Devon U12’s go down to Wales.

After the previous comprehensive victory over Gwent, Devon found themselves on the receiving end of a comprehensive loss when they played Wales at Heathcote CC.  Archie won the toss again for Devon and elected to bat on a warm sunny day with a short boundary to the pavilion side.  Some extremely tight bowling by the Welsh bowlers saw Devon struggling to find runs.  Joe Farmer was first out (stumped) trying to force the pace by coming down the wicket followed by Jasper Presswell shortly afterwards.  A partnership with Rory Medlock started to build but was broken after 31 runs were added. Freddie O’Connell was out for 17 and things were looking glum.  One bright moment was the newly capped James Hayter.  James rode his luck being dropped several times, but top scored with 38 on debut. The captain came to the crease determined to set things moving and opened his account with a six.  Sadly he was out after adding only one more to his account.  Ollie Smith added 19 but was caught off Protheroe.  The boys were commended for at least managing to bat all their overs against some very accurate bowling.

 

The reply was a matter of trying to hold off the inevitable for as long as possible.  The only way to win the match was to take early wickets but the opening Welsh pair of Horton and Protheroe put on 106 for the first wicket.   Notable bowling performances were by Rory Medlock who managed 8 overs 2 maidens, 0 for 17 from his offspin and Tom Hatton who also managed to allow only 11 runs off his 4.4 overs of offspin and took the only two wickets to fall.  The first was an excellent caught and bowled to remove Horton who was on 61.  However despite losing the two wickets, it was all too late with Devon short of runs to defend and Wales knocking off the winning runs in the 29th over.