The 1st XI arrived at Abbotskerswell during drought and heatwave conditions with:
Robbins, Vukusic, Chilcott, Van Der Meulen, Jefferson, H. Choules, Pitt, Daldorph, Slaverio, Jopling, Choules.
The pitch was green in colour but given the overhead conditions and heat, Choules won the toss and elected to bat. Robbins was unlucky to be adjudged LBW first ball of the innings from a fairly half hearted appeal and Thors had work to do from early on.
The Abbots bowlers bowled tightly as Vukusic & Chilcott set about restoring some calm. Chilcott passed 500 league runs but it became clear that the pitch was keeping low and wasn’t easy to bat on. With the score on 24 in the 12th over, Vukusic was caught behind for 12.
The change bowlers allowed Thors to bat more freely with Van Der Meulen & Chilcott rotating the strike and finding the boundary more and more comfortably. Both in the 40s, the total passed 100 as we approached the 30 over mark.
However this was where Thors comfort stopped. Jason fell for 41 and Chilly for 51 which brought about the start of a quite substantial collapse.
Thorverton fell from 105-2 to 155 all out with only Daldorph and Jopling finding double figures from there. Had a couple of tight decisions gone the other way or a couple of good catches not stuck then it may have been different but overall there was no excusing some poor shot selections.
After a quick tea, Thors were fired up for the defence.
2nd ball of the innings, Slaverio bowled Smout-Cooper who scored a ton at Station Ground a few months ago, and belief had set in.
Daldorph also struck in the first 10 leaving Abbots on 31-2. Robbins was then introduced and picked up where he left off last week with a consistent and toiling spell as it became even more apparent that there was enough in the pitch for bowlers. A short sharp spell from Van Der Meulen found the outside edge but too wide of Harry Choules. After 20 overs the score reached 56-2 as Watkin and Carpenter had to work for every run for the hosts.
Jopling and Choules were introduced in the next 10 which went past without real event – 78-2 and suddenly run rate looked like it may become an issue for the hosts. However, the host’s skipper and Carpenter continued to dig in and with 10 to go the score reached 115-2, 4 an over needed.
In his second spell, Robbins removed the opposition skipper for 47 (123 balls), LBW. The next over Carpenter (43 from 115 balls) was out thanks to a quality catch from Van Der Meulen at short cover off of Jake Choules. 26 needed from the final 6 overs.
Nathan Walker, the hosts Aussie overseas, came in with some intent and found the boundary a couple of times, albeit aerially and via the edge. This finally took the game out of reach of Thorverton who continued to battle hard meaning Abbots finally took the win with only 8 balls to spare.
Thorverton lose by 6 wickets, gaining 5 points.
The skipper concluded:
“A really strong and determined effort in the field but ultimately you aren’t going to win many games if you’re all out for 150. 30 or 40 more would’ve been very interesting given the poor surface but that doesn’t excuse a pretty spectacular collapse”
We drop back down to 6th in the table, 40 clear of the relegation places with another opportunity to mathematically secure our place in the A Division for next season next week at home to high flying Plympton.
Thorverton Cricket Club 