Devon Cricket Board - Devon end season on a high

Devon end season on a high

The Devon side who defeated Oxfordshire at Sidmouth; (Back, left to right): Sandy Allen, Rob Holman, Rob Woodman, Matt Kid, Matt Golding, Matt Thompson, Peter Langford. Front:Will Squire, David Lye, Josh Bess, Trevor Anning, Rhys Davies.

DEVON skipper Josh Bess praised the side’s bowlers for their never-say-die attitude in the wake of the 128-run win Oxfordshire at Sidmouth.

The margin of victory looks comfortable enough, but the reality was it was anything but.

Oxfordshire were always a long shot to make 523 to win in three sessions plus a couple of hours on Monday night – although as asking rates go it wasn’t beyond them either.

To win the game Devon had to bowl out Oxfordshire in the 130 overs left in the game – and were attempting it without leading wicket takers Trevor Anning and Chris Bradley.

Seamer Anning went lame on day two of the match while spinner Bradley dropped out after the side was picked due to family reasons.

Devon finally prised out Oxfordshire with four overs of the match to spare, Matt Golding taking the last wicket to fall.

Bradninch spinner Will Squire (pictured) took four for 118 from a marathon 46-over stint while left-arm seamer Rob Woodman had three for 18 including one of the big wickets Devon needed.

Said Bess: “It was a fantastic effort from all our bowlers, not just the ones who took the wickets.

“It might have been a big target, but they had a lot of overs to get the runs in on a pitch that flattened out as the game went on and didn’t offer a lot to the bowlers.

“Will Squire bowled really well and took on a huge responsibility. He fully deserved his four wickets and could easily have had a couple more.

“Matt Kidd and Matt Golding did their bit – and Rob Woodman did a valuable job with the second new ball.

“Rob was getting the ball to move around so we brought him back with the new ball and he got Lloyd Sabin out almost immediately.

“That was a big wicket for us as he had been there three hours already and looked like he wanted to bat forever.

“There was still a long way to go and another seven wickets to get, but from then on I thought we had a better chance.

Devon still had a lot of work to do and found it hard shifting several of the Oxfordshire batters.

Mike Beard batted four hours for 62, Richard West was out there three hours and 209 minute over his 49 and tail-ender Karl Penhale used up nearly an hour making eight in a ninth-wicket stand of 50 with Francois Vainker.

Devon had a massive lead on the board going into the final innings thanks to Bess with the ball and Matthew Thompson with the bat.

Thompson made an unbeaten 120 in the first innings as Devon reached 233 all out, then Bess took a career best six for 25 as Oxfordshire were bowled out for 81.

Second time around Thompson hit another century – becoming only the third player in 112 years to make two tons in the same match for Devon – and there were sizeable chip-ins from David Lye (66), Bess (66no) and Sandy Allen (49) to a total of 369 for seven declared.

“Thommo batted fantastically well to dig us out of a bit of a hole on the first day,” said Bess.

“We have some pretty destructive batsmen and in the second innings they batted round Thommo to put us in a dominant position.

“Once we got past 500 it was always going to be a tall order for Oxfordshire.”

Devon 233 (M W Thompson 120, C B Keegan 4-85, K A Penhale 4-50) & 369-7 dec (M W Thompson 107, J J Bess 66no, D F Lye 55, A P W Allen 49; F W Vainker 3-57), Oxfordshire 81 (J J Bess 6-25, T S Anning 3-17) & 393 (R I Kaufman 74, L M Sabin 92, M A Beard 62; W D Squire 4-118, R J Woodman 3-18). Devon (22pts) bt Oxfordshire (4) by 128 runs.

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