Devon Cricket Board - North win Devon U10s Festival for first time

North win Devon U10s Festival for first time

The winning North Devon team: Back (left to right): Ben Scarrett, Jack Whittaker, Dan Huggins, Nic Jones, George Nickel, Alex Wright; front: Will Popham, Ed Buttler, Cameron Ford (capt), Ed Brogio, Marcus Bulled, William Newby
AT last! It’s taken 12 years to achieve it, but the North U10 side has finally won the District Youth Festival it hosts every summer.
Bideford CC have staged the festival for 12 years with Andy Davies, the stalwart volunteer, making sure every one was beautifully organised.
Davies is also chair of the North District and it would have given him great pleasure to watch a North side win the tournament for the first time.
The competition pits the best players at U10 from the four corners of Devon Youth Cricket. Matches are ten-a-side pairs games with all players batting and bowling. The sides start with a nominal 200 on the board which goes up when runs are scored and down by five when wickets are lost.
The morning semi-finals featured the West versus the East and the South against the North.
East bowlers got on top of proceedings in semi-final one and limited the West to 122 in their 20 overs, with the main contributors being Agnew and Lamb with young Alford taking three wickets for the East.
The East batting was very strong with Tyler and Dormer scoring 16 and 18 respectively.
The West bowlers toiled hard but with their 20 overs yielding 223 the East won by 101 runs.
The second semi-final was a much closer affair
The North batted first and scored 176, with captain Cameron Ford contributing 14.
The South innings was kept under control from the start with all of the bowlers performing to the highest level, keeping the South below the asking rate.
The South eventually fell 16 runs short leaving a delighted North team to contest the final with their East counterparts.
The North were put in by the East, are strong side that bowled very straight and very full.
At all times the North batters were under pressure, losing wickets throughout the innings.
Going into the final four overs with last pair Ed Butler and Dan Huggins in residence, the team had scored 117 runs. Clearly not enough to bowl at.
Butler took up the mantle and fours later and a few singles the North youngsters finished on 148.
The East reply was extremely tense. First pair Sedcork and Fitzhearauld scored 12, the second pair took the score to 19 then third pair Dorma and Pryce elevated the score to 128,
With East now favourites, Hollifield and Tyler batted beautifully and almost got the sides level reaching 145.
Ford marshalled the North bowlers well and the runs slowed to a trickle – just three in four overs.
However pressure was being applied by Captain Ford marshalling all the North Bowlers, overs 15,16,17 ,18 only yielded 3 runs.
The penultimate over went for three more and the scores were level.
Butler did the business in the last over, bowling a double-wicket maiden to give the North victory by ten runs.
“Ed should take most of the praise but the bowling by Jack Whitaker, George Nickel and Will Popham in those closing overs was vital,” said North playing co-ordinator Mark Overton.
“Also a mention to captain Ford for brilliantly managing his fielders and bowling resources.
“Well done the North and commiserations to the East – a great match.
“On behalf of the NDYCA I would like to thank Andy and the volunteers of Bideford CC for making Monday a very special day not just for the North players but all the young U10s from around the county. “

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