On a sunny Saturday where caravans and campervans lined the M5, the 2nd XI made the trip eastward to Mountbatten Park to take on Honiton.
Stand in skipper Ben Coe lost the toss and Honiton elected to bat on a track which could have been part of the adjacent A30. Thors made five changes from the week before, including the return of last season’s leading wicket taker, Erin Vukusic, and a league debut for youth player Jack Hutchings. The XI were: J. Farley, B. Coe*, G. Squire, J. Porter, J. Hutchings, P. Stirling+, E. Vukusic, J. Baker, J. Meredith, I. Daldorph, O. Coe.
Porter and O. Coe opened the bowling with a mix of good balls and some good batting. Porter made the breakthrough in his third over to remove Groves, caught at gully by Meredith (which some described as leaping like a salmon to his right). K. Kelly was latching onto anything fractionally short and peppering the wall of Farley at point. O. Coe got his reward in the eighth over bowling Ingram with a lovely swinging delivery his Dad was proud of.
The bowling of Vukusic, B. Coe, Daldorph and Baker saw the scoring rate become relatively steady. Kelly brought up his 50 before Daldorph had Kennell caught nonchalantly by Porter at cover above his head. Baker and Porter combined twice to remove Conway and Freemantle, Baker the bowler and Porter the catcher. Squire got into the act, Stirling taking an excellent catch up to the stumps to remove K. Kelly for 69.
A wicket a piece for the returning Vukusic, featuring a terrific catch running in by Hutchings on debut, and O. Coe, followed by a run out off a wide saw Honiton all out for 222.
Honiton – 222 ao, Baker 2-36, O. Coe 2-36
Farley and B. Coe opened the batting for Thors. B. Coe fell for a duck in the fourth over, caught in the gully. Squire joined Farley and the pair made steady progress putting on 87 for the second wicket. Both batters hitting some sumptuous drives straight and through the covers. Squire fell in the 27th over for 37, shortly followed by Farley in the next over for 49, run out after slipping whilst trying to return to his ground.
Porter and debutant Hutchings were now at the crease with the score 103-3. The pair played watchfully and found the boundary on a few occasions. Hutchings was the next batter to depart, scoring 15 and the team score now on 154-4. Requiring 69 off 7 overs, Stirling joined Porter in the middle. The pair upped the run rate with Stirling finding the rope on a number of occasions and Porter making his first 50 for the club.
Some tight bowling left Thors requiring 25 off the final over. 2, wide, 6 left 16 off 4 balls, Stirling on strike – could it happen? Sadly not, the next three balls went for singles before a dot ball to end with leaving Thorverton 12 short on 210-4 with Porter finishing on 51 and Stirling 34 (off 21 balls).
Thorverton 2XI 210-4, Porter 51*, Farley 49, Squire 37, Stirling 34*
Thank you to Bob Rice and Tammi Vukusic for scoring.
A potentially important 10 points taken from the game for the 2’s and they remain top of the E East. Next week is a top of the table clash at the Station Ground with Topsham St James the visitors.
Thorverton Cricket Club 