Chichester need to kickstart season - Bognor's brilliant start goes on

Chichester Priory Park v Mayfield

Sussex League div two

Cricket feels very different when the sun is shining and for the first time this year, the forecast promised an uninterrupted day’s play.

The visitors to Goodwood were Mayfield, one of the early favourites for promotion to the premier division. Chichester won the toss and elected to bat first.

The innings got off to a promising start with Tim Wergen (21) and Tarryck Gabriel putting on 31 for the opening wicket.

Little did anyone know this would be the biggest partnership in the innings.

Wickets fell with alarming regularity and other than Wergen, only Ed McCarthy (27) passed 20 in the top order. A useful 25 not out from Martin Ford, along with stubborn resistance from the rest of the lower order prevented Mayfield from bowling the hosts out as Chichester closed on 152-9.

Chichester have defended lower totals in the past and were helped by some questionable batting from Mayfield, who rattled along like they were chasing a much larger total.

Catching in the outfield was outstanding, with McCarthy and Wergen taking an excellent catch a piece.

With Mayfield 89-5, Chichester were buzzing and another great escape looked on the cards. Rob Raymond (45no) and Will Sheffield stabled the rocking ship though with a 42-run partnership for the sixth wicket.

Sheffield was run out but the damage had been done. Raymond hit the winning runs a couple of overs later as Mayfield won by four wickets.

Despite some good performances, this was a third game lost in a row for Chichester. They will look to kickstart their season away to St James’s Montefiore this week.

Chichester PP v Mayfield in pictures.

Bognor v Preston Nomads 2nds

Sussex division two

Preston Nomads started brightly having won the toss, but Ben Woolnough soon saw the back of captain James McKemey, swiftly followed by running out Fin Tomlinson after a mix up in mid-pitch.

Nomads then lost wickets at regular intervals, as Sam Adams (1-24) and Joe Ashmore (4-39) bowled superbly in tandem for 18 overs.

A minor rebuild from Zayn Khan and Edward Salkield (33) wasn’t enough as Nomads closed on 149 all out.

In reply, Bognor’s openers Nick Ballamy (34) and Ryan Maskell took the attack to Nomads, crashing a number of boundaries in a stand of 73.

Ashmore took up the chase, rattling along to 33 before being stumped, leaving Maskell to close out the chase with a six, finishing 77 not out, Bognor romping home with 23 overs to spare.

Himani v Stirlands 2nd

Division 7 West

Stirlands travelled to Crawley in search of their first win of the 2021 season.

Captain Adam Norris invited Himani to bat first on a very green wicket and opening bowlers Sebastian Fecher and Jaiden Semple-Hughes bowled with accuracy and pace.

The introduction of U15 George Goodwin and senior spinner Jason Moores proved crucial. Goodwin increased the pressure, allowing Moores to rip through the Himani line-up, brilliantly assisted by some superb catches, ending with figures of 5-29.

U16 Joe Fuller and U19 Eddie Morison were introduced and the spin pair took the final five wickets for a combined 46, Himani being bowled out for 128.

Stirlands’ openers Dom Murphy and Dan McKitterick started steadily before Murphy exploded with a barrage of shots all around the ground as his first senior 50 was brought up.

The pair put on 127 before Murphy was trapped lbw for a superb 80. Stirlands won the game via a wide off the next ball, taking the full 30 points back to Birdham.

Stirlands 2nd v Broadbridge Heath

T20 Trophy prelim round

Visiting captain Ian Stocker won the toss and invited Stirlands to bat in glorious sunshine.

Dom Murphy and Freddie Burgess took the attack to their opponents, but Burgess was bowled looking for one of his trademark sixes.

A mix-up between Murphy and Dan McKitterick resulted in McKitterick being run out, leaving the score 18-2, before Murphy and Tim Robinson began their assault.

Both brought up half centuries, on their way to helping Stirlands end their innings on 197-4, Murphy unbeaten on 76.

Heath’s reply started watchfully before a direct hit from Robinson ran out Matthew Tyson with the score on 32.

Marshall-James Almeida and Midhun Kunjumon combined to put on 42 but Al Grant ended the partnership and the visitors’ hopes.

George Goodwin (2-28), Joe Fuller (4-15) and Jason Moores (1-3) took their side to an 88-run victory.

Stirlands 2nd v Aldwick 1st

T20 Trophy First Round

As Stirlands sought a third win of the weekend, home captain Adam Norris inviting Aldwick to bat first.

Freddie Burgess ripped through Alex Cooper’s defences then U17 Jaiden Semple-Hughes tore the heart out of the Aldwick’s middle order taking 3-15.

Burgess bowled with pace and hostility and Aldwick never had the opportunity to get going, their innings ending on 67-8.

Dom Murphy and Dan McKitterick began the run chase and McKitterick dispatched Aldwick’s bowlers to all corners as Stirlands reached their target in 7.3 overs without losing a wicket.

McKitterick ended on 32 and Murphy 27 (from 26). Murphy ended the weekend having scored 184 runs.

Gentlemen of Bedales v Ashling

In the picturesque surroundings of Bedales School the Gentlemen of Bedales won the toss and batted first.

They scored 205-6 off their allotted 35 overs thanks to scores of 51 each by Zac Stewart and Spencer Leach.

Ben Elliott was the most successful bowler taking two wickets.

In reply Ashling CC, for the second week running, found it difficult to keep up with the required run rate against some tight bowling and finished on 93 all out with captain Vin Kumbhar top-scoring with 22.

Worthing v Pagham

Sussex div three west

Worthing won the toss and decided to bat first and made a slow but steady start to their innings reaching 34 off nine overs.

Then Pete Cotterill rolled back the years to take three wickets in five balls which left the home side 39-3.

After this Worhting never really got going and lost wickets regularly and other than Harry Dunn, 75, offered little in way of attack.

Josh Goldsmith looked to attack but was caught by a spectacular Ryan Barratt catch and Worthing ended up 171 all out.

Justin Scott and Nikki Tabberer each picked up three wickets.

Pagham decided to bat sensibly and realised they had plenty of time to get the required score. A classy innings from Jack Stannard of 63 meant they never really looked in trouble though there was a slight middle order collapse which included a third consecutive duck for Nick Smith.

Pagham eventually reached their target in the 43rd over seven wickets down.

There was also some history made for Pagham CC on Saturday – they had four teams playing in the Sussex Cricket League and all four won claiming a maximum of 120 points, a remarkable effort for a small village club.

Bognor v Horsham Trinity

T20 Cup

An extraordinary game in front of more than 100 people saw Trinity slip from 35-2 to 36 all out, Sam Adams taking 4-0 and Joe Ashmore taking 3-0 with a hat-trick.

The last eight wickets fell for one run in an astonishing collapse. Bognor knocked off the target in four overs, Mike Harris finishing 16 not out, alongside 19 wides from Trinity.

Picture special from Bognor v Horsham Trinity.

Bognor 2nds v Crawley Eagles

A brilliant finish at the Regis Oval saw a Ben Roberts run out in the last over win the game for the home side, with Crawley Eagles falling four runs short of Bognor’s 170.

Earlier, Roberts had marshalled the lower order with 35 not out, taking Bognor from a perilous 90-6. Khurram Shefique’s 67 was the only score of note in the reply, with Enrique Andrade Paris’4-18 the pick of the Bognor bowling.

Crawley Eagles 2nd v Aldwick

Division six west

After such a dismal start to their season, Aldwick got the tonic they needed with an emphatic win over Crawley Eagles twos by nine wickets.

It featured an opening partnership of 228 from skipper Alex Cooper (136*) and Andy Smith (77) – a club record partnership for any wicket.

The Eagles were struggling on 103-6 thanks to wicket-taking spells from Ollie Smith (3-24) and Tom Hoare (2-41) but Shanaz Abdul Raheem (93) with help from Safwan Muzammil (23*) staged a recovery putting on 124 for the seventh wicket and taking the home side to 237-8 from their 40 overs.

Further wickets went to Josh Kemp (2-42) at the end.

Chasing 238 for victory, Cooper hit 14 fours and seven sixes and his partner Smith hit six fours until the partnership finally came to an end when Mohammed Imran Habeebullakan (1-43) took the only Eagles wicket of the day. Victory came in the 37th over.

Aldwick 2nd v Littlehampton 3rd

Division 11 West (South)

After last week’s tie game, Aldwick twos came up against the bowling of Daniel Foot, who decimated the batting with 5-8 from just four overs.

The remaining wickets were easily mopped up by Will Kitchen (2-14), Matthew Wilkinson (1-23) and Rajasekhar Anumula (1-9) as Aldwick crumbled to 54 all out in the 18th over with John Young (16) and Dion Sampson (14) the only batsmen to reach double figures.

Littlehampton were easy winners reaching the low total in the 14th over, albeit loosing three wickets along the way thanks to Young (1-21) and Sampson (2-8).

Southwater 2nd v Petworth Park

The sun came out to play as Petworth Park made the short journey to Southwater.

Petworth were asked to bat and despite a very elegant 23 from Adam Downing and a solid 43 from Ian Pinnock, they could only post 125.

Wise words at the break focused the mind as Petworth came out to defend a low total.

Petworth took four wickets for 11 runs to reduce Southwater from 38-0 to 49-4. This was due to Shaun Guy’s 3-34 and Alex Ress’ 1-31 putting the pressure on at a crucial stage.

Downing produced a nine-over spell of 1-8.

Southwater seemed happy to attack from the other end and despite a wicket on his league debut for Alan Wakeford, Southwater edged over the line by two wickets.