This was an encouragingly competitive performance from a side, due to number of unexpected circumstances, that met for the first time in the car park at Exmouth Cricket Club for the trip up to Warminster to play Wiltshire. In the forty-eight hours they were together they knitted together to form an amazingly united team. Much of the credit must go to new Captain Dan Hardy and Coach Jack Porter who pulled all the various elements together. With sixty more runs on first innings they might have started the season with a win on first innings. Unexpected night time road works on the A303 turned what should have been the shortest journey of the season into one of the longest and it was Pizza and coke at the Farmers rather than the proposed visit to the Bath Arms. Fortunately no one had brought any cards so it was a relatively early night, apart from a surprise to a long term resident in the East wing.
The warm up was vibrant and the nerves were not too bad as Hardy won the toss and took the positive step and batted. The nerves returned and a walk to Warminster was considered as the new pairing of Hardy and James Fletcher strode to the wicket. The Wiltshire attack looked pacey and after 32 minutes the openers were well on the way to blunting the new ball. Fletcher was then caught at slip and four runs later the captain was caught and the start not ideal at 15-2. Twenty-eight were added by Gareth Tidball and David Wrench when with 43 minutes to go to lunch Tidball gave a return catch. This brought in Seb Benton and with David Wrench this pair must be the batting engine of the side – both batting in the Premier and both with the talent to build the big innings to take the side to 350 plus. They put on another 28 runs, both looking polished acts when Wrench became the fourth batmen in the morning session to be caught. Tom Whittle joined Benton at 71 and it was vital that the pair consolidated and batted for lunch. With six minutes left of the first session Benton gave the fifth catch and lunch was taken at a disappointing 99-5. The pressure was on the new players as they probably felt they had something to prove to their new colleagues. Therefore Tom Whittle’s performance was exceptional as he batted through to the end of the innings (127minutes; 95 balls) to top score it took up all of the second session. He lost his under 16 team mate Andrew Buzza at 101, Joel Seward at 106 (bowled) and Nelson struck when Eliot Acton gave the seventh and final catch of the innings. Debutant Craig Donohue marked his first appearance with a duck and Devon was not well placed at 112-9. Enter 14 year old keeper Matt Thompson and the rest of the side were told to get their whites on, 56 minutes later the side picked up its first bonus point. The pair batted sensibly, running well with neither appearing at all overawed. It was the highest partnership of the innings and a face saving one. Next |
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