Match Report – 2nd XI vs Topsham St James 1st XI – 4th June 2022

Saturday saw the 2nd XI looking to bounce back from last week’s loss in a top of the table clash at the Station Ground, Topsham St James the visitors.

The side had six changes from last week’s side including league debuts for Junior players Jack Baker and Freddie Davidson. The line-up: B Sapiecha+, A. Daldorph, B. Coe*, D. Baldock, H. Squire, J. Baker, J. Baker, J. Meredith, I. Daldorph, O. Coe, F. Davidson.

In overcast conditions, Ben Coe won the toss and elected to bowl first, looking to exploit the slight bit of moisture from the pitch being undercover overnight. And his son, O. Coe, did just that in his first over having Wardle smartly caught at point by Davidson. Jack Baker and O. Coe carried on with the new ball with a mixture of balls to keep the batters guessing but couldn’t find the second breakthrough.

The metronome that is I. Daldorph took over and Baker senior replaced his son. The pair tightened up the run rate, not giving the batters many opportunities to score and were backed up well in the field. The pressure eventually told with J. Baker removing the visiting skipper who attempted to cut a ball that was too full, leaving Topsham 75-2 at the 18 over mark.

Topsham continued to tick along at about 5 an over, with Treleaven moving to 50. With wickets in hand, Topsham looked to accelerate in the last 10 overs.

I. Daldorph had Treleaven caught for 78 by B. Coe at cow. Meredith and Baldock closed the innings out with the ball for Thors with no more wickets to fall despite a couple of chances of Meredith’s bowling.

Topsham finished their 45 overs 221-3, J. Baker 1-12, I. Daldorph 1-40, O. Coe 1-41

Following a cracking Meredith tea, the lesser spotted Sapiecha and A. Daldorph opened the batting. Three balls in A. Daldorph was run out without facing a delivery and B. Coe shortly followed him back to the pavilion after being caught at slip without scoring. Thors 0-2 off the first over. With a few nerves jangling, Baldock strode out to the crease to set about getting the chase underway.

Both Sapiecha & Baldock immediately started to take theTopsham attack to the sword with gusto, on a track which had already proved to be good for batting. The pair frequently hit boundaries on both sides of the wicket, including a superb 6 over the road for Sapiecha, scoring 80 runs off the first 10 overs.

It was no long after that Sapiecha brought up his 50 with a six of Wardell that had his teammates scampering for safety in front of the pavilion in the 12th over. The 100 partnership followed in the next over, as did the wicket of Sapiecha when he popped one up to mid-wicket with a cry of “Oh NO!”, putting Thors at 109-3.

Squire was the next batter in, and him and Baldock set about knocking off the remaining 113 runs. The pair settled in together with some solid running between the wickets and regular boundaries keeping the scoreboard moving without presenting too many opportunities to the visitors.

As the innings went past the 25th over, the runs and boundaries started to flow more easily for both batters. Baldock brought up the 100 partnership, his second of the match, with a 4 which took him to 99 and the team to 211-3 (28 overs). A leg bye of the first ball of the next over put Baldock back on strike. Two balls later, he nudged one to the cover point area and called through his partner for a quick single. Throw at the strikers end. Missed! The ball sped away across the carpet to the square leg boundary for over throws, 5 runs. Baldock had his ton and a place on the virtual honours board.