Development XI Results
Development XI v Devon - 28/08/2009
The Southern Counties Championship has always been a successful competition for the Wiltshire side, winning in 2007 and runners up in 2008. This past success has made this season’s performances ever harder to take.
Availability and fitness made selection of a competitive side difficult to achieve. Nine players were unavailable for a match that was needed to be won to give some credibility to season. Despite selection proving its most difficult, the side selected should have been sufficient to make the Devon team fight for their victory.
A wicket looking in need of cut, indicated that batting would prove a difficult proposition against any attack. The rain shower just before the toss looked to have freshened up the wicket and resulted in a deduction of four overs from the total of 100 to be bowled in the day. Despite the elements being against them, the experience of the top order batsmen allowed the Wiltshire team to be confident of reaching a competitive total.
Despite the early loss of Andrew Wilson, Tom Young and Adam Miles score quickly against the inexperienced opener, William Gater. Thirty runs came from the first ten overs and a solid base looked to set. The introduction of spin into the game, turned everything on its head. Bowling two slow left arm spinners in Gary Chappell and Chris Metters, the Devon team stunned and then toppled the Wiltshire top and middle order.
Chappell and Metters each bowled unchanged for twenty overs, at the end of which the game was as good as over. The Wiltshire score went from 31-1 to 60-7, as the two spinners made batting a difficult task. Gary Chappell’s initial five over burst knocked the stuffing out of the middle order as he recorded figures of four wickets for just five runs. He first bowled Miles with a ball that creeped under his bat, Steve Bullen was caught close to the wicket, before trapping Owain Phillips in front and then found a ball that bounced and took the edge through to the keeper.
Robert Pittman seemed unlucky to be caught behind to a ball that seemed to beat the bat, bringing Tom Bowler to the wicket. Young and Bowler toiled away for another five overs before Chappell claimed his fifth wicket with a fortunate LBW decision despite taking a large stride down the wicket. The tail only served to delay the inevitable and although Bowler struck some heavy blows in scoring an unbeaten 39, the final total of 108 was never going to prove sufficient.
Through availability and perhaps fate, Wiltshire’s bowling attack comprised of four spin bowlers. Therefore it was hoped that this quartet of spinners would be capable to utilising the conditions in a similar way to the home side. However, the Wiltshire bowlers could not produce the same control over the ball as the host side. Being experienced of the conditions, the Wiltshire bowlers could not create the pressure caused by Chappell and Metters in the first innings.
The top order of Hefford, Hardy and Acton scored at will and despite Andrew Wilson claiming three wickets with his off spin, the Devon team scored the winning runs in the 24th over having lost only four wickets.
Overall, the season can only been seen as being less than successful. Despite fifties from Robert Pittman (62 v Cornwall), Adam Miles (79 v Dorset), Owen Alsop (84 v Dorset), Tom Young (53 v Isle of Wight) and Andrew Wilson (67 v Isle of Wight). The team struggled from not being able to select a settled side. Injuries and availability resulted in twenty five players being used in the seven matches. All too often this resulted in under strength teams being selected for matches.
Development XI v Devon - 21/08/2009
A game that was just beginning to look interesting was ended by a heavy downpour two hours into the match. With the Development XI playing their first ever match at the garrison ground, both teams were looking forward to a full length match, despite a poor spell of weather being forecast.
Winning the toss, Wiltshire put the Devon team into bat on a track that looked like a good cricket wicket. Despite the slightly green top, a little moisture in the surface and a new ball, the home side failed to make an early inroad to the batting side’s line up. Phil Adams bowled well from one end, conceding only two runs an over during his spell lasting seven overs.
Despite Courtney Earl claiming the first wicket, by bowling Hefford, the opposite end produced a heavy toll of runs. After unsuccessfully turning to Aaron Lee to stem the tide of runs, spin took centre stage for the next ten overs. Tom Bowler began effectively, until his fifth and sixth overs were hit for a combined seventeen runs and the shackles were again broken.
Robert Pittman caused problems for the Devon batters, taking a wicket in his first over, but he took failed to make further inroads before the rain began to fall.
Despite negotiations between the umpires and the two captains, a decision could not be made on continuing the game and at 5.15pm the match was abandoned.
Development XI v Isle of Wight - 17/08/2009
With the football league season just beginning, they say that the best teams can win without playing at their best. In line with this theory, the Development XI produced their second win of the season against the Isle of Wight, again without really playing to the best of their ability. With the final two matches to be played home and away over the next eleven days against reigning champions Devon, the team will have to up their game if they are going to challenge for the Southern Counties title.
After being inserted on their home ground, Wiltshire could have been expected to have things their own way. With the visiting team missing two of their most experienced batsmen, Wiltshire were targeting a total in excess of 240 to put pressure on the Island team. The first half of the innings went to plan, a sixty four run partnership between Tom Young and Andrew Wilson set a base for the rest of team to score at will.
Despite quickly losing Adam Miles, Steve Bullen joined with Wilson to add a further sixty three runs for the third wicket. Wilson finally fell for 67 from 75 balls in 102 minutes, hitting 10 fours and a six in the process before holing out to mid off. With the score on 127 and sixteen overs remaining, a score in excess of 220 looked easily possible.
However, instead of kicking on with the run rate, the Isle of Wight spin bowlers brought the game back within their reach. Tim Rowson and Hugh Kelly were both bowled trying to sweep Jamie Miller and this created pressure on the Wiltshire lower order. Henry Bartlett returned for his second spell of the match, finding Rob Pittman’s pads for his first wicket, bowling Tom Bowler with a full and straight ball and finally tempting Aaron Lee to hit the ball straight in the air to take three for twelve in his second spell.
When Phil Adams hit the ball into the hands of mid off, the Wiltshire collapse was complete. The final ten overs of the innings added forty one runs for the loss of six wickets. The final total of 206 seemed thirty runs short of a par total.
The total looked a lot bigger after seventeen overs of the second innings. Some quality catching behind the stumps accounted for the first four batsmen, as the Island team floundered to 51 for 4. Bullen got the ball rolling with a spectacular catch; Kelly made a difficult catch at second slip look easy and the two combined to claim the third wicket, Bullen deflecting the ball up from close to the ground for Kelly to swoop to catch the ball before it bounced.
With a repeat of the heavy win achieved in the first game between the sides on the cards, the home side seemed to relax. Sensing this, the Isle of Wight’s strongest batsmen, Woodhouse and Pongolo worked together to create the largest partnership of the day. For seventeen overs, the two players found the gaps and worked the ball around to add 81 runs for the fifth wicket. Only when Tom Bowler found the pads of Woodhouse with his score on 48 did the partnership end.
Despite the Isle of Wight captain, Pongolo, suffering from cramp, the visitors didn’t give up on the chase. Dom Webb’s return spell proved costly, but Rob Pittman changed ends and found a change of luck that he needed to bring the game back for Wiltshire. Playing the second half of his innings with a runner, Pongolo was eventually stopped by an exceptional caught and bowled opportunity with his score on 44.
The Island tail enders swung hard at the ball, Gordon being the key batsman adding 18 runs in 14 minutes off only 12 balls. Despite being only sixteen runs away from victory, Gordon eventually ran out of partners with three overs still remaining to be bowled. Aaron Lee gathered the ball off his own bowling and threw down the stumps at the strikers end.
Wiltshire now sit in fourth place in the table with two wins and three losses from the matches completed. The matches against competition favourite in the next two weeks will decide the 2009 competition, hopefully in Wiltshire’s favour.
Development XI v Isle Of Wight - 03/08/2009
To be overly simplistic, Wiltshire were easy victors in a game they historically were expected to win. However, entering August without a win in this season’s competition, the expected win was vital to give some respectability back to the team. Both teams fielded young, but experienced teams with Wiltshire with great strength in depth.
Winning the toss and batting first on a wicket that looked very dry, given the current weather conditions, Wiltshire took tentative steps towards what they thought would be a competitive total. The pitch looked to have a few demons in it, with occasional variable bounce throughout the match, especially to bowlers running in down the slope, with the odd delivery staying lower than expected with the new ball. George Sykes and Tom Young worked hard to build a start to the innings, before Sykes looked to play the ball onto his stumps in the eleventh over with the score on 29.
The Wiltshire total was built around the only other two partnerships in excess of twenty runs during the innings. Steve Bullen joined with Tom Young and continued with the good work of the opening partnership, as the two players added 78 runs for the second wicket. With Young scoring his first fifty of the county season, he was soon dismissed in strange circumstances. Stepping out to drive Alex Lloyd’s leg spin, Young yorked himself and turned to see the ball bounce off the keeper’s pads and onto the stumps causing an untidy stumping.
Two more wickets fell before the second substantial partnership occurred. Owen Alsop’s miscalculation of the “Augusta like” outfield created a problem for him, as he was run out by two yards attempting to score a second run after cutting the ball to backward point. Calling for two, the fielder was pleased to see the ball rapidly slow down up the hill, allowing him to pick up and throw with little urgency to run out the Under 17 player.
This brought together Hugh Kelly and Tim Rowson to produce an effective fifth wicket partnership of 73 in just twelve overs. Even in the knowledge of the bowling display yet to come, this was the turning point of the game, as this increased the urgency of the visiting teams batting and with it increased the team’s expectations. Rowson and Kelly simply hit and ran as the field opened up and where runs were previously hard to come by, singles and twos became plentiful. While they only hit a combined seven boundaries, the pair scored at six an over by hitting the gaps and running hard.
A few lusty blows in the final balls took the visitors score to 215 for 8, which was tentatively hoped to be a sufficient score. Points to note from the Island teams fielding performance was Alex Lloyd’s leg spin which kept the batting in check during the middle overs, and Henry Bartlett’s performance throughout the innings. Throughout because the fifteen year old, bowled four different spells throughout the fifty overs, two from each end and worked hard to make a break through.
The Development XI’s players have consistently made good first impressions this season, although not to the degree of Dominic Webb’s introduction to the 2009 season. Due to other commitments, his introduction into the side has had to wait until half way through the season. Webb bowled fast and created problems for the batsmen from the first ball, in as devastating a spell of bowling as we have seen this season. Regardless of the Isle of Wight’s batting frailties this summer, Webb’s spell killed the game off for the home side and created the pressure needed for Wiltshire to claim their first win of the summer.
Opening from the pavilion end, Webb only allowed five scoring strokes from his first thirty six balls bowled. His third over saw the third and seventh balls break the stumps and the first ball of his sixth over repeated the feat. His spell of three for eight in six overs was the icing on the cake, as the top order was wiped away in silence. With the dismissal of Ventnor’s overseas player, Nono Pongolo, LBW to Aaron Lee, the game was good as over.
While the result was never in doubt, the Island side made Wiltshire work hard for the remaining half of the wickets as the visitors turned to spin in search of the win. Tom Bowler flexed his muscles from the sea end and bowled nine over on the spin to finish with 3 for 21. Hugh Kelly showed his leg spin for the first time this season as the tail enders looked to hit the short square boundaries. It was a plan that worked well as the tail holed out not once but twice to bring the win for Wiltshire with twelve overs to spare.
Scorecard
Development XI v Cornwall - 14/07/2009
Wiltshire added Eddie Abel , Luke Edwards and Marcus Brown to the team that played two days earlier and looked to avenge the heavy defeat handed out by the Cornwall team two weeks earlier. With Cornwall having played the Isle of Wight the day before, Wiltshire looked to benefit from the visitors tiredness after being put into bat.
As with the game against Dorset replace Abel for Adam Miles as the two openers looked to build on some luck at the top of the innings to rush past the 50 mark in double quick time. The Cornwall openers showed less control than in their performance against Wiltshire at St Austell in June, and both openers cashed in on some poor catching attempts from behind the wicket. When Abel fell LBW trying to sweep the Cornwall spinner Robbins, the pair had added 89 runs and set up the innings for the rest of the batting attack.
However, with the fall of Abel’s wicket just after drinks the Cornish slow bowlers put a real strangle hold on the Wiltshire batting as the run rate completely stalled. After Wilson had hit the ball back to the bowler, 7 runs short of his half century, Tim Rowson and Rob Pittman both failed to make a start and contributed only 1 run between them. Hugh Kelly and Edwards were left to pull the innings back together at a time when the run rate should have been accelerating, and while they added 48 runs before Kelly was bowled by the returning Davis, the final 5 overs needed to see a real increase of scoring rate to post a testing total.
Despite having 5 wickets in hand, the home side only managed to add 21 runs in the final overs and a score of 172 looked at least 30 runs short of a challenging total.
If Wiltshire needed a boost at the beginning of the second innings, they got it in only the second over as Marcus Brown’s second legitimate ball found the edge of Robbins’ bat and Pittman snapped up the chance with ease at slip. Wiltshire maintained the pressure on the Cornwall batsmen, as they crawled along at only three an over for the first 20 overs.
The difference in the two teams though came with the introduction of spin during the middle part of the innings. With 27 overs completed, the scores were level at 103, while Cornwall’s spinners put the break on the Wiltshire batting, the Cornwall batters looked to attack against the slower bowlers. Cornwall’s twenty overs of spin brought a total of 35 runs for four wickets, Wiltshire’s twelve overs of spin brought no wickets and was struck for 72 runs with some ease.
There was no doubting that the Cornwall batsmen had batted well throughout their innings in winning by 9 wickets with twelve overs to spare. But it was the difference between the two spin attacks that proved to be the gap between the two teams.
With three losses from three matches, Wiltshire need to perform well in every department in the next game against Dorset at Bryanston School.
Development XI v Dorset - 12/07/2009
A total of three changes to the side defeated by Cornwall showed that Wiltshire were looking hard to improve on their first outing of the season and hopes were high that Wiltshire would provide sterner opposition for the visiting Dorset team. All three players added strength to the Wiltshire batting and it was no surprise to see the home side batting first after winning the toss.
With two new opening batsmen, Wiltshire took the attack to the Dorset team with the first wicket falling short of a century stand. Andrew Wilson, missing from the first match with illness, took time to become accustomed to the Purton wicket before scoring freely once the shine had left the ball. Adding 4 fours in the space of 11 balls drove the innings forward to a half century partnership. Adam Miles begin much more circumspectly before he too enjoyed the bowling of Kendrick, introduced after 12 overs.
Only with the score on 93, did Wilson edge the ball behind to give Armstrong the first of what would prove to be three wickets. A minor collapse over the next six overs reduced the Wiltshire score to 106 for 3, before Owen Alsop, the third change to the team, came to the crease. Alsop proceeded to take 24 balls to break his duck, and his innings was starting to take shape when Miles holed out at deep midwicket to Gunn for 79.
At 146 for 4, with 13 overs to go, the match was very much in the balance. However, with Rob Pittman joining Alsop at the crease, the Wiltshire team lit the blue touch paper and the innings took off. With both players hitting aggressively, the half century partnership came up in just five overs, the second half century took another 29 balls as both batsmen made best use of some sloppy bowling from the Dorset bowlers. When Pittman followed Miles in being caught in the deep, Wiltshire had added 115 runs in just 61 balls and the game looked like it belonged to Wiltshire.
Pittman’s onslaught saw 35 runs added in just 29 balls, after Alsop’s barren spell at the beginning of his innings, he added 84 runs in just 63 balls in a score that included 2 sixes and 8 fours. After the toil that was the batting against Cornwall in the previous match, Wiltshire looked very much back on form.
Dorset however must have taken strength from the ease at which the Wiltshire middle order scored its runs, as the visitors proceeded to copy the first innings almost shot for shot. Despite taking their time to get started, the first 50 runs taking 15 overs, the Dorset team held onto their wickets as the home side failed to capitalise on their own chances. With wickets in hand, they accumulated their runs and got into position to make a final dash for the line.
The introduction of spin from Wilson looked to have given Wiltshire the upper hand, as Jakes holed out to Phil Adams on the edge of the ring and Nasted followed in similar fashion. Dorset started to accelerate earlier in their innings compared to the Wiltshire team, however when Owen Alsop was introduced to the attack, he made an immediate impact and three wickets fell in quick succession. With 6 overs remaining, comparative scores were level but Dorset had only 4 wickets in hand to reach the target.
With 52 runs needed from the final 6 overs, Wiltshire needed to keep the pressure on the Dorset lower order. But despite taking a wicket in the first of the 6 overs, Adams final 2 overs went for 29 and Dorset ended up romping home with 5 balls to space.
With 543 runs being scored at a rate of 5 ½ an over, the game was a good one for the spectator, but not so good for the Wiltshire team who had now lost two games in a season for the first time in four years.
Development XI V Cornwall - 28/06/2009
With only two losses in the past two seasons, the Development XI went into the 2009 season with great hopes of more success. Having finished tied for second place in the competition with Cornwall in 2008, it was hoped that the two teams would be well matched for this opening game. With the two teams not playing each other in 2008, the early overs would give the best indication as to who would take the upper hand.
With light drizzle falling, the opening overs set the tone of the match as the Wiltshire bowlers failed to find a consistent line and length and the Cornwall batsmen made best use of the opportunities given to them. In a chanceless first 10 overs, Taylor Williams dominated the strike and the Wiltshire bowlers as Cornwall brought up the 50 in 9.4 overs. In total, Williams scored 8 fours in 49 balls before he hit Phil Adams straight to Tim Rowson at extra cover for 41.
With two wickets down, Wiltshire looked to be back in the game and introduced spin into the attack. This seemed to light the blue touch paper for the home side with Dan Davis as their focus, they began to hit the ball to all areas. With the first 100 coming off 122 balls, Cornwall increased their scoring rate with the third fifty coming off 44 balls, the fourth off 52 balls and at drinks for the second time, Cornwall had reached 200 for 5 with 15 overs to go.
With the worst thought to be behind them, Wiltshire hadn’t considered the depth of the Cornwall batting attack. Chris Roberts combined with Kelvin Snell and added 94 in only 37 minutes with shots targeting the short straight and legside boundaries. Snell finally perished to a smart caught and bowled opportunity form Simon Beetham, while Roberts holed out to Rob Pittman on the long off boundary.
Phil Adams almost rounded off a more than eventful innings by dropping a skyer to miss out on a hat trick in the final overs, and the home side finished on 324 for 9 off their 50 overs. Best bowling figures went to Phil Adams with 3-42, Simon Beetham tidied up with 3-58.
In comparison, the Wiltshire innings was sedate in nature. Tom Young and George Sykes looking to see the shine off the more accurate and effective new ball attack. The openers remained untroubled for the first seven overs, until Young top edged a cut to backward point. Sykes hit a ball hard to square leg and was snapped up, and when Tim Rowson was clean bowled first ball, Wiltshire were firmly on the back foot at 32-3.
The game then settled into a more balanced phase, with the Cornwall team employing a spin attack, Hugh Kelly and Steve Bullen managed to hit the ball into gaps well and were untroubled for ten overs accumulating 44 runs in the process. Bullen and Kelly fell in close succession and Wiltshire enjoyed their most productive part of the game.
Rob Pittman and Tom Bowler batted effectively and responsibly for 17 overs only to fall short of their century partnership by 1 run. Pittman hit the ball hard and straight in scoring 62 before suffering a “toe-crusher” from Roberts. While Bowler batted in an unruffled manner for 23 overs accumulating 49 not out.
The result was never in doubt following the onslaught at the end of the Cornwall innings. But at least the Wiltshire players didn’t lose their heads and suffer a more considerable defeat.
With a match against the Isle of Wight to come before the return game against Cornwall, Wiltshire will need to regroup their troops ready for the next meeting.
