Crusaders vs Ilminster

The Crusaders enjoyed a sunny but chilly start to their away game at Ilminster. John Ponte after accidentally winning the toss, the most rarest of occurrences, sent Ilminster in to bat. George Loker 1-26 impressed in his opening spell. Wickets fell at regular intervals and the 10 Crusaders were fielding well despite catches going down including a golden comedy moment with the skipper calling a catch realising he was nowhere near it and it falling safely between himself and the fielder. A late rally by the Ilminster tail took there score 163-9. Ponte, Batstone and Harris all bowled well deserving the wickets they picked up. Again the star of the show with the ball was Matt 'Hoggy' Kingdom, taking 3-22 of his 12 overs.

A special mention to Toby Stone keeping wicket in a league game for the first time conceding no byes in 45 overs......definitely one for the future.

After a super tea, the Crusaders innings got under way. Josh Mynett on his first appearance of the season larruped some blows before falling to a delivery that was harder to get out to than it would have been to whack to the boundary . Another hard hitting Richard Hoddinott knock (30) kept the innings moving nicely. After his dismissal bowling hero Kingdom (31no) joined opener Will Mellor (69 no) for a classy partnership that took the Crusaders over the winning line with 8 or so overs to spare and wrap up an excellent 6 wicket win.

2 wins from 2 and only 1 point dropped has been a fantastic start to the season.

Man of the Match - Matt Kingdom