After last week’s win over Topsham, the second XI took a trip down the A30 to take on Ottery St Mary 2nd XI. A fixture that twelve months ago resulted in a one wicket win for the hosts off the last ball.
Thors made a remarkable eight changes from the previous Saturday, lining up with:- J.Farley, A.Daldorph, B.Sapiecha, P.Stirling+, D.Hooper, J.Porter, G.Squire, S.Tait, E.Vukusic, I.Daldorph, J.Stirling*. Ottery won the toss and elected to bowl.
The familiar opening pairing of A.Daldorph & Farley walked to the wicket and got Thors off to a bright start, putting away persistent loose balls from the Ottery opening pair, and taking 54 from the opening ten overs.
Farley was the first to fall, edging Harris behind for 23 with the score on 68-1. Daldorph was trapped in front by Lovell in the next over for 43 from 36 balls.
Sapiecha & P.Stirling now occupied the crease and Sapiecha in particular showed a serious amount of intent, hitting four 4s in his 18 ball stayed before skying a pull shot off Harris back to the bowler for 20.
Hooper came and went for 0; chipping his second ball to Venables at mid off after a ball from off-spinner from Lovell stuck in the pitch. Thors found themselves 93-4 after just 18 overs.
Porter & P.Stirling started to steady the ship for Thors, Porter being welcomed to the crease by a ball that jagged back into his unmentionables & a lengthy time spent crouching. The pair put on 32 before a running mix up saw Porter run out for 6. 125-5 after 27.
Squire came in at 7 and immediately looked more comfortable than any of his colleagues on the slow pitch. P.Stirling chipped Venables to Harris at mid off for 28 and the incoming Tait chopped on for 2. Thors had collapsed from 92–2 to 147-7 with eleven overs left.
E.Vukusic joined Squire & the two upped the the run rate, both finding the boundary regularly, including two sixes from Squire. The pair ran aggressively & swiftly secured the final two available batting points by the 40 over mark. Squire cut the ball away to make his 50 two overs later, but immediately found himself LBW to Southall-Brown on the same score, Thors 219-8 after 42.
Imogen Daldorph joined Vukusic and the good running continued. Daldorph found the boundary before edging behind the penultimate ball of the innings for 7. Skipper Stirling hit the final ball for 4 and the 2s had recovered to 235-9 from their 45 overs. Vukusic finished with a classy 27*
Fortunately the dependable James Meredith was present to come on as sub fielder. Not having his kit in the car, the musical Meredith paid homage to the 1980 Madness hit ‘Baggy Trousers’ and the 1990 Happy Mondays single ‘Loose Fit’ when he strolled out wearing Jay Porter’s spare whites.
After a tea kindly provided by our hosts, Hooper & Tait took the new ball. Ottery’s overseas Jevin Isidore immediately took the game to Thors with some hard blows, taking the score to 35-0 after 5 and taking 18 off Tait’s second over, aided somewhat by A.Daldorph accidentally throwing the ball over the boundary instead of back to the middle. In Tait’s third over, he stretched across in an attempt to stop the ball, slipped and pulled his groin.
Hooper bowled Brewster in the next over for 2. Erin Vukusic replaced Tait before Hooper struck again, bowling Hanley for 0, leaving the visitors 52-2 after 11.
Stirling replaced Hooper for a brief two over spell, bowling the dangerous Isidore for 44 from 45 balls. Imogen Daldorph joined her county teammate Vukusic and struck with just her third ball, Southall-Brown well caught by Porter for 26. The girls continued to plug away at the Ottery batters & Daldorph struck again in her third over, bowling Weekes for 9.
Stirling replaced Vukusic and struck again, bowling Venables for 0, leaving the hosts 122-6 at drinks.
An unfortunate bout of nausea saw Imogen leave the field & she was replaced by Porter from the pavilion end, Thors left with ten on the field immediately after drinks.
The dangerous Rob Johns was run out after trying to run two to Hooper for 23. Porter got in on the car with an impressive caught and bowled diving to his left; Ottery 150-8.
The tail frustrated the Thors bowlers, hanging around and added 30 before Hooper returned to bowl Harris for 22. A further 18 were added before Hooper wrapped things up bowling Lovell for 26, the hosts 197 all out and Hooper finishing with impressive figures of 8.5-1-4-16.
Captain Jack Stirling “I thought we made things harder for ourselves than they could’ve been, especially with the bat and a few freebies in the field. Grant & Erin performed exceptionally to dig us out of trouble. Winning when not at our best is a good sign. I’d have snapped your hand off at being 13 points clear at the top a third of the way through the season; plenty of positives so far”.
Thanks to Rich Lloyd for umpiring, Bob Rice for scoring and James Meredith for being present to sub field.
Next up for the 2nd XI is a home fixture against Kentisbeare 1st XI on Saturday 18th.
Thorverton Cricket Club 