1ST XI
The 1st XI under the new leadership of Captain Tom hosted A Division new boys, Thorverton who were playing 50 over DCL cricket for the first time.
Thorverton won the toss and elected to bat first. Many of their batters got a start but no one scored more than 28 – Dan Robbins achieved that at a run a ball. Extras were joint second highest scorer with 26 – some bowler’s radars still malfunctioning. George Benton was the best of the bowlers in terms of success with 3 for 27 while Harry Baxendale with 2 for 17 off his 10 overs was the most economic. Special mention must be made of Baxendale’s run out off, his own bowling – whilst off balance he removed the batter at the striker’s end (Ben Slaviero) with a direct hit. Thorverton were all out off, the penultimate ball of their innings for 203.
It is appropriate at this time to make special mention of Jackie Baker, who unlike several clubs in the dash to ditch teas completely, provided an extremely nice Lasagne, (well apparently it is Blaise’s favourite), for the Match Officials – Evo and his colleagues really appreciated it. As the Club Chairperson said at the AGM, “teas will continue out of respect for Match Officials”. Mark Riddiford an umpire new to Devon, was amazed what the club provided – food and otherwise.
Returning to the cricket, the usual combination of Tim Western and Chris Kelmere opened Torquay’s reply and at 75 for 2 everything seemed to be going nicely well until Alex Jopling started to spin his magic, including being on a hat trick. Reduced to 117 for 5, defeat was becoming a distinct possibility. Thankfully Jiniv Joshi the club’s new overseas player remained undefeated on 86 not out on his league debut to see the team home with just 1 wicket to spare but with over 3 overs remaining. George Benton might have only scored 15 runs, but he scored his first just as his father, Keith, a former resident of No 10 (well Tics fly half of yesteryear) walked onto the ground. Jopling with 3 for 35 was the not unsurprisingly the best of the Thorverton bowlers.
Despite Chris jnr returning just to the ranks. It didn’t go unnoticed that Chris Kelmere snr still checked whether the scorers wanted anything – well wife Di now concentrating on “granny duties” scored for many a year.
Evo AKA “The Keeper of The Balls” did some good PR for the club by (amazingly) allowing Thorverton to have some spare balls so they could start to build up a collection of the correct grade now they are in the A Division.
It was nice to see so many spectators watching. Though is it is difficult to pick out specific ones, special mention must be made of John Morgan AKA Captain Panic who masterminded the title successes or 1996 and 1997, Neil Stanlake who could be extremely proud of his Winter Work Party’s work which he is a key member of and last and by no means least Roger Biddick.
Next up for the 1st XI is a trip to their old rivals, Exmouth, next Saturday. Having run into Ben Green and Tom Lammonby this weekend, they could be wounded lions!
Thorverton CC 1st XI 203 all out (49.5 overs)
D Robbins 28
Extras 26
T Diamond 26
A Chilcott 25
G Benton 3-27
H Baxendale 2-17
Torquay CC 1st XI 205 for 9 (46.5 overs)
J Joshi 86*
T Wwestern 38
A Jopling 3-35
Torquay CC 1st XI (19 pts) beat Thorverton CC 1st XI (8 pts) by 1 Wicket
2nd XI
With the last minute call up to the 1st XI for Faiz Ebrahim, Matt McCann took the 2nd XI out to take on Abbotskerswell 2nd XI – a mixture of youngsters, over 40s and a few “inbetweeners.”
Research is continuing but Matt it the oldest player to make their debut for the Tics 1st XV and Faiz could well be the oldest to do it for the cricket club – Evo is on the case!
Abbotskerswell won the toss and elected to bat. The Torquay bowlers after some early success by Ant Nadar were soon put to the sword especially by Tom Heath with an undefeated 114 who was supported by Charlie Hill with 52. Abbotskerswell amassed 251 for the loss of just 4 wickets in their 45 overs with Ant Nadar the best of the bowlers with 2 for 41 off his 9 overs. It was good though to see Rob Shergold getting some overs under his belt for the first time this season and slightly more surprisingly when it comes to bowling, Josh Hunt.
Torquay’s reply – well there is no way to sugar coat it. Wickets fell regularly and but for a 10th wicket partnership of 47 between Beau Rider and Bobby Western, three figures wouldn’t have been reached. Bobby’s older brother Daniel on his debut as vice-captain top scored with the bat with 23 (Extras though were actually the top score with 34.) Jake Fox was the best of the Abbotskerswell bowlers with 3 for 30. Torquay were all out with 7.3 overs to go.
Mention must be made of Phil Sturman who is seriously embracing electronic scoring – having said he would retire from scoring when he had reached a milestone birthday, Phil is now an invaluable back up scorer and helped out when Sandra Western had IT issues yesterday.
The 2nd XI have a busy week this week. First up is a Brockman Cup tie away to South Devon CC 2nd XI this Tuesday before returning to league action, and hopefully winning ways, next Saturday at home to Plymouth Civil Service and Roborough CC 1st XI.
Abbotskerswell CC 2nd XI 251 for 4 (45 overs)
T Heath 114*
C Hill 52
A Nadar 2-41
Torquay CC 2nd XI 136 all out (37.3 overs)
Extras 34
D Western 23
J Fox 3-30
Abbotskerswell CC 2nd XI (20 pts) beat Torquay CC 2nd XI (5 pts) by 115 Runs
Player of the Day
Although there was the rear guard action by young Beau Rider and Bobby Western, and fine bowling (and fielding) by Harry Baxendale. This week’s Player of the Day – well you can’t look really beyond Jiniv Joshi for his undefeated 84 on his debut. Hopefully many more runs to come.
