CENTURION Ed Young conceded Wiltshire left themselves too much to do as they missed out on a place in the quarter-finals of the Unicorns Knockout Trophy in agonising fashion.

Wiltshire finished their group matches on Sunday with a 46-run win over defending champions Devon at Warminster.

That result meant they, Cornwall and Wales finished tied on five points but with only the top two progressing, Wiltshire missed out by virtue of having the lowest run-rate.

Young, who hit exactly 100 against Devon, said: “It was a must-win game and there was a lot riding on it to give us a chance of going through.

“I am really proud of the way the lads stood up and performed in the face of that to make sure they won the game. It’s just a shame that it ended up being in vain.

“With how the season has gone so far, we just haven’t played our best cricket.

“In these games, you want momentum early.

“We had a big loss against Wales first and also a rained off game.

“We’ve had a couple of good wins but you can’t expect to go through in this competition when you only start playing your best cricket in the latter games.”

Devon won the toss and in conditions likely to assist the seamers, asked Wiltshire to bat.

This proved to be the case as Wiltshire slumped to 34-5 after 16 overs as they struggled against Tom Allin (3-23), Trevor Anning (1-31) and Ben Green (3-41).

Wiltshire then recovered through a superb century from Young who, in partnerships of 57 with Michael Bates (36), 61 with Ashur Morrison (19) and 70 with Jake Roberts (33), took the final total to 233-9.

When Devon batted, they also were in difficulty against the new ball as Jake Roberts took 2-23 and debutant Andy Carroll claimed 2-48.

It was left to Young to crown a superb individual performance and finish the job, taking 3-15 as Devon were all out for 187. Max Curtis top scored with 52.

Young added: “I feel I’ve underachieved for Wiltshire, so it was nice to contribute and help the team win the game.

“I really enjoyed that match and that’s a good marker for the rest of the season for me now.

“From quite a tough position at 34-5, we definitely felt that final score was something we could bowl at.

“There was still something there in the pitch for the seamers and they did a really good job.

“Devon only had one real partnership and we knew they didn’t have the depth that we have.

“So once we got through that, we were pretty confident we could get the job done.”