BEN Beaumont will become one of the youngest players to appear in Unicorns Championship cricket for Devon if he appears in the game against Wiltshire at Sandford.

Beaumont will be 16 years and 188 days old when play gets under way today (Sunday). Only Matt Petherbridge (15 yrs 308 days), Mike Garnham (15y 327d), Orlando Le Fleming (15yrs 344 days), Tom Lammonby (16y 31d), Craig Overton (16y 57d), and Paul Brown (16y 102d) were younger when they made their Devon debuts.

Beaumont, whose club side is Cornwood, was drafted into the XII on Friday night after early order batsman James Degg withdrew because of an ankle injury.

Beaumont, whose form with the bat earned him a South and West squad place at last summer’s Bunbury Festival, has been on the selection radar for a while due to his form for Cornwood and the county age-group sides.

Dave Tall, Devon’s director of cricket, said: “James got injured playing in a youth team game for Plympton, which is of course a shame for him.

“Having said that it is a chance for Ben to come in and I hope he makes the best of it.”

Beaumont, a student at Plymouth College, was a relatively late inductee into county age-group cricket, only featuring regularly from 2017 onwards.

Devon go into the game looking for a pick-me-up after losing by 32 runs to Herefordshire in their last three-day outing.

Devon: A W R Barrow (Sandford), G B Allen (Torquay), Z G G Bess (Sidmouth), J E Burke (Plymouth), M W Thompson (St Fagans), W A White (Leek), J A Stephens (Taunton Deane), B A Beaumont, M P Skeemer (both Cornwood), H M Whitlock, T J R Codd (both Bovey), E W O Middleton (Exeter).

Wiltshire: W J Wade, J Goodwin, U A Qureshi, E G C Young, N J Clark, B C Dawson, T I Morton, T G Afridi, L A Evans, J M King, W J Harries. 12th: J B Lintott.

Umpires: R W Tolchard, R G B Allen.