Watching Seaton being taken apart by the mighty Exmouth in the Servicemaster Devon T20 Area Finals at Budleigh was painful, writes Stephen Birley.

It really was a case of men versus boys, but, on the other hand, it was clearly a fabulous experience for the younger players. One or two of the players looked to have conceded all hope very early in the contest. That’s not difficult to understand given that former county star Richard Baggs slammed a 45-ball century before retiring. However, Seaton skipper Ben Morgan was cleary not prepared to go down without a fight and he was constantly egging his players to dig deep and keep going. What’s more the four Morgan overs only went for 26 runs – an economy rate of 6.50 per delivery which, amidst the carnage of the Exmouth 231-1, represented an excellent shift with the ball.

The old adage of ‘catches win matches’ came to the fore as Seaton dropped both openers inside three overs and went on to spill six other opportunities to bag prized Exmouth wickets. Despite that there were plusses for Seaton. None more so than a terrific effort with the bat from Sam Goodier who was at the wicket for 41 balls and scored a battling 24 with three fours in the Seaton reply of 67 all out, the final wicket falling to the second delivery of the 20th and final over.

The day before their mauling in the T20 Seaton had been beaten by C Division East runway leaders Ottery St Mary.

Seaton batted first and were bowled out for just 150 with only Chris Aplin 36 and Tim Mitchell (26) offering much resistance. Joe Berry led something of a Seaton fight back as he took four of the five Ottery wickets to fall, but the table toppers got home five down to march on at the top of the table. Seaton sit fourth at the halfway stage of the season, 19 points shy of second placed Uplyme. They begin the second half of the league campaign on Saturday with a trip to a Clyst Hydon side that sit two places and six points below them in the table.