The second XI made the trip up the A30 to Feniton this week with sun continuing to shine across Devon. There were a host of changes from last week and a couple of late changes on Friday with juniors A. Bate and I. May called up.
The XI were: A. Daldorph, G. Squire, J. Porter+, N. Taverner, A. Bate, H. Squire, J. Meredith*, E. Heard, E. Vukusic, S. Tait, I. May.
The musical chairs of captains continued with Meredith being the third captain in three weeks. He won the toss and elected to field in the hope his side could get Feniton out cheaply after their batting troubles last week.
Tait and Vukusic took the new ball and Feniton got off to a decent start on a hard deck scoring at 5 an over for the first four overs. Tait was the first to strike in his 3rd over when Stone was adjudged to be out LBW. Vukusic immediately responded with a wicket of her own when H. Squire leapt through the air to take a spectacular catch at gully. At the 10 over mark, Feniton were 43-2.
H. Squire and Heard were introduced into the attack. Heard took the next wicket thanks to some lightning reactions from Tait at gully to take a stunner of a catch when Salter cut it quickly at him. Meredith took over from H. Squire to toil away and picked up the wicket of his opposite number, Tait taking the catch. Feniton were 140-4 at the 30 over mark, Brooks having gone past 50.
Thors had to wait until the 40th over for the next wicket, Tait bowled Pyle after Pyle had told him to go and carry on bowling the ball before. H. Squire had swapped ends by this point and was bowling with some heat and energy but couldn’t find a wicket. Daldorph replaced H. Squire originally for one over which became two after a tidy first, and was rewarded with the wicket of Kingdon when he spooned one straight up for Porter to take a comfortable catch. Heard and Vukusic closed out the innings but couldn’t take any more wickets including that of opener Brook who finished 114 not out.
Feniton 235-6, Tait 2-44
On what seemed to be a good batting deck, Thors felt the total was a gettable one. Daldorph and G. Squire opened up for Thors but it wasn’t long before G. Squire was walking back to the pavilion third ball of the innings. Porter joined Daldorph in the middle and the pair started to make some progress with both batsmen finding the boundary. Unfortunately, Porter was bowled in the 6th over to leave Thors 40-2.
The young Mr Taverner was the next man in for what turned out to be a mammoth partnership. Daldorph was still finding the boundary with some ease and hitting the ball into the hedge and field and the northern end of the ground. His 50 came up in the 12th over with a shot you knew was going for 6 the moment it left his bat. At the 15 over mark, Thors were 95-2.
The scoring rate became a tale of two ends with Davies providing some tight bowling for Feniton, whilst Daldorph and Taverner scored more freely off the other bowling. The partnership continued to tick along with plenty of ones and twos, and the odd boundary. Daldorph brought up his first century of the season with a four in the 25th over to the applause of his teammates, and celebrated in style by putting the next ball over the rope into the football field.
At the second drinks break, the partnership was already worth 140, Thors were on 180-2 and required 56 off 15 overs. Taverner brought up his own 50 a few overs later with a single as he and Daldorph were ticking along with a few runs each over. However, there was time for Daldorph to hit a big six over the clubhouse.
The partnership was on 191 (a club record for the 3rd wicket)when it ended in the 40th over, Taverner bowled for 58 by Pyle. With Thors only requiring 5 to win at this point, Bate went in next and faced a handful of balls before being stumped without scoring. It was fitting that Daldorph hit the winning runs with a boundary in the 42nd over to take him to 147 not out off 113 balls and Thors to their second win of the season.
Thorverton 239-4, Daldorph 147*, Taverner 58, Daldorph-Taverner 191 partnership
The result means the 2s continue their unbeaten start to the season and currently sit top of the Division D East table. Thank you to Alan Birmingham and Bob Rice for umpiring and scoring. The 2XI will look to continue their form next week when they welcome Clyst Hydon to The Station Ground.
Thorverton Cricket Club 