Devon Cricket Board - Devon need a bit more bite says Bradley

Devon need a bit more bite says Bradley

DEVON run into bogey side Hertfordshire at Welwyn tomorrow (11am) in the first round of the Minor Counties Trophy.
Hertfordshire have been waiting for Devon at the quarter-final stage of the competition for the past two seasons and beaten them both times.
In 2010 Devon lost by 26 runs at Exmouth. Last season Herts were nine-run winners at Sidmouth en-route to the final, where they were six-wicket losers to Berkshire.
The competition is played in group stages initially to determine eight quarter-finalists. Herts have replaced Bucks in Devon’s group for 2012.
New Devon skipper Chris Bradley, who has replaced Neil Hancock, said man for man there is very little between the two sides.
However, Hertfordshire play a robust game of cricket that Devon could learn something from.
“Hertfordshire are positive and aggressive and in the 50-over form of the game that is the best way to be,” said Bradley.
“Our players are just as good as theirs, but have a few different strengths.
“I am not suggesting we go out the and blast the bowling from ball one as that is not our style.
“Neither am I saying we are going to go out there with the ball and run through them as that’s not our attack.
“What we need to be is positive with the bat and aggressive in the field. Let’s build pressure that way.”
Bradley has been presented with a 13-man squad by the selectors and has to whittle it down 11 on the morning of the match.
From the side beaten by Herts at Sidmouth last season Bob Dawson, Hancock, Scott Barlow, Sandy Allen and Ian Bishop no longer figure in Devon’s plans.
While some replacements are straightforward – Matt Thompson behind the stumps for Allen, ex-Somerset and Notts staffer Matt Wood in the early order for Dawson – replacing all-rounder Hancock and medium pacers Barlow and Bishop has proved more problematical.
Charlie Morris, Ryan Bougourd and spinner Gary Chappell are new to the equation, as is Sidmouth batsman Pete Randerson.
Morris, playing for Oxford MCCU this season and attracting attention from Worcestershire, looks likely to play, which will mean no place for Bougourd.
The need for six bowlers to get through the game probably means Chappell will get the nod ahead of Randerson, who has done nothing but enhance his claims for a place with a succession of good knocks in pre-season friendlies and would be unlucky to be omitted.
Devon v Hertfordshire (squad): C Bradley (Bovey T), M W Thompson (Torquay), R J Woodman (Taunton), R J Holman (Exeter), J E Burke (Budleigh), D F Lye (Exmouth), J J Bess (Sidmouth), M J Wood (Plymtree), P J Randerson (Sidmouth), G R Chappell (Bradninch), T S Anning (Exmouth), C A J Morris (Budleigh), R Bougourd (Bovey T).
Hertfordshire: E C Ballard, J P Hewitt, D J Blacktopp, G R Brown, A S Lewis, B J Frazer, J E Southgate, N J Lamb, G C Baker, R E Evans, N V Jeyaratnam, S P White
Umpires: P A Baldwin & P D Nicholls

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