Devon Dumplings v ANNUAL REPORT 2021

I am pleased to present this annual report as Keeper of the Records. 

We had 22 fixtures compared with 26 in 2019. 2020, the Covid year, was an extraordinary season with few matches and so comparisons should be made with 2019. There were 4 matches cancelled because of a combination of a number of reasons including Covid issues, a lack of players and wet ground conditions. Additionally, there were 4 games which started but were abandoned because of inclement weather.

The style of matches played was split between 12 time/declaration games and 6 limited overs ones. There were 7 wins, 4 losses and 3 draws.

After last year’s cancellation, our seventh Oxford Tour was a great success with 2 of our 3 matches completed but one being abandoned when inclement weather arrived. The two completed matches produced 1 victory and 1 loss. As always, it provided an excellent opportunity to refresh friendships with distant Dumplings who find it difficult to play in Devon, and, additionally, with opposition players. 

The highest team total of the season for the Dumplings in matches against school opponents was 313-9 against Mount Kelly and in those against non-school opponents, 300-4 against Somerset Stragglers. The lowest total where all 10 wickets were lost, was 110 against Blundells School and 133 against The Frogs at Exeter. The highest against the Dumplings was 251-5 declared by the Arden Taverners. The lowest by a school was 48 by Shebbear College and for other opponents, 103 by Billingshurst in a first-time fixture for the Dumplings.

There was a decrease of 5 in the number of centuries being scored this year for the Dumplings compared with 2019, with only 2 recorded. Additionally, 25 half centuries were scored by Dumplings. The Dumplings centuries were scored by Tino Mutombodzi and Harry Kandampully. Harry played in the most matches (12) and was our top run-scorer with 367 compared with the leading scorer in 2019, Ben Abrahams, who scored 699. There were no centuries scored by our opponents. The highest was 83 by Mark Richards for the Nomads on our Oxford tour and, in other fixtures, 70 by Matthew Deadman for Basingstoke and North Hants.

There were 3 instances of five or more wicket hauls achieved this year for the Dumplings. They were 7-40 by Sam Read against The Frogs on our Oxford tour, 5-33 by Matt Kimber against Basingstoke and 5-43 by Ed Jones against UCSOB in his only Dumplings appearance of the season. There were also 3 examples of 4-fors taken. These were 4-12 by Cameron Cunningham against Shebbear College, 4-24 by Richard Bentley against The Strollers and 4-27 by Matt Kimber against Billingshurst. The top wicket-taker was Sam Read with 10 compared with 24 by Bernie Wilson in 2019, followed by Matt Kimber with 9 and 8 each by Harry Everett and Dom Tuohey.

Compared with 109 in 2019, 91 players played for the Dumplings this year. Of these 57 played in one game but 10 played in 5 or more games. Of the 91 players who played, 9 (who all played in only 1 game) “did not bat”. Of those 9, excluding one instance when rain curtailed our opponents’ innings and therefore our bowling, 3 did not bowl either. However, one of those 3 was the match manager and captain on the day!

We had 60 players who bowled, only 9 of whom bowled 20 or more overs. 19 took no wickets whilst 38 bowled in only one match. 

Thank you to our Umpires, Match Managers, other Officers and, particularly, to our Scorers without whose hard work I would have no stats to report. 

Peter Langford, 

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