Sunshine with Seaton looking in excellent condition Carr makes it two in two if only they think bushels and lights when they open their mouths. Bedfordshire bat and we had flirted with the idea of batting second but had discounted it so we would now have to bowl them out cheaply and quickly and put on the pressure on day two. Having decided that we should be taking early wickets we failed again as the visitors openers put on the third opening partnership over 50 and their captain Hill was looking to bat a long time. The sides three prong seam attack was seen off but Matt Cooke struck in the 23rd over when he trapped Naik in front for a 56 ball 14. Hill and Tahir advanced towards lunch and the visitors were laying a solid foundation but Chappell struck in the fortieth and forty-second – the last before lunch as he had Hill very well held by Porter on a skyer going away from him and then bowled Sohail to leave Bedfordshire not so comfortably placed at 98-3. Devon was bowling at an excellent rate with the intention, if it were necessary, of getting in at least 120 overs in the day. However the main intent was still to bowl their opponents out as cheaply as possible. They continued with a wicket in the forty-ninth over at 107 as Carr took his first wicket with a stumping from Justin Yau. The visitor’s objective was to bat the day so it would be a case of nibbling away. The spinners were bowling economically and the over rate for the second and third hours reached 22 so it was a matter of patience and making things happen on a good track. In Chappell’s 18 overs there were only nine scoring shots and one was a six! The fifth wicket put on 42 taking the score past 150 but a wicket fell in the seventy-second over and the run rate of 2.11 an over would put some pressure on the later batsmen over the potential 50 overs at the visitors disposal. Muzawazi was run out as Chappell and Cooke combined for fantasy points. Devon kept chipping away as Cooke took his second leg before at 164. Tea was taken at 179-6 with 83 overs delivered. Fortunately two wickets fell at 186 as keeper Kerr eventually fell. The left hander had looked a tidy and compact player and was occupying the crease but after 133 minutes and just past his 50, as had his captain earlier, he skied one off Cooke and this time an even better catch was held by Tom Allin on a full dive – stunning. Gibbo had earlier asked for an improvement in the fielding and was being rewarded with a pressure performance from the side. Next over Nicholls gave Carr the charge and was bowled and the openers could start thinking about batting. Five runs later Carr struck again for the third leg before of the innings. However 2005 is the year of the last wicket partnerships first Wilkinson and Allin, then Flintoff and Jones and now Patel and Churms as they gave their side their second batting point and delayed the appearance of Bess and Bowser at the wicket.

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