Duke of Richmond's team win on '˜home' turf

On a bright sunny Sunday, Goodwood entertained the Duke of Richmond's XI ,organised and captained by his grandsons Charlie Settrington and Will Gordon Lennox.
Kirdford in action at WalbertonKirdford in action at Walberton
Kirdford in action at Walberton

Goodwood elected to field. A keen opening bowling spell by Johnny Heaven (0-27) and Matt Geffen (0-35) kept the Duke’s side in check, while first change bowler James Mayne took 3-44.

All the Duke’s top five passed 20 with Russell (30), Mould (29) and Young with a quickfire 28 leading the way. Young took 19 of Geffen’s last two overs and dropped catches didn’t help the cause.

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Paul Terry was the most economic bowler with 2-30 while Steve Dudman chipped in with 2 -35 and Mike Smith made a miserly contribution (0-10). The Duke’s side finished on 197-7 off 40 overs.

Goodwood made anything but a glorious start finding themselves at 30-4, M Roy being the main destroyer with 3-28, well supported by T Mather’s 1-47.

Matt Beard made a robust 24 but Goodwood looked in a desperate position when he departed and the side were 63-6. Mike Smith followed making a sound 27 before being caught off Gordon Lennox (1-21) leaving Goodwood almost down and out at 101-8.

The Duke’s side bowled well with A Moore, Settrington, W Careleton-Smith and T Young making life difficult.

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However a superb partnership developed between Matt Geffen (48* off 58 balls) and Steve Dudman (28 off 27) putting on 62 for the eighth wicket. Dudman departed in the 37th over with 34 needed off 17 balls. James Mayne (8*) supported Geffen in the final two overs but the Duke’s side won by 6 runs.

Goodwood v Ropley

Goodwood took the game to the wire after facing a potentially-heavy defeat as they struggled to take early wickets. Goodwood batted first and made a brisk start with Matt Bennison (23) and Matt Geffen (54) putting on 42 for the first wicket. Hari got 16 but the next four batters only managed seven between them.

Johnny Heaven then made a brisk 21 and the Goodwood innings closed on 152-9 off 40 overs.

Ropley started strongly with Hawkins (22) and Ireland (59) putting on 72 for the first wicket. Hawkins was first to go bowled hook line and sinker by Matt Geffen (1-21).

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The dangerous Ireland continued to dominate the Goodwood attack but no-one had counted on Kumbi Chilongo. Ireland slog swept Richard Geffen to the square leg boundary for a potential six before Kumbi launched himself skywards and one handed plucked the ball out of the sky feet away from the boundary. Rarely can such a magnificent catch have been made at Goodwood and it was a game-changing moment.

Ropley struggled and failed to score runs off Tim Pitman, Hari and Richard Geffen. Ropley got to 111-6 and soon needed 28 off five overs.

James Mayne (1-34) and Johnny Heaven (1-20) restricted Ropley who then needed four off the last over then two from the last ball.

The batter missed the ball and no run was attempted – and Goodwood had won by one run.

Lavant v All Stars

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Dave Banks was skipper for this match and chose to bat when he won the toss.

Batting proved difficult on a soggy pitch and Lavant lost their first wicket in the second over. Two more wickets fell in the ninth over followed by a run-out and Lavant were struggling at 21 for four.

Peter Burford and Steve Sands steadied the innings but they were out to shots played too early, looping up easy catches to the grateful All Stars fielders.

The bowlers quickly cleaned up the tail and Lavant were all out for 60, with three Lavant batsmen failing to trouble the scorers.

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A very early tea was taken and All Stars started their reply. Their first wicket fell to the second ball of their innings and unbelievably, All Stars were 12 for six in no time at all following an inspired bowling spell from Andy Nichols and Alex Burford.

Lavant sniffed victory despite their low score. Nichols had to leave the field and this eased the pressure on the All Stars batsmen as Anscombe scored 23 and Jackson an unbeaten 15.

Two more wickets fell in the run chase but All Stars won the game on 61 for eight, despite four of their batsmen being out for a duck.

Walberton v Kirdford

Kirdford elected to bat and against consistent and tight bowling, they scored a respectable 164. Gus Fletcher made 23, but the innings came to life with MoM Alex Keville hitting an aggressive 56, all bar two of his runs coming in boundaries,t.

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Some great bowling from David Holden (10-3-19-4), and Mark Earle (9-1-41-3) kept the wickets coming.

In response Kirdford thought they had pretty much wrapped things up when Walberton were seven down with less than 90 on the board, Keville and Jamie Rountree (5-0-13-3) doing damage.

With Rountree taken off, Walberton rallied, and were suddenly on 160 for eight with three overs to spare.

Keville took care of Holden, who’d cracked a fine 46. James Smyth was trusted with the ball and Mark Earle took a swing at a perfectly-pitched ball and was bowled.

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