Our 1st XI skipper Jake Choules is set to make his 200th league appearance for the 1st XI on Saturday as the 1s welcome Bridestowe & Belstone to Station Ground.
The story so far…
Jake made his debut for the 1st XI in June 2011 at home to Barnstaple & Pilton under Ally Fury’s captaincy, but his relationship with the club goes further back than that. He made his debut for the 2nd XI in 2007 as a 13 year old and was usually found on Saturdays in his teens in the scorebox at TCC in it’s former location where the ladies changing room now stands. His payment throughout his scoring days was always a pint of cider, which would be more frowned upon these days!
Jake & his brother Harry didn’t have much choice in joining the club after their Mum Julie started dating club legend Jock Spry whilst Jake was in primary school. The pair joined the colts setup ran by Jock & Jimmy May, which had been recently re-established after laying dormant throughout the 1990s.
His debut produced a duck and 5 wicketless overs & is probably the only occasion where Jake appeared above Harry in the batting order! Yoyoing between the 1st & 2nd XI, Jake had to wait until July for his second appearance which brought his first wickets, taking 2-11 against Chudleigh at Station Ground – his first wicket for the 1s was league legend and then Chudleigh captain Jonny Martin, caught by Paul Fielder. Jake finished 2011 with 5 wickets after taking 3-15 at Barnstaple. An early memorable game (missing from notoriously patchy playcricket records) was a win at Tavistock where Will Denford hit the last three balls of the game for 6 to win it.
Under the reigns of James Hope, Jake opened 2012 with his maiden 5 wicket haul, taking 5-17 at Axminster, which seasoned Thorverton members may recall for Ben Slaviero’s debut for the club and the subsequent Twittergate, which saw bans for some of the home side’s players after questioning Slav’s action online. 2012 Jake became the first player to play for the 1st, 2nd & 3rd XIs in one season after being drafted in to play in the 3s after other games were rained off. He finished 2012 with 11 wickets.
L-R Back Row:- David Baldock, Russell Hilton, Gill Crouch, Will Denford, Jake Crouch, Jake Choules.
Front Row:- Luke Boyadijan, Paul Fielder, James Hope, Harry Choules, Graham White.
By this time he had cemented his place in the 1st XI and took eighty wickets across the next three seasons under the stewardship of Graham White. 2015 saw his career best figures, taking 6-20 at Abbotskerswell in a ten wicket win. His 100th wicket for the 1st XI game in the last home game of the 2015 season, bowling Chris Simpson of local rivals Shobrooke Park. He also made double figures with the bat for the first time at South Devon in a game infamous for Dave Baldock’s trip to hospital on a bus after breaking a finger. A suspicious rain off (the only game off across the whole DCL) at Chudleigh prevented promotion on the final day.
2016 & 2017 saw a decline for the 1st XI who actually finished in the relegation places in 2017, but were given a last minute reprieve as Filleigh pulled out of the league. Improvement followed under Andy Pitt’s captaincy in 2018, with Jake taking 29 wickets including his first 5fa for three years, 5-25 against Plymstock. Thors narrowly missed out on promotion by just two points in 2019, with Jake taking a 5fa at Brixham on the opening day.
Covid scuppered a full cricket season in 2020, but a smaller programme of cricket produced 13 wickets in 7 matches. Jake took his 200th 1st XI wicket against Whimple.
2021, his tenth year of 1st XI cricket was Jake’s magnum opus. He was appointed 1st XI skipper at the start of the season and took 30 wickets at a staggering average of just 9.13. He led the club to a double, winning both the B Division and the Corinthian Cup.
Jake recalls his favourite game from that season being Plymstock away – “Paul Fielder, one of the senior players that made me feel welcome on debut in 2011, scored 100 and raised his bat to me after sticking with him after a bad run of form. I then took 5-26 in the second innings.”
Consolidation in the A Division was achieved in 2022, with Jake’s best figures in the A Division so far coming the day after performing best man duties at Jack Stirling’s wedding, taking 5-15 in a home win against Exeter, all the more impressive as all most of the squad had been drinking at the wedding the previous evening! Jake guided the 1s to 6th place in their first season in the second tier since 1990.
The consolidation in the A Division continued in 2023 and 2024 under Jake’s stewardship, with 5 wicket hauls against Clyst St George and Plymouth. Jake made a league best of 17* against Abbotskerswell in a 1st XI league record stand for the 10th wicket with George Greed in 2024. At the time of writing, Jake’s side sit in the promotion places of the A Division with the club’s highest ever league finish within sight.
The stats to date:-
Matches:- 199
Played with:- 76 different players for the 1st XI, enough for nearly 7 teams.
Played against:- 39 different teams. Most appearances v Tavistock (16 games)
Bowling:- 295 wickets @ 17.92. Best bowling 6-20. He has sent down over 8,200 balls in 1st XI cricket.
Batting:- 323 runs @ 7.88. Best batting 17* – a staggering 63 not outs in 104 innings.
Fielding:- 49 catches & 2 run outs.
Jake’s All-Time XI
We asked Jake to compile his all-time XI out of players he’s played with at Thorverton (overseas players excluded). Here’s the team:-
- Alistair Fury* – loved his captaincy. Shame we never got a promotion under him as the party would probably still be going.
- Paul Fielder – proper opening batsman. I was lucky to be in the side when he scored all 3 of his 1st XI league hundreds.
- George Greed – one of the most talented in the list but could’ve been in for the on-drives alone. Just hope he’s available.
- James Hope – scored the best hundred I have seen at Station Ground when we chased 250 within 40 overs. Not giving him the captaincy as he’d bat himself at 11.
- Dan Robbins – Wanted another player from the current team and it was a tough call between Robbo and Pitty. When I look at the overall side I think Robbo shades it as a seam option. Plus it’s bound to go down well down the road.
- David Baldock – Brilliant longevity. Club’s leading run scorer in the play cricket era.
- Harry Choules+ –Comfortably the best keeper I’ve played with. Very handy to have a 3rd left hander in the side.
- Will Denford – Prime Will Denford bowling wheels, throwing himself around the field and clearing the rope. Yep, he’s in.
- Mike Denford – the GOAT was still putting it on the spot when I was breaking through. A bloke that scored 1000 league runs in a season (twice) batting at #9 is perhaps a bit silly.
- Nick Barton – an anomaly; a Thorverton spinner that span the ball. Would win us plenty of games with the bat too.
- Ben Slaviero – our best player since I’ve been captain. We’re very lucky to have him. Cheers Keeley.
- Jake Choules – I’d happily run drinks on all day for these guys.
Unlucky to miss out:
- George Daldorph, Luke Vukusic & Bobby Heard – knocking at the door for the future.
- Alistair Chilcott – Just didn’t quite have the longevity, that’ll teach him for flirting with Sidmouth.
- Gill Crouch – would’ve been a great left arm option but also didn’t quite have the longevity for this list.
- Andy Pitt – as mentioned above
Congratulations to Jake on his 200th appearance. Please join us on Saturday to celebrate with one of Jake’s legendary iPod Shuffle Nights after the matches.
Thorverton Cricket Club 