MINOR Counties championship cricket returns to Sidmouth after a break of seven years on Sunday when Devon start a three-day match against Herefordshire.

MINOR Counties championship cricket returns to Sidmouth after a break of seven years on Sunday when Devon start a three-day match against Herefordshire.

At various stages of the season, and in different competitions, Devon have called on the services of seven Sidmouth players - Josh Bess, Anthony Griffiths, Neil Hancock, Will Murray, Nick Gingell, Scott Barlow and Adam Dibble - and familiarity with the surroundings may play a part in the line-up the selectors choose for this game.

Bess, prolific in the Devon League and unlucky to be left out of the Devon team which lost its most recent championship game against Cornwall at Truro, is a likely starter.

Barlow has missed recent games because of work commitments, but has made himself available for this match. His tight bowling and often overlooked batting could see him in the eleven.

Home skipper Bob Dawson will be hoping the sun shines on the Fort Field for the duration of the match after poor weather has dogged his side's season and is one reason why the side finds itself in the unusual position of trying to avoid the wooden spoon of the Minor Counties Western Division.

Rain seems to have followed Devon wherever they have played and only one game of the side's championship programme has not been blighted.

While Devon have been twiddling their thumbs in the pavilion, other sides, sometimes only a few miles down the road, have been playing and amassing points. Either of the sides in the Fort Field match could end up in bottom spot, so there is plenty at stake.

Devon have been the dominant force of Minor Counties cricket over the last decade so they find themselves in unfamiliar territory.

It was 1981 when they last finished bottom in a season when they failed to win a single game.

The match at Sidmouth starts at 11am on each day.