Cricket: Middleton, Bognor, Chichester and Pagham have that winning feeling

Welcome to another comprehensive round-up of cricket from around the Chichester and Bognor area. Get involved in the coverage - send your reports to [email protected]
Bognor at the crease in their win over Roffey seconds / Picture: Chris HattonBognor at the crease in their win over Roffey seconds / Picture: Chris Hatton
Bognor at the crease in their win over Roffey seconds / Picture: Chris Hatton

Haywards Heath v Middleton

Sussex premier

After the disappointment of falling narrowly short in their previous game at home to Roffey, Middleton bounced back positively to secure a comfortable seven-wicket win at Haywards Heath.

A wicket for Bognor as they get the better of Roffey seconds / Picture: Chris HattonA wicket for Bognor as they get the better of Roffey seconds / Picture: Chris Hatton
A wicket for Bognor as they get the better of Roffey seconds / Picture: Chris Hatton

The home side won the toss and chose to bat, a decision they may have regretted an hour or two later.

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A superb opening burst from Tom Davies and Harry Hovey saw wickets tumbling at regular intervals, at 57-7 it looked like being a very short afternoon.

While Heath did rally, the bowling remained tight, allowing them little opportunity to increase the momentum, and they eventually made their way to a total of 127 all out.

Wickets were shared around but Davies was once again the pick with an excellent 4-29.

The reply didn’t get the best of starts with George Briance falling in the first over, but that was to be the only real hiccup though and an excellent partnership of 118 between Sean Heather and Mason Robinson pretty well saw the visitors home.

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A couple of late wickets fell but they made very little difference to the end result with Middleton reaching their target at a canter with 23 overs still to go.

Captain Heather said: “It was a great performance from the boys, a really positive way to bounce back after not quite getting over the line in the previous game.

“We’ve taken a lot of positives out of our first four games of the season and hope we can continue to build some momentum over the coming weeks.”

St James v Chichester PP

Sussex League Division 2

Chichester secured a nail-biting two-wicket win at St James’ Montefiore thanks to a lower-order batting performance to remember.

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After losing the toss and being asked to field, Chichester made the most of a helpful pitch to strike early.

Martin Ford (1-29) and Matt Geffen (0-7) produced high-class opening spells, with St James unable to lay bat on ball.

Ford made the breakthrough, getting one to lift off a length and catch the shoulder of the bat to be caught at point.

Crookham (1-53) entered the attack and took a wicket first ball, before Chichester put the squeeze on thanks to spinners Tarryck Gabriel (0-41) and Ajit Sambhi (3-53). Sambhi made regular breakthroughs to leave St James struggling at 67-5.

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They rallied thanks to brothers Harry (44*) and Jordan Rollings (60*) and despite Harry retiring hurt with a hamstring injury, Michael Murray (27*) survived a run out scare to help drag St James to 195-5.

Priory started well, reaching 50 for the loss of just one wicket. From then on wickets fell at regular intervals, and the innings was held together by Gabriel (60) – with his maiden half-century for the club.

Skipper Sean Dobbs (20) was the only other top order batsman to reach double figures as Chichester subsided to 130-7, with Gabriel out to a smart caught and bowled from Murray.

The tail wagged, though, as Sambhi (36) and Ford (13*) put on 46 for the eightth wicket, with Sambhi taking the attack to the bowlers, including two towering sixes.

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When he was dismissed with 20 required, the injured Geffen (7*) joined Ford and they nudged their way over the finish line to bag a crucial win.

Chichester look to build on the win as they host Burgess Hill at Goodwood on Saturday.

Bognor v Roffey 2nd

Sussex League Division 2

Bognor made it a clean sweep of their first five limited-overs games with a hard-fought win against Roffey.

Bowling first, Ben Woolnough removed the dangerous Chris Webb and Josh Sargeant bowled Alex Southon before a minor rebuild from Roffey took the score to 81.

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The introduction of Joe Ashmore (1-27)and Mike Harris (4-41) brought a flurry of wickets, reducing Roffey to 136-8, before solid hitting from captain Tom Barnes (32) boosted the total to 175 all out. Taylor Jaycocks finished with 3-28.

In reply, Bognor struggled against the left-arm spin of Fred Bridges and regular wickets left the score 67-4.

Harris and Josh Seward rebuilt, only for another flurry to leave Bognor 145-7. However, Harris and Josh Sargeant saw out the victory, the former finishing 68 not out as Bognor took 30 points.

Pagham v Ansty

Division 3 West

Ansty won the toss and chose to bat on what looked like a very good batting wicket.

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Pete Cotterill and Sean Rutter kept it tight for the home side in the opening powerplay and Ansty where restricted to 34-1.

Pagham started to make inroads into the Ansty batting line-up and only Chris Barnes (55) gave the innings any real impetus until a quick 22 from Harry Freeman at the end helped Ansty to what looked like a well below par 166 all out.

All the Pagham bowlers did well with Nick Tabberer, Justin Scott and Nick Smith sharing the wickets.

Pagham were rocked when in-form Jack Stannard was out with he score on nine which brough out-of-form Nick Smith to the crease after three consectuive ducks but he went on to score a terrific 102 not out off just 78 balls.

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He was very well supported by Theo Benyon-Ayres (28) and Ryan Barratt finished the innings in style with a six into the road and Pagham reached the target just two down in the 28th over to inflict Ansty’s first defeat of the season.

Stirlands v Felbridge & Sunnyside

Div 4 West

Felbridge won the toss and elected to bat first, with openers Jack Williams and Will James getting off to a good start before Jack Williams edged off to George Fountain to gully.

Felbridge built a partnership through some fortunate batting from James, but Stirlands got their breakthrough from excellent fielding by Will Beale, running out Oliver Starr.

James was bowled in the next over by Nat Clowes but Felbridge then made lightwork of the attack, losing a few wickets but reaching a total of 290-6 off their 45 overs.

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In reply, Stirlands got to a strong start, with Dom Murphy and Jake Moores making it to 71 before Moores fell to Chris Richens.

Stirlands stumbled to 103-4 before Dan Mugford made 52. With batsmen coming and going, Stirlands managed to make it to 202 to gain some batting points from the loss.

Aldwick v Pagham 2nd

Division 6 West

After last week’s much needed victory, Aldwick failed to continue with their winning ways and were defeated by Pagham by eight wickets, who had the upper hand from the start.

Pagham won the toss and asked Aldwick to bat on a very wet wicket which was a difficult strip to make runs on. Despite this, Aldwick’s top six were careful and patient and all made it into double figures but unfortunately Aiden Miles (32*) was the only one to push on and make a decent score. After double-figure knocks from Luke Barnes (19) , Alex Cooper (15), Ian Guppy (14) , Simon Barter (14) and Liam Tinson (11), Aldwick’s lower order were skittled out cheaply and the home side were all out for 122 in the 32nd over.

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Ben Barkes took 3-37 and there were two wickets apiece for Thomas Kent (2-24) and Richard Bird (2-3) with Bird’s wickets coming in an 11-ball spell.

On a dryer batting surface, Pagham had a nervous start with both openers, Michael Loveridge (12) and Chris Hayden ( 8 ) falling early to Ben Bambridge (2-12). However, Aidan Drake (53*) and Gary Young (19*) soon allayed worries with a calm match-winning 99-run partnership with gave their side victory in the 33rd over.

Crawley Eagles 3rd v Stirlands 2nd

Stirlands twos travelled to Crawley full of hope after a victory the previous week.

Crawley Eagles won the toss and invited Stirlands to bat in glorious sunshine.

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The visitors were quickly reduced to 17-3 and the 40-4 following disciplined bowling. Stirlands rallied as Dan McKitterick was supported by Tobie Simmonds (27) and then Al Grant (28*) to recover to 167-6 in their 40 overs with McKitterick caught for a well-constructed 74.

Crawley Eagles set about their run chase in a positive manner, easily finding the boundary as the young Stirlands bowlers couldn’t replicate the accuracy shown during the first innings.

The total was reached inside 27 overs with Shahzad Ali the highest run scorer ending on 75, leading his team to victory.

Bognor 2nd v Selsey 1st

Enrique Andrade-Paris (2-9) and Jamie Woolnough (3-34) did the damage as Selsey were rolled for 88, with Josh Broad (31*) and Gary Maskell (24*) navigating a comfortable nine wicket win.

Bognor 2nd Littlehampton 2nd

Bognor 2nd v Middleton 2nd

T20 Cup

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In the second round of the T20 Plate, Bognor narrowly beat Littlehampton by four runs as contributions all the way down the batting order set Littlehampton 148 for victory.

Tight bowling, in particular from Jamie Woolnough, ensured a safe passage to round three.

However, Bognor met their match in a strong Middleton twos side, who romped to 204-5 (Nelmes 53, Carter 57), before restricting Bognor to 126-7.

Elsted v Ashling

A century opening partnership of 122 between Nathan Kemp (101) and Reg Norris (63) ended any hopes of a first victory of the season for Ashling.

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From the off, Ashling were chasing the ball to all parts of the boundary and were eventually set a target of 256 to win, with Adam Thomas being the most successful bowler taking 3-24.

In reply an under-par batting performance Ashling were bowled out for 74 with Vaz Kumbhar (24no) and Tim Gordon (18) the main contributors. Peter Goble with 5-22 starred with the ball for the hosts.

Petworth Park v Worthing 3rd

Petworth won the toss and elected to field and it seemed like the right decision.

With some tight bowling from Alex Rees (0-11 off nine overs) and attacking from James Gillett, Worthing were 75-2 after 20 overs.

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Fortune favoured the brave in the second half of Worthing’s innings as aerial shots fell safe and a fast outfield helped Worthing post 201-6.

In reply Petworth looked strong and confident and got ahead of the run rate with some impressive batting from Gus Fletcher (43) supported by James Lywood (18).

The run-out of Lywood led to a quickfire 35 from Alex Rees before he was dismissed lbw. From this point Worthing found their stride and some very tight bowling Petworth fell behind the rate and finished on 160-9.

Bognor 3rd v Clymping 2nd

Harry Lindsey’s 3-25 and Mark Hood’s 3-14 ensured Clymping managed only 101 all out before a slightly nervy chase from Bognor saw them run out winners by three wickets, Hood finishing 21 not out.

Chichester 4th v Aldwick 2nd

Division 11 West South

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Batting first, Chichester opener David Baily led from the front with a well-crafted 51 but at the other end wickets fells at regular intervals mainly to John Young (3-45) and Dan Austin (2-40).

However, a seventh wicket partnership from Graeme Bennison (63) and Arran Goode 32*) allowed the home side to finish on 216-7.

That score was plenty as Aldwick were bowled out for a paltry 56 with only Nathan Koakan (11) and Jake Merrett (10) making double figures in a lacklustre display.

Chichester’s bowlers, James Connolly (3-21), Oscar Pitman (2-10) , Freddie Gillett (2-7), Jonty Stanford (1-) ,Sam Price (1-6) and David Graham-Wood (1-1) all had their day in the sun for a 160-run victory.

Aldwick v Sammy Snakes

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On a good wicket, Sammy Snakes from Broadwater batted first against Aldwick and scored 244-8.

Dan Price (93) led the way, with Fran De Silva scoring 53*. Ian Guppy took 3-19, with a first wicket from Michelle Clare on her debut.

Nathan Koakan (40) led Aldwick’s reply, and despite 17 each from Ian Guppy and Dan Austin, they fell 109 short. Tom Masters had thee Snakes’ best bowling figures with 3-32.

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