Defeat to Devon leaves their chances of reaching the final in tatters

Bucks men's hopes of reaching the finals day in the National Counties T20 competition were dashed when they lost by 86 runs in the Super 12s decider to Devon at Exeter on Sunday.

Having beaten Wiltshire by three wickets earlier in the day, Bucks were in confident mood going into their clash against the hosts.

Choosing to bat first, Devon got off to a flying start with 17 runs from the first over bowled by Matt Pardoe. Despite losing regular wickets they kept going at ten an over and at 100-4 in the 11th over, they looked like topping 200.

But fine spells from Archie Dodds (3-13 off 3 overs), Teddy Fleming (2-23 off 3) and skipper Conner Haddow (1- 25 off 4) restricted them to a still challenging 178-7 off their 20 overs.

Bucks raced to 31-1 off 3.3 overs and were still in the hunt at 59-3 in the seventh over. But then disaster struck as they lost five wickets for four runs in ten balls to slump to to 63-8. They were eventually dismissed for 92 in 13.3 overs.

So Devon will progress to the finals day at Wormsley on Sunday August 30.

In their first match of the day, Bucks were always on top against Wiltshire, who made a calamitous start, losing their first four wickets for just one run in the first 11 balls bowled by Pardoe and Archie Dodds.

After a slight recovery, Fleming (3-10 in 15 balls) mopped up the tail and Wilts were dismissed for 107 in 18.3 overs.

Bucks batters also struggled and eventually got home with three wickets and 4.4 overs to spare thanks to Ryan Friend's 33 off 24 balls.