A very young Ottery St Mary 3rd XI batting line up made a poor fist of chasing down a victory target of 190 in last weekend’s clash with Thorverton 3rd XI, writes Ian Townsend.

Having been invited to bat first, in the face of some fairly loose opening bowling, the Thors were given a rapid start by Graham Say and the experienced Matt Millward. Sixty four runs were added in 12 overs before the introduction of Under-15 bowler Luke Tierney prompted a spate of wickets.

The young seamer removed both Say, bowled for 29 (five fours), and Millward (20), trapped lbw. When John Morgan (4) was then run out and Rob Lloyd (4) bowled by Jack Webber, the total stood at 76-4.

Matt Owen (10) and Richard Money added a useful 32 before the former was caught by Dan Jeacock off leg spinner, Jack Katene.

However, with Money striking seven fours in his 36 before being removed by Jeacock (2-28) and handy lower order contributions from Lloyd Pettit (20) and Geoff Cross (14), Thorverton reached a useful 189-9.

Tierney was the pick of the Otters’ bowlers as two late wickets gave him a return of 4-18 from nine well directed overs.

The early loss of openers Frank Hartley (0) and Barry Flicker (1), both bowled by Pettit, set the tone of an Ottery reply which never got off the ground. Webber (18 with three fours) briefly resisted but when he too was bowled by Pettit and skipper John Tierney suffered a similar fate without troubling the scorers, at 38-6, the Otters’ goose was well and truly cooked. As Morgan (2-9 from seven overs) produced a miserly spell, only Tom Jeacock, with a spirited late undefeated 17, put up any real fight, at least ensuring that Ottery avoided the ignominy of being dismissed for less than 50. Nevertheless, an eventual total of 72 all out was enormously disappointing.

Lloyd returned an impressive 5-20 for the Thors.

Thorverton 3rd XI 189-9 (Extras 37, R Money 36, G Say 29, M Millward 20, L Pettit 20, L Tierney 4-18, D Jeacock 2-28) Ottery St Mary 3rd XI 72 (L Pettit 5-20, J Morgan 2-9). Thorverton (19pts) bt Ottery St Mary (4pts) by 117 runs.