Topsham St. James 2nd XI v Torquay & Kingkerswell 3rd XI
Topsham 2s stay top of the H Division Central, winning by 82 runs.
Harry Everett reports on a match that featured eighteen bowlers and saw his Somerset CCC livestream cameraman Neil Shillabeer notch 200 unbeaten runs over consecutive Saturdays.
Creator of superb video work such as Exeter Sunsets CC YouTube special featuring Devon cricketing legend Bernie Wilson, Neil Shillabeer, was cruelly stranded last week on 98 not out, not knowing what he was on. But the following Saturday he battled his sciatica to reach his maiden ton, ending on 102 not out, thus giving him exactly 200 runs since he was last dismissed.
Topsham could not have asked for a better response to losing the toss and having been invited to bat, They took full advantage of that invitation, with Neil and opening partner Josh Smalley (25) putting on 74 for the first wicket at five an over, albeit helped by a liberal quantity of extras. Jon Hull came and went rather more quickly than he would have liked, but then skipper Matt Reeves (38) made up for his tossing incompetence by keeping Neil company for the rest of the innings, as the home side ended on 224-2. Second-highest scorer was extras, with 51.
It was not entirely clear if all those extras were the cause or the result of Torquay using nine different bowlers. The wicket-takers were Richard Saunter (1-32) and young Daniel Kulkarni, who showed considerable promise on his way to 1-35. Perhaps the best bowling of the day came from Daniel’s father, Vivek, who bowled his eight overs for just 22 runs, and was unlucky not to have had a wicket or two for his efforts. Their six colleagues will probably be happy just to forget that they were involved.
Vivek was again the best performer when Torquay batted, hitting five well-struck fours in his 30. Five other players got into double figures, including Daniel with a good-looking 16, but nobody reached twenty, and the innings fizzled out to end at 142.
Topsham also used nine bowlers, possibly in an attempt to allow all batsmen below number four to think that they really did have a part to play. Seven of them took at least one wicket, which might well be a record. Off-spinners old and young took the eye, with Gary Salter’s 2-7 being outdone by Sam Luddintgton’s 2-2. Alex Davison confirmed his all-rounder status with 2-16, and the single-wicket takers were Josh Smalley, back to somewhere near his best, for 13, Adam Cooper for 14, Miles Olczak for 16, and Nick McAleer for 18.
Mike Tracey: “Thanks should go to the University ground staff who had a first-class pitch and outfield ready for play at the ridiculously early hour of 11am. When the football World Cup final was played at 3pm in 1966, cricket was played as normal (just as in the WEPL most games continued as normal this Saturday too.)
“Though I will admit that we took an extended tea interval to accommodate extra time in 66, but we at least maintained the principle that cricket is by far the more important game!”
Be that as it may, Torquay took 4 points to Topsham’s 20, which keeps the home side well clear at the top of Division H Central.
