ELEVEN members of the Bovey Tracey Walking Cricket group, now in their second season, took part in the inaugural Devon Walking Cricket Festival in early July, hosted by Budleigh Salterton Cricket Club and Devon Cricket Foundation.

In all, six teams took part and were divided into two groups- all games took place on roughly a half-sized ground.

Although teams consisted of only eight players, squads could be larger to give more people a chance to participate, so three of the Bovey players joined a scratch combined team called Budleigh Tracey!

The format was eight overs an innings, only walking was allowed at all times, no diving and no more than three paces walk up for bowlers.

Bowlers were allowed to bowl underarm if they preferred and batters could request underarm bowling if they did not feel confident facing overarm bowling. Batters were out in the time-honoured ways but there were no LBWs.

Bovey came second in their group but unfortunately were outdone in the playoffs by the second placed team from the other group.

The final game was between the top teams, Budleigh Beavers and Budleigh Otters, with the Beavers winning. Bovey were placed fourth overall so a good ‘innings’ for their first festival.

Each team selected their player of the festival who were awarded a shirt with the three lions on them. Cath Valentine earned it for the Bovey Tracey team, for her excellent supporting role while batting.

Aubrey Dudeney, only a mere 86 years old, was chosen by the combined team for his much-appreciated contributions. Congratulations to them both.

One noticeable observation of the day was that there were only six women playing in the festival and five were from Bovey Tracey. That’s girl power.

It was a great day enjoyed by everyone and it’s rumoured there will be a rerun (no pun intended) next year.

The Bovey Squad:

Murray Watt, Ian Scoullar, Aubrey Dudeney, Michael Sansom, Steve Newton and Debbie Cooley.

Wendy Hardy, Sophia Brown, Cath Valentine, Sharon Humphreys and Rob Tame.