After the heroics at the County Ground a day earlier, a tired and injury depleted Thorverton XI travelled to Bovey Tracey for the Second Round of the Sunbelt Rentals Devon T20. Both sides were handed byes in the first round and a place in the quarter finals was up for grabs.
Thors lined up with: Chilcott, H. Choules, Porter, Van Der Meulen, Heard, G. Daldroph, Jopling, J. Choules, Tait, I. Daldorph, Jordan.
Bovey won the toss and elected to bat on a warm day at the Recreation Ground. The hosts set about positively but Daldorph, Van der Meulen and Heard bowled well in the powerplay to restrict the hosts to 40-0 from the first 6.
The opening pair then looked to increase the pace going after the off spin of Choules and Heard. Heard removed Kopparambil at the halfway stage for 23 as the score reached 71-1.
In came Afghan international Munir Kakar who struck the pink ball around the park with significant force before Heard removed him for 25 with thanks to an impressive Van der Meulen catch.
Opener Will Christophers reached his half century almost immediately afterwards as he and the home skipper brought the score to 143-3 until Jopling removed the opener.
With wickets in hand, Bovey continued to accelerate in the final overs and reached a total of 189-7. Only George Daldorph went for less than 9 an over for the Tractors.
Harry Choules and Alistair Chilcott were tasked with setting about the chase but after a couple of quick singles Choules was bowled by a tidy inswinger.
Chilcott played with freedom as he and Porter ran well to move the score to 36-1 at the end of the 6 over powerplay, not dissimilar to the Bovey total at the same stage.
The next over Porter took a blow to his thigh and new tattoo which caused him some discomfort and he was stumped a couple of balls later.
Chilcott was caught on the boundary the following ball for a smart 27 and here the trouble began.
Wickets fell regularly with nobody else facing as many balls as Stuart Tait (11) and Imogen Daldorph (6 not out). From 40-1 to 83-9, the writing was on the wall. Paul Jordan was removed on the last ball of the innings and Bovey advanced to the next round. Ex Bovey captain Toby Codd finished with figures of 5-14.
A big thank you to Bob Rice for scoring. There will be more T20 action for the Thors later in the summer in the form of the Covid Cup and hopefully a return fixture with Sandford CC.
Thorverton Cricket Club 