- South Dartmoor back to winning ways in cups
- Tom Allin tournament raised more than £5,000 for air ambulance
- Taverners kit bag delivered to Sri Lankan youngsters
- Devon trying to contact the class of 56
- Paceman Tshepo running in Virgin London Marathon
- Five Devon women in Western Storm squad for Kia Super League
- Registration night for all ages at Topsham on Monday
- Lots pouring in for auction at Allin Memorial tournament
- Thames Valley Gentlemen Cricket Club
- Bradninch add Argentinian flavour to Devon League
- Ipplepen youth registration night on Friday
- Final call for Groundsmans first seminar this year
- Devon League official tackling London Marathon for charity
- Bovey on familiar territory in Aaron Printers Cup
- Brockman Cup - Cup Kings lie in wait for holders
- Shepherd Trust helps Kingsbridge build for sustainable future
- DCL - Umpire Appointments 2016 (May 7th - July 2nd)
- Long standing records beaten
- North Devon see off Paignton chase
DEVON Lions had victory in their sights against Futura Sports, only to see it slip from their grasp in the second half of the chase.
Futura – over from Durban for the Last Man Standing tournament in London later this month – added a Devon leg to their three-week tour at the instigation of coach Pat Steytler.
Steytler was player-coach at Brixham in 2003 and 2004 and wanted to visit his old stamping grounds one more time.
The opening game of the tour was a 50-over friendly against the Lions at Brixham, which the South Africans won by three runs.
Cody Gertze (63) and Mark Airey (59) top scored for the tourists in an all-out total of 238.
North Devon spinner Max Curtis was the pick of the bowlers with four for 46. Clubmate Barney Huxtable picked up two for 28.
The Lions got off to an 87-run start with Huxtable (41) and Josh Mailing (64) doing the business.
Dan Hardy went cheaply, Sam Wyatt-Haines only made 14, but when Mailing was fourth out at 168 with 15 overs to go the chase was right up with the clock.
Jack Dart (47) and Curtis (30no) knocked another 47 off the target, but weren’t gaining any time either.
The Lions got down to the last over needing 13 to win, but fell four runs short in a final total of 235 for six.
Tim Western, the Devon Lions head coach, said his disappointment at losing was tempered by the quality of the opposition.
“I believe there were five players with First Class experience in the Futura side – and that’s quite a strong line-up,” said Western.
“Against that sort of batting attack we did well to bowl them out early. Max Curtis reckoned it was his best spell ever and I was impressed by the way Matt Plowman kept it tight.
“I think they would agree they had the best of the conditions for batting in.
“The boundary count was something like 34-21 in their favour, yet we were only a handful of runs light.
“Futura are clearly a serious side. We were able to score steadily against them, but when we needed to increase the pace just a little in the final five or six overs they were able to stop us.
“We play games like this for the experience and all our players will have benefitted from it.”