A youthful Deane side played their first warm up game at Weston Super Mare on Saturday and Jim Brehaut claimed his first victim of the season in just the third over having skipper, Shabel Ahmed lbw. James Salt picked up the valuable wicket of Steve Snell when the score was 30 and the wickets kept falling. Charlie Cunningham and Tim Foden top scored with 17 apiece but the main contribution to Weston’s final score of 98 was the 22 extras conceded.

Captain for the day, Ed Mellor, ensured all his bowlers got a chance to turn their arms over including club newcomer, Bhuvanesh Jayaraman, who was delighted with his figures of 3 wickets for just 5 runs. He would, however, be the first to concede that at least one of his victims contributed to his own downfall.

The eight Deane bowlers had taken just shy of 27 overs to dismiss Weston and the mood at the break was cautiously optimistic.

The Deane were soon in trouble as they lost Ged Williams- Pritchard, Josh Cobb and Nick Pepper in fewer than 6 overs with just 16 runs on the board.

At this stage only Benny Jessop looked to have adopted the right approach on a pitch that offered the bowlers both lift and movement.

When Benny departed for 23, the score of 37-5 made dismal reading and the prospects didn’t look much better as Ben Squire joined James Salt with 9 wickets down and 27 runs still needed.

It would be a stretch to compare the next 10 overs with the heroics of Stokes and Leach at Headingly in 2019, but the boys did claim it was what they discussed as they left the pitch having secured a Deane victory.

Ben Squire scored his 2 runs from 21 balls and was totally unperturbed as the ball passed the outside edge of his bat. James clearly was not worrying too much about his impending GCSE French Oral exam as he showed maturity beyond his years in his shot selection and took the Deane into three figures and a win with a well-timed off drive that dissected mid-off and extra cover and took him to 21.

While there will always be areas for development and improvement, there is little doubt that the new generation of young Deane players have a great deal of promise. There will be another opportunity to hone their skills next Saturday when the Deane will field two sides against Broadway and Horton. The A side will be on show at the Convent Field. Spectators are always welcome.

Dave Smith.