The 1st XI made 4 changes for the trip to Bovey Tracey, lining up with: A. Kingdon, H. Squire, B. Heard, S. Yelverton, H. Choules+, G. Daldorph, F. Fenner, B. Slaviero, J. Choules*, S. Tait, J. Stirling.
The home side won the toss and elected to bowl first in cloudy conditions. The flag at Bovey Tracey was at half mast and a minute silence was observed by both teams to remember a club legend who sadly passed in the week prior to taking the field.
Kingdon looked in the mood from the outset against his old club when he timed Kay for a boundary in the first over. However, Pryke took full advantage of the conditions for the hosts by getting the ball to swing and seam from the off. He got Squire via the outside edge first over to leave Thors 6-1 from 2.
Heard, deservedly promoted up the order after some solid performances, weathered the storm well while Kingdon continued to accumulate at the other end. At the end of the opening powerplay, the total reached 29-1.
After doing much of the hard work, Heard was trapped LBW to Pryke in the 12th. A change at the Pavilion End did nothing to slow down Kingdon and incoming Yelverton got in on the act when he drove Ansley for 3 consecutive 4s. However, the opposition skipper had his man next ball when Shane was caught behind. Thors 52-3 from 15.
Harry Choules joined Kingdon and saw out the rest of Pryke’s 10 over spell, managing to drive him away for 2 boundaries in his weary final over. The partnership looked promising and in control until Kingdon was agonisingly caught at point for a well made 48.
Daldorph and Choules sensibly edged to the halfway point as the score reached 90-4 and the game finely balanced. Daldorph upped the rate after the break, showing little respect to the change bowling. Choules would’ve been frustrated to be caught for a patient 20 just prior to the 3rd batting point coming up. Daldorph brought up his half century around the same time before Fenner also found himself caught without troubling the score.
Slaviero came and went when he picked the fielder from a full toss and with the skipper entering the fray, Daldorph decided to get on with things. He took 2 6s in a row in the 44th as he and Choules did well to keep George on strike. There was another boundary to bring him to 75 but the re-introduction of Kay was his eventual undoing.
Choules and Tait shared a few singles before the latter was caught and bowled. When Stirling went first ball, the innings ended abruptly at 183AO with 3 overs unbowled.
The heavy roller was brought on at tea and, despite a maiden to start from Slaviero, it seemed to work wonders. The Bovey openers were positive as Slavs and Daldorph got used to running in on more uneven ground than they are used to, the boundary being found regularly. There were plenty of aerial shots and one or two snicks through third man which gave the skipper encouragement to stick with his strike bowlers but at 66-0 after 10, change was needed.
Yelverton managed to get the ball to do a little more in the air but conditions clearly favoured the bat now. After a few tight overs between him and the skipper, Yelverton was rewarded when he wrapped Mount on the pad who went for a positive 40 from 29 balls. The pair were able to keep things even tighter from here and when Yelverton got another to swing to remove Pascoe in the 19th, Thors had fought back at 81-2.
Stirling replaced Choules who moved to Yelverton’s end with Stirs all over Bradley in his second over which included big shouts for LBW, for caught behind and a put down caught and bowled chance. Bradley and overseas star Van Staden made it to drinks though as the total reached 98-2.
Bovey remained in control but Thors has shown some fight. The drinks break seemed to come at a bad time though with bowlers not hitting the same accuracy as before the break. Choules rotated his bowlers regularly trying to make the breakthrough and it was Slaviero who eventually scalped Bradley for 12. However, Bovey were now within 50 runs with 20 overs still to bowl.
Van Staden found another gear as the total got closer and but for a chance going down off of Yelverton, looked in control for his club. There was a promising spell for Tait in the closing stages but Andrew (29*) hit the winning runs with 6 and a half overs to spare.
Thors well-beaten and pick up only 4 bonus points. With Hatherleigh winning, we slip to third, 10 points ahead of Bovey Tracey in 4th. Next week we host 2nd bottom Plympton who will be looking to do the double over Thors to ease their relegation worries.
Thorverton Cricket Club 