Wiltshire CCC win one and lose one in NCCA T20 fixtures versus Devon
NCCA T20 competition
Wiltshire CCC v Devon CCC
South Wilts Cricket Club, 8th June 2025
Match 1
It was a relief to see blue sky after the downpours that caused a halt to local cricket yesterday. Devon were today’s visitors eager to make amends for last weeks defeats by neighbours Cornwall. Wiltshire were hopeful of building on their success against Glamorgan. Devon won the toss and chose to field first. Tom Cheater began in very positive form with a 6 and two 4s in the first over, but sadly perished in the second over. However, this brought Jack Mynott 40 (42 balls, 3x4, 1x6) and Jake Goodwin 80 (47 balls, 6X4, 7X6) together in a partnership of 125 which was the backbone of Wiltshire’s innings. When these two were dismissed the run rate slowed down considerably with Will Naish 15 and Ed Young 4 adding a few in the closing overs. Josh Kelly had only just opened his scoring when he was forced to retire after a rising ball hit him on the cheek. (This didn’t stop him fielding superbly in both games even with ‘a bit of a headache’!) Catches from Lawrence Walker removed Will Naish and Archie Fairfax Ross as Wiltshire finally closed their innings on 169 for 5.
In reply Devon were always in touch with the required scoring rate and their innings was built around Callum Harvey 78 not out (53 balls, 7x4, 4x6), but everybody chipped in with a few runs and Wiltshire could only manage to take 4 wickets with 3 catches from Tom Cheater and another from Alfie Johnson. The wickets were taken by William Brown 1 for 28, Rhy Baker 1 for 34, Archie Fairfax-Ross 1 for 25 and Charan Chahal 1 for 32. With 22 required from the last two overs Wiltshire were hopeful of a victory, but Callum Harvey had other ideas and hit 12 (6,4,2) in the 18th over with Sam Read hitting a 6 of his own. Two extras took the total to within a run of Wiltshire’s total. Harvey and Read took a run each in the final over to give Devon a hard-fought victory with 2 balls to spare – 170 for 4.
Devon CCC beat Wiltshire CCC by 6 wickets
Match 2
Wiltshire won the toss for the second match and opted to bat first again needing to set a target that Devon would be unable to catch. As the game wore on. The use of the heavy roller between matches seemed to cause the wicket to break up a little and it became tougher to bat on. However, Wadworth Man of the Day, Tom Cheater took the attack well and truly to the Devon bowlers as he hit a quick fire 50 from just 18 balls with 7x4 and 3x6 and a remarkable strike rate of 277.78. As runs became harder to come by it seemed as though Tom’s initial onslaught might be enough to tip the balance in Wiltshire’s favour. Only 3 other players made it into the teens with Jake Goodwin 12, William Brown 13 not out, and Archie Fairfax-Ross 18 being the major contributors as Wiltshire worked hard for their total of 132 all out. All of the Devon bowlers took a wicket with Hodgson, Passenger, Triner and Read taking 2 each.
Devon’s reply was cautious from the start and Devon hero of the first game Callum Harvey,2, was caught behind by Jake Goodwin from the bowling of William Brown who took 3 for 34. Fellow opener Adam Small was caught by William Brown in the deep to give Charan Chahal, 1 for 18, a wicket. Although several batsmen made starts the top score was just 19 by Finley Hill until he was superbly caught and bowled by Alfie Johnson, 2 for 21, from a well hit shot low down by his ankles. It seemed that perhaps the pressure and the pitch were taking their toll on the Devon batters who systematically lost wickets as the required run rate began to rise. Having seen a free hit caught on the boundary by Ed Young, Sam Read, 18, played exactly the same shot with the same result except that this time it was not a free hit and Rhys Baker took a well-deserved wicket! Matthew Whalley, 18, advanced down the wicket to Archie Fairfax Ross, 2 for 18, only to miss the ball and give Jake Goodwin a stumping to add to his 3 catches. Devon managed 121 for 9 in the end leaving Wiltshire with an 11 run win. This was a workmanlike victory for Wiltshire with everyone playing their part with the bowlers ably fielding, preventing runs and holding their catches. On the day, the honours were even between two well-matched teams. A trip down to Cornwall comes next weekend. 15th June, with a visit to Werrington CC for the T20 games with Cornwall.
Wiltshire CCC beat Devon CCC by 11 runs
Roy Honeybone, June 2025
