On a sunny May evening, Thors pulled on the coloured kit for the first time this season to take on Sandford in a T20 friendly as a warm up for the Sunbelt Rentals Devon T20 away at Bovey Tracey 1st XI on Sunday.
Thors lined up with:- A.Pitt, A.Chilcott, B.Coe, G.Greed, J.Van Der Meulen, D.Baldock, J.Porter+, B.Heard, B.Slaviero, J.Choules*, J.Stirling.
Skipper Choules won the toss and decided to have a bat on a fresh deck. Pitt got the innings off to a flyer, with Pitt finding the boundary with some impressive drives and ramps to take the score to 18-0 after the opening over from James Theedom. Chilcott ably supported him in an attritional fashion throughout the powerplay overs, with Pitt (26 from 20) falling to the final ball of the fielding restrictions, chipping Griffiths to Gidney at mid-wicket. As the field was permitted to spread, Thors had reached 43-1.
Chilcott fell for 14 (23) not longer after. Coe and Greed threatened to play themselves in on a slowish pitch, but fell to Foan (Coe 11 from 18) and Morgan-Huggett (Greed 3 from 9) respectively, leaving Thors 69-4 after 12 overs.
The new pairing of Van Der Meulen & Baldock went hard at the Sandford bowlers and quicky accelerated the score. Van Der Meulen dispatched Foan over long off for 6, followed by dispatching Everett over the fence for a second maximum an over later. The nonchalant Baldock calmly hit 7 fours, including three balls in a row off the spin of Harry Everett. By the time Morgan-Huggett had removed Van Der Meulen LBW for 27 from 18 balls, the hosts had forced themselves into a much better position of 114-5 with three overs remaining. Baldock continued his aggression, finishing with red ink next to his name for a classy 38 from 24. He was nicely supported by a cameo from Porter (8 from 12). Thors finished on 150-6.
Thors opened with the Southern Hemispherian pairing of Slaviero & Van Der Meulen who kept things quiet during the opening couple of overs. Their pressure was rewarded when Slaviero struck in the third over, removing Griffiths with an inswinger which clattered the top of leg stump. An enforced bowling change after a pull up from Slaviero saw the skipper pick up the wicket of James Theedom in his opening overs, after he coughed up the easiest of catches to Slavierio, who departed the pitch with Theedom with an injury scare and was replaced by substitute fielder Stuart Tait. At the end of the powerplay, the visitors had stumbled to 15-1.
Stirling was introduced to the attack with a change of ends for Choules. Thors continued the squeeze with Matten succumbing to Stirling, well caught by Heard. The experienced Foan struck his first ball over the road and into the Orchard before Morgan-Huggett was stumped by some tidy right-handed work from Porter. At the halfway point in the chase, Sandford were facing a monumental task of 11 an over required, with the score at just 40-5.
Stirling picked up a couple more; Foan caught at long on by Coe, and Blake caught low down by Greed at short cover. Stirling finished with figures of 3-28, Choules with 2-20.
Another spin pairing of Pitt & Heard came into the attack, with Pitt having Harry Everett caught at square leg by sub fielder Tait. Heard then bowled James to leave the visitors on the precipice.
Chilcott was introduced for a rare trundle for the 19th over, and finished the game with his very first ball, bowling Morgan-Huggett with an inducker. The visitors all out for 86.
The game was played in friendly spirits, with both sides retiring to the bar for drinks and pasties.
Thank you to PJ for umpiring, Alex Jopling for scoring and Keeley for cooking the food afterwards.
Thors take on Bovey Tracey in the Sunbelt Rentals Devon T20 on Sunday.
Thorverton Cricket Club 