After some heavy downpours in the week, the 1st XI arrived at a greener looking Station Ground for the visit of Plympton. There were 4 changes to last week’s team as Dave Baldock, Bobby Heard, George Greed and Paul Fielder returned to the side.
Plympton won the toss and elected to field with the pitch looking green and some cloud cover around. It looked like they may regret that call as Robbins & Fielder got the hosts off to a flier. Robbins took a particular liking to Devon left armer Walliker & the 50 partnership was brought up in the 10th over.
However the pair fell in quick succession as the score reached 59-2 after 15 overs. Van Der Meulen came and went soon after. Harry Choules, batting at 3 this week, struck a couple of 4s before also going caught and bowled. 75-4 after 20.
By this time, the visitors spin bowling had really tightened things up and make things difficult for Thors. However Baldock briefly made things look easy, striking 18 from 13 balls before being removed by a good turning ball.
Greed and Heard, both former Exeter School captains, sought to steady the ship, running well as a pair and working hard to survive some half chances. They brought the score over 100 to 115-5 before Greed was eventually given LBW for 12 from 44 balls which felt like a big moment in the game.
Daldroph showed promise yet again but with only 16 runs to show for it. By the time Plympton had dealt with the tail, Thors were all out for 141, 9 short of a 3rd bonus point.
After a top spread courtesy of Harry Choules & Lexi Bastin, ably assisted by Julie Choules, Plympton set about the chace.
Thors had an early wicket thanks to a mix up in the middle allowed a simple run out as smoke blew across the ground from a neighbouring bonfire. In stark contrast to last week, Plympton didn’t want to take any chances with the chase as Eliot Hamilton and Justin Wubbeling took the attack to Thorverton.
Choules tried to negate this by rotating his bowlers regularly but the spinners struggled to find any consistency under pressure. Only seamersRobbins and Daldorph, in his second spell, found consistent areas with the former getting his reward when Wubbeling skied one to Greed, however the score had already reached 89-2.
Plympton continued to be aggressive as they wasted no time reaching the target in the 22nd over, not before Daldorph picked up a couple of deserved wickets.
A tough day at the office for the Thors who still require 2 more points before we can celebrate guaranteed A Division cricket for 2023.
The skipper concluded:
“We were well beaten by a very strong side today who have really hit some form of late. I’m determined that we up our performances for the last 2 games though and that this season doesn’t fizzle out.”
Next week we host top of the table Exmouth in the 1s final home of the year.
Thorverton Cricket Club 