After years in the wilderness, the Millers finally got some silverware under their belt by winning the world famous T20 Whimple Jubilee Cup. Following an early morning start and a great win over the Ottery carnival squad, the afternoon got underway with a 139 total set by our hosts Whimple. Enter Tale Millers and after a fabulous lesson in batting from our openers Jason Wood and John Pengelly, Tale Millers came through with several overs to spare… Notable mentions (both innings); Ben Peters for the quick fire 30 (off 10 balls), Sam Franks for 4 wickets for no runs (that really was 4 for 0!) and our Riley for a bit of everything. A great day with a great result… Up the Millers, or as our Ben put it ‘Champions’!
We are currently finalising an open top bus celebration (date TBA), but have realised that the trees are too low on the road into Payhembury, so perhaps a low-level tractor trailer may have to do!
We then had a busy week ahead with both Tuesday and Friday games, but it was swiftly back down to earth with a damp squid of a game and a defeat to The Coaver Gerries.. We can maybe put that down to hip operations, arthritis, bunions and anything else left over from the Jubilee Cup games (well that’s what we told ourselves to make it better!)
Friday was another day and following a few days rest (ice baths and physio), a target of 127 was set by our touring side, The Mighty Greys. The Millers led from the front with Ralph retiring and JP a cat’s whisker away from glory. Sam Franks followed his awesome fielding antics (champagne moment run out!) in the previous innings with a retirement and Shane found his mojo and followed suit. With a few more overs Will would have been well on his way, but the game was won. As with all of our home games, the evening was topped off with an amazing supper from Oli Kittow.
With the weather turning fine, it was off to visit our friends at Bakers XI at Newton St. Cyres. The sun was shining, the outfield was fast….and… well where do we start…Ok, let’s start with notable mentions – Hammer, Ralph and Will stepped up with some decent batting figures with the rest playing a ‘supporting role’. Notable bowling… Nothing as we didn’t take a wicket! Chasing a total of 190 on a very quick outfield, the agile nature of our team was called into question, but to be fair it could have been a lot more if not for some decent fielding from Will and a few others. Managing just 114 in our 20 overs, cricket, the beer and some quality food courtesy of The Beer Engine was the winner!
Tale Millers play most of their matches at home at Tuck Mill and we welcome visitors and social members down at the ground. With a fully stocked licensed bar on tap for a cheeky G&T, we would love to see you at some point over the summer.
Jon Carden
