Day One report & card | Day Two scorecard
DEVON survived an anxious last half hour at Mount Wise to preserve hopes of beating Herefordshire and claim their first Unicorns Championship win of the season.
Herefordshire were bowled out for 290 second time around on the Plymouth ground, leaving Devon to make 201 to win and more than a day to do it.
First innings centurion Josh Mailling missed out in Devon’s second innings, caught behind for six off the bowling of Herefordshire’s England U19 left-arm spinner Ben Twohig.
Surviving opener Alex Barrow and third man in Dan Pyle looked comfortable most of the time while taking the tally to 46. Then the jitters set in.
A combination of loud appeals, let-offs and hesitant shot selection seemed to unsettle Devon’s batters and invigorate the gaggle of fielders crouched round the bat.
Pyle went first – lbw to Twohig – followed two overs later from the Devonport Hill End by Devon skipper Josh Bess and Matt Thompson, who succumbed leg-before in successive balls.
Twohig took all three wickets for no runs at all in the space of 13 balls. He finished the day with four for 30, which could have been five or six had catches not been grassed.
Devon arrived at close of play on 91 for four. Their route had taken them from 51 for one to 68 for four. Surviving opener Alex Barrow was unbeaten on 40 and Zak Bess 13 not out.
The running total of lbw decisions given in the game to date is 14: six against Herefordshire and eight against Devon.
Devon need 110 to win on day three; Herefordshire need to take six more wickets. You would not want to stick your neck out either way.
“It is 50-50 now and we are still in there fighting,” said Devon’s director of cricket Keith Donohue.
“We could not afford to lose any more wickets after that rough patch we went through so getting to the end no more down was helpful.”
One way or another it will be decided by lunchtime on day three. It won’t be a draw.
Devon 259 for eight overnight, added 12 more when play resumed on day two. Mailling added two more runs to finish on 153.
Twohig (64), Peter Burgoyne (79) and Tom Hage (60) were Herefordshire’s leading scorers in their second-innings total of 290 all out.
Herefordshire struggled for run against Devon’s new ball and were 66 for four before Burgoyne and Twohig got together. Their stand of 104 for the fifth wicket underpinned the innings.
Young left-armer Max Hancock broke the stand but Burgoyne kept going until Jamie Stephens had him caught by a diving Barrow at short mid-wicket.
“Herefordshire got a few more than we would have liked, but we stuck at it and whittled them out in the end.”
Herefordshire 181 (P I Burgoyne 76, T A Hage 36, J P Harrison 27; J A Stephens 4-54, J O Hagan-Burt 2-10, D J Goodey 2-40) 7 290 (B J Twohig 64, P I Burgoyne 79, T A Hage 60; J Stephens 4-77), Devon 271 (J H J Mailling 153, A W R Barrow 29, D J Goodey 23; B J Twohig 4-87, P I Burgoyne 3-56) & 91-4 (A W R Barrow 40no; B J Twohig 4-30). Bonus points: Devon 7, Herefordshire 3.
