After last week’s win over Bradninch & Kentisbeare, it was a visit to Cullompton for the t20 XI who lined up with: A.Pitt, L.Vukusic, B.Coetzee, H.Choules+, M.Wilkinson, G.Daldorph, S.Jefferson, H.Squire, B.Slaviero*, J.Broom, J.Choules.
Slaviero won the toss and elected to bat on what looked like a decent deck in the Cullompton sun. McKee gifted Thors 5 wides a few balls in while Pitt and Vukusic hit a boundary apiece in the 2nd over to get off to a good start. The first maximum came in the 4th over when Pitt hit Vincent over the rope at a ground known for its short boundaries. Vukusic followed suit next over but was caught for 14 trying to go again as Thors reached 40-1 from the opening 5.
The rate didn’t decrease when Coetzee came in with 10 also coming from the 6th over. However, when Pitt (26) and H. Choules went in quick succession, Cully tightened things up. 68-3 at halfway.
Cully continued to keep things tight in the 2nd half with Coetzee being the main aggressor for Thors. Wilkinson got in on the act in the 14th though when Rendell was pummelled for successive boundaries. However, he was to fall for 18 in the next over as the total reached 99-4 with 5 left.
Daldorph was promoted up the order to move things along and did just that as he and Coetzee found the boundary more regularly for the visitors, making use of the short straight boundaries in particular.
The pair went at a consistent and impressive 10 an over in the final 5 with Coetzee passing his half century in the process. He released the shackles even more in the final over hitting 4 6 4 6 from the last 4 balls as Thors ended on 163-4.
Slaviero and Broom set about the defence with a fine edge off of the former finding the boundary first over. Broom struck early when Tinley was dismissed but that only brought left handed Granfield to the crease who showed his intent by getting off the mark with a boundary. He took a liking to Broom and after 4 overs it was time for a double bowling change with the hosts 35-1.
Squire started well with no reward as it felt like every edge and miss hit was reaching the boundary for the youngster. Meanwhile, Granfield looked more and more comfortable as time went on and found the boundary at regular intervals.
When pantomime villain for the night Choules came into the attack, he struck almost instantly, removing Granfield for a well made 50 as he and Pitt kept things tight for a couple of overs. Cully 90-2 with 8 to go.
The host’s star man, Brendan Parr, had got himself in now though and clearly didn’t want to take it deep. He found the boundary with relative ease and had things boxed off with 4 overs still to go. Things may have been different for Thors on another night with a couple of chances going down and some maximums only just clearing the fielders but ultimately the visitors were well beaten by 8 wickets.
Thank you to Rich Lloyd for umpiring and Jess Morish for scoring as well as our hosts for the game. Next week the T20 XI play Exeter at the County Ground.
Thorverton Cricket Club 