C Golding 23; L P Goldsworthy 4-27). Somerset bt Devon by 49 runs.

Somerset 131-9 (T Banton 37, M A Leask 22, F R Trenouth 21; T G Sturgess 4-19), Cornwall 122-8 (N Curnow 39; J C Gore 2-38, L P Goldsworthy 2-23). Somerset bt Cornwall by 9 runs.