Richard Bedbrook

WILTSHIRE captain Richard Bedbrook blamed a lack of application by his batsmen for their crushing defeat by Devon in their second game in the MCCA Knockout Cup.

The seven wicket reverse has left Wiltshire needing to win their final two group games to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Put into bat on a bowler-friendly pitch at Exmouth, Wiltshire had no answer to the Devon seam bowling quartet of Ian Bishop (two for 18), Neil Hancock (1 for 25), Scott Barlow (three for 22) and Trevor Anning (four for 17) as they were bowled out for 91 in 33.5 overs.

Only Damian Shirazi, with a determined and patient 47, applied himself in the difficult conditions.

No other batsman reached double figures as they succumbed to a combination of unplayable balls and injudicious shots.

Devon in reply were soon in trouble at 22 for three, with Corsham's Alex Senneck taking two for 31 and skipper Richard Bedbrook 1 for 17. But Neil Hancock and David Court mixed watchful defence with controlled aggressive shots, putting on 70 for the fourth wicket to see Devon home in 23.1 overs.

Bedbrook said batting first had been a disadvantage, but admitted his team should have done much better.

Bedbrook said: "We lost the toss which made a difference. There had been a lot of rain and speaking to their captain afterwards, he said until Friday he didn't think we'd play.

"There was a fair bit of moisture and it played like that. However, we certainly disappointed and let ourselves down with how we performed with the bat. We should have applied ourselves better.

"I could say there was a couple of people in there that got good balls but on the whole the majority of the wickets were fairly average shots.

"The players did not necessarily apply themselves as they should have done."

Bedbrook said Devon had ruthlessly snuffed his team out, using the conditions to their advantage.

Bedbrook said: "Against teams like Devon if you show them any weakness you will get beaten.

"When you go out with 91 on the board experience tells you you're not going to win many games but I asked them to give it a go, which we did. We had them three down for 40 but unfortunately the pitch was going faster and flatter.

"It was highly disappointing but hopefully that was our blip for the season and we got it out of our system against the best side."

Wiltshire's next match in the competition in on Sunday May 18 against Berkshire at Trowbridge (11am start).

2:45pm Friday 9th May 2008

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