Devon Cricket Board - Eames lashes ton on England debut

Eames lashes ton on England debut

DEVON'S run-machine veteran Bob Eames marked his England call-up with a debut century in the 148-run win over Australia in Leeds.

Eames, a retired teacher, has been nailing bowlers all season for Devon O60s in the Spitfire National Championship, where he is averaging around 115!

It was not too much of a surprise when England came calling for Eames, who justified his selection with 109.

'I got in early after both openers ran themselves out and batted through until about seven overs from the end,' said Eames, who played for Sandford and Exeter after moving to Devon from his native Yorkshire in 1972.

'Ray Swann - Graham Swann's father - got out for 99 trying to reach his ton off the last ball of our innings.

'We got 286 for three in our 50 overs and they were 138 for eight. Afterwards, the Australians gave me a medal as man of the match.

'As Australia had a few ex-State players in the team I expected them to be a bit tougher to beat than they were, not that I want to sound conceited.'

Eames, 62, is the first of three Devon 060s' players to earn England call-ups this summer.

Stuart Lott, a former Sandford team-mate, has been picked to play against Wales later in the season.

And Shobrooke Park's Pete Rose will be playing against Australia at Sudbury on Thursday in the next one-day Test.

Lott has also been picked as part of England 060s' Test squad for a four-match series in Australia this winter.

Eames is going along too. At this stage he is not part of the Test squad, although that could change.

'An O60s' festival is taking place in Australia at the same time with lots of mini tournaments going on,' said Eames.

'We stop off in Shanghai and Singapore on the way there for games, then go on to Melbourne and Sydney, so it is going to be quite a trip.'

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