Post date: May 17, 2015 10:43:56 AM
On week 3 Bridestowe welcomed Thorverton to the Millaton Ground which was looking glorious on an improving early May afternoon. On a day when the toss was important, skipper Lee Jutson's strategy let him down and Thorverton's captain, Alan Birmingham had little hesitation in asking Bridestowe to set a total. A welcome return from Matt Jopling meant that for once, stalwart opener Steve Batstone had a willing partner. From the off, Thorverton used their mix of youth and experience well with Jordan swinging in with accurate darts at one end and promising youngster Ben Hargett making the most of the very soft wicket, skidding in deliveries that didn't get more than 6 inches of bounce. Scoring shots were rare but Jopling and Batstone successfully saw off Jordon bringing spinner Az Haffie into the attack. Haffie was turning the ball sharply and also using lots of variation and Jopling lost concentration at the other end and trying to loft one of Hargetts darts over the covers, only succeeded in finding the fielder who made a comfortable catch. This brought Pat Ewen to the crease, looking to put in a performance to put pressure on the selectors and he immediately changed the pace of the game with some lusty blows to all parts. This also had the effect of putting the bowlers under pressure and extras were mounting almost as quickly as the batmen's score. At 26, Haffie 'found the spot', and Pat was skittled by a shooter. This started a collapse with Batstone, Charlie Ewen and Lee Jutson all falling to a combination of Haffie's turn and the variable bounce. Tim Shaw showed some resistance before falling to Gray, bowled by another one that didn't bounce. Tom Mallet batting 7 working well with the tail brilliantly and confidently struck both power shots in the air and some cultured ground shots to race to 44 before being bowled by Spry. Kieran Lee, Dave Jopling, Joey Turner and Gideon Pritchard all had low totals but supported Mallet and also hung around adding to the extras total on a day when both sides struggled to find an off stump line. Reaching an eminently gettable 152 after only 27 overs gone, there was plenty of time to turnaround before tea with Thorverton being the more confident of the sides.
With such a low total and a drying wicket, it was clear that the only way for another Bridestowe win was going to be to bowl the opposition out but despite good opening spells by Jutson and Shaw, openers Say and Cudby looked solid and whilst runs were scarce off the bat, Bridestowe were also racking up the extras on a difficult day to bowl with a chilling and blustery wind and conditions soft underfoot. Cudby went after the dot-ball pressure resulted in an ambitious single attempt and Steve Batstone and keeper Pat Ewen combined to force a good run out. Jutson then took another quick wicket and Mallet made a contribution with the ball, both bowled and Bridestowe went into the tea break having already taken 3 early wickets. Soon after the restart, opener Say who had been defending his wicket well, was adjudged to be lbw to Turner and from there on in, the only thing keeping the scoreboard turning was Extras. Pritchard bowled an accurate spell and picked up the wicket of Dawdry for 7. The introduction of left-armer, Dave Joping proved pivotal and his relentlessly accurate line and length applied pressure that resulted in 3 wickets for him and 2 run-outs with keeper Ewen making sure that he made up for a frustrating sharp edge put down earlier in the day, Thorverton all out for 102 with Extras being the highest score.
Another win for the two's played in good spirits and with a promising debut from Joey Turner with the ball, sharp fielding from Kieran Lee and the return of Gideon Pritchard and Matt Jopling, a good mix of players available to keep the wagon rolling next week.