NCCA Counties

Warminster saw a mixture of grey and blue skies throughout the day, but the only rain delay came at the very beginning with the start delayed by 20 minutes. Devon won the toss and chose to field first.  This saw Wadworth Man of the Match Tom Cheater 122 (14 x 4 and 4 x 6) take to the field with Jack Mynott (52) in a commanding opening partnership that put on 111. Tom and Jack had raced to their half centuries together with Tom on 53 not out when Jack departed for 52.  Thereafter Tom held the innings together as he moved steadily towards his century.  Nobody else passed 20  with Stan Brown (19) coming the closest. Tom survived until the final over having made a massive contribution to the teams 252 all out with just 2 balls remaining.

The Devon reply began strongly with Ben Privett (48) and James Horler adding a quickfire 61 for the second wicket. The ever-dependable Chris Aubrey, (5 for 52), made the first breakthrough with a splendid juggling catch from Ed Young. Chris went on to claim a five wicket haul as Will Naish took the second of two catches to seal victory in the 41st over. Another Wiltshire stalwart, Joe King  (3 for 28) took three wickets  to add to his impressive career tally of more than 1,000 wickets for club and county. Seasoned campaigner Callum Harvey (25) was looking settled until becoming another of Chris Aubrey’s tally giving a catch to Joe King having pushed the score on to 193 for 6. Sam Read (51) was looking capable of finishing the game for Devon until Chris Aubrey snared him too with Tom Cheater taking a stinging catch at point. Skipper Ed Young then took the ball and claimed the wicket of Harry Passenger with a fine catch from Charan Chahal running back towards the boundary with the ball coming over his shoulder.  With Read gone the Devon resistance disappeared. The last batters were out looking for boundaries when they could have reached their target comfortably with singles.  The eventual score was 228 all out from 41 overs.

So, a very successful weekend for Wiltshire with plenty of positives and every player making a contribution to fine team performances. Next up is Hertfordshire at Welwyn Garden City CC on 10th May