Wittering win well - Aldwick nearly end leaders' run

There's action involving West Wittering and Aldwick in our latest round-up of local Invitation League action.
Ben Bambridge tries to get an Aldwick breakthroughBen Bambridge tries to get an Aldwick breakthrough
Ben Bambridge tries to get an Aldwick breakthrough

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Crawley Eagles v West Wittering

Invitation League division two

The journey to Crawley Eagles’ ground was desperately long, but victory for West Wittering was well earned and made the trip worth it.

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Wittering were put into bat on a pitch that proved devilish. After a steady start from Gareth Lendrum and Jack Allsobrook, Wittering seemed to be in the driving seat.

However, with Lendrum frustrated, batting with a strike rate well below usual, his rash shot and subsequent wicket were inevitable. Carl Tupper strode in for a brief amount of time, only to be fooled by the variable pitch. Johnny Miller didn’t last much longer.

Next to fall would be Allsobrook, who had made a valiant 37 but fell foul of some poor communication. Jake Irwin-Brown tried his best to bring some impetus to the innings, but his attempts also proved ineffective.

Brandon Trimmer brought stability to the middle order. His partnership with Harry Staight signalled the beginning of the Wittering fightback.

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With runs starting to come more freely, Trimmer and Staight helped elevate the score northwards of 150. With some effective waggling of the tail, Wittering limped to 206 for nine.

The Crawley innings began with some excellent spells of bowling by the Wittering openers and the Crawley batsmen struggled against the fiery Wittering attack.

Harry Staight and Steve Day both picked up wickets, and made the prospect of a successful chase seem unlikely. A courageous 43 from Crawley’s No7 relit the beacon of hope.

However a tight spell from Tupper, Joe Pink, James Staight and Matt Jewiss, as well as some outstanding catches ensured victory and 30 points for Wittering.

Aldwick v Scaynes Hill

Division three

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Scaynes Hill remain top of division three but were only two balls away from losing their top spot thanks to a brave effort from Aldwick.

Batting first, the league leaders were soon two wickets down, losing opener Chris Parker (9) and Rob Green (6) cheaply to the bowling of Harry Rosser (2-35).

Scaynes regrouped as Chris Markham (29), Saul Dolby (39) and Matt Were (49) cautiously put much-needed runs on the board.

Were was dropped four times before falling a run short of his half-century to Aldwick’s bowler of the day, John Young (3-35).

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Young bowled 15 overs and was well supported later on by Charlie Barnet (2-64). However, Aldwick allowed the opposition’s tail to wag and valuable runs at the end from Andy Ridgewell (27) and Matt Church ( 23*) proved the deciding factor.

Despite losing opener Charlie Barnet (11) early on, Aldwick’s batsmen showed a consistency lacking so far this season.

Skipper Alex Cooper (57) carved out a half century, with ongoing support from Keelan Belcher (35), Ryan Purvis (39), Aiden Miles (17), and Luke Spindler (24), Aldwick were set up nicely.

However, the lower order could not replicate the early order’s form and in the end were holding out for a well-deserved draw. Alas, with just two balls to go, Young (4) became the sixth victim of Andrew Parsons (6-58) as Scaynes breathed a sigh of relief and retained top spot with a victory by 21 runs.

This week Aldwick are away to Horsham III.

West Wittering 2nd v Aldwick 2nd

Division six

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After a such a bad campaign so far, Aldwick twos were determined to get some semblance of a defendable total on the board, however long it took.

Slowly but surely, openers Paul Gibbs (17) and Lara Johnson (12) carved out a steady start. Eventually, Johnson became the first of Mark Brien’s four victims for the day (4-21).

Veteran Arthur Bradury (41*) was a veritable rock for the visitors and shared worthwhile stands with Chris Redman (15) and Liam Hicks (10*) to take Aldwick 2 to 128-7 in 40 overs.

For this top-versus-bottom clash, chasing 129 for victory was never going to be a problem for table-toppers Wittering and they easily marched to victory in the 23rd over despite opener Kevin Allsobook being bowled for a duck by Jonny Knapp (1-4).

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Charlie Caddy finished on an unbeaten 70 and secured the home side’s victory.

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