With Capt. Barnes nursing a dodgy calf, the Efford Express Joe Cunningham led a young and inexperienced side to sunny Torbados to play Torquay IIs.
Even with the side's youthful appearance (with a few exceptions) initial hopes were high going to Torquay after they were bowled out for less than 70 the week before, however on arrival we saw the 'missing' players from their previous week's defeat against Plympton warming up - not to be disheartened Capt Cunners called correctly at the toss and decided to have a bat.
Joe opened with Warhorse Nigel Hughes but in the second over Nigel departed caught off his leading edge without troubling the scorers. Worse followed in the next over when U13 Joe Hagan Burt was bowled for 0 by a beauty, the ball squaring him up before clipping the top of off. U15 run machine Jono Cummings joined Joe and set about the Torquay bowlers hitting a 4 off his first ball. These 2 got us to 16-2 before Jono tried to plant the opening bowl into the sea only to have his stumps rearranged for 7. At 16-3 after 8 overs things were not looking good, Jimmy joined Joe in the middle to try and rebuild the innings. 28 overs and 123 runs laters Torquay broke the partnership when Joe edged behind for 42. Unfortunately this was the beginning of the end as 139-3 after 36 overs became 161-9 off 46 overs. Stevie Colmer was run out for 0, next ball Jimmy was caught at deep mid on for 56. Colin (1), Benno (4) and Mallet (5) came and went, leaving Barney (2no) and Macca (0no) to survive at the death. This was our highest score for a few weeks but with only 2 players and extras (44) contributing more than 7 we suspected this would not be enough.
After a decent tea we set about defending the total with Benno and Joe opening up. Both bowled well but the one bad ball an over was going to the boundary and the batsmen grew in confidence. Ben injured his back and was replaced with Nigel who after three very tight overs was treated to a bit of 'fetch that' by Torquay. Still with no breakthrough, Joe turned to Joe Hagan Burt who nearly had Jack caught but the ball fell in between him and the on-rushing Jono. Next we tried Macca, who, like those before, started very well (including a sharp chance to Colin at gully) but was then watching the ball fly to all parts. Jimmy and Stevie tried in vain next, both having chances put down. With 18 overs left Torquay reached the target without losing a wicket.
One huge plus point was the lack of extras donated to our opponents. 9 is a welcome improvement from earlier games this season, especially given that 4 of the bowlers used were U15/13.
Catching is vital and had we taken just 2 of the chances we had that would have been an extra point, these bonus points could well be vital at the end of the year if we want to avoid relegation.
Thankfully Kockington lost to Whitchurch and we stay 1 point ahead of them with our next 2 games against both of these. 2 wins should push us to safety but we lost both matches to these sides earlier in the year, lets try and reverse this form and avoid any squeaky bum moments as the season draws to a close!
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