Devon Cricket Board - Devon up against one of their own?

Devon up against one of their own?

DEVON Lions will probably run into one of their own this afternoon when they meet Oxford MCCU in a T20 challenge match in the Parks (2pm).

Pace bowler Charlie Morris featured for Devon last season before landing a place in the university cricket academy.

Unfortunately for Morris, whose club side is Budleigh Salterton, he suffered a broken finger playing for the university against Leeds-Bradford last month.

Both teams want Morris back in action - Devon for their Minor Counties Championship campaign after the MCCU season is over – as do Worcestershire, who want a look at him.

Morris’s recovery time has been shorter than expected, but it will be ironic if he comes back for one of his teams against the other!

“We have been told Charlie is ready to play again, which is good news for him as this is an important season in is development,” said Lions assistant coach Joel Murphy, who is the player’s captain at Budleigh.

“He has come on leaps and bounds since the end of last season by working hard indoors during the winter and it must be frustrating for him to have had a month off after putting all that effort in.”

The Lions is Devon’s development squad, which comes under the remit of the David Shepherd Foundation set up two years ago.

The foundation is a charitable concern which remembers the late David Shepherd, the former Test umpire and Gloucestershire batsman who started out with Devon way back in 1958.

The foundation tries to identify young players with potential to move up into the Minor Counties side, such as Budleigh’s Jack Dart, a young batsman who made a century against Surrey for Devon U17s last season.

Head coach Tim Western is also on the look out for more mature players who are producing the goods in the Devon Premier Division on a regular basis.

Bovey Tracey captain Peter Bradley is one who falls into the late-developer category.

Then there are players like Bradninch’s Ross Acton and Torquay’s Nick Watkin, who came up through the Devon Cricket Board youth ranks, but didn’t progress from the old U21 side into the Minor Counties squad.

Devon: G R Chappell (Bradninch), R Acton (Bradninch), L F O Bess (Sidmouth), R J Bougourd, P Bradley (both Bovey Tracey), M H Curtis (Exmouth), J Dart (Budleigh), M J Golding (Bradninch), C Grainger (Exeter), M I J Plowman (Budleigh), N S Watkin (Torquay).

DCB Ltd, University of Exeter Sports Hall, Stocker Road, Exeter, Devon EX4 4QN Company Registration Number: 7024773