Wittering and Aldwick have tough league start
West Wittering v RMU Div 5 West
West Wittering started their centenary year campaign with a loss to RMU.
Wittering lost the toss and were asked to bowl. RMU lost an early wicket with Harry Staight (3-43) dismissing the opener for a duck but Wittering were put under pressure with some explosive hitting in the powerplay.
James Munro (2-39) and Alex Salmon (1-32) slowed the rate and were rewarded with wickets. RMU continued to score with Michael Gould the top contributor with 118.
A good squeeze from Wittering meant wickets fell in quick succession in the final overs as West Wittering restricted RMU to 220-9.
Wittering’s response was hampered by a regular loss of wickets despite moments of resilience from Carl Tupper (17) and Munro (23).
West Wittering were 92 all out and a competitive game has set standards for the season. West Wittering go to Pagham on Saturday.
Aldwick v Steyning II Div 6 West
Things were looking promising for Aldwick in their opening fixture at home to Steyning twos. Batting first, they had last week’s centurion Alex Cooper and last year’s top batsman Ed White at the crease to create a strong platform.
Despite the fine opening spell from Steyning’s Peter Smith, Cooper and White battled bravely until Cooper (38) was outdone by Issac Tidley (1-33) with the score 48-1. White continued the fight until he was bowled by Jake Martin for 39. The introduction of Martin led to Aldwick’s downfall as he ripped through the middle order finishing with 6-28.
Aldwick slumped from 90-2 to 146 all out in the 36th over with only Jamie Murphy (31) and Ian Guppy (11) offering further resistance.
Aldwick gave five bowlers a go to hunt for an unlikely victory and despite wickets from Ollie Smith (1-17), Harry Rosser (1-21) and Tom Hoare (2-40) the visiting batsmen were always in control.
Opener Tidley was undefeated at the end on 75 assisted by Peter Smith (38) in a 71-run second wicket partnership. Victory came to the visitors by seven wickets.
This weekend Aldwick host Rustington.
FRIENDLIES Goodwood v Gosport
Gosport batted first on a chilly day and openers Harrop (69) and Weller (33) put on 82 for the first wicket.
Goodwood opened their attack with Dan Brown (0-29) and Billy O’brien (3-35) who shone on debut.
Three difficult chances went down all off Steve Dudmano. However, there were good catches by Dudman, Dan Brown and Martin O’brien, while Tim Odell took two stumpings.
James Mayne (3-44), Martin O’brien (2-64) and Tim Pitman (2- 32) brought about five wickets for 21 runs. Gosport totalled 238.
Henry Whitby (32) and John Clifton (42*) anchored well for Goodwood and Matt Beard (52), Steve Dudman (18) and Dan Brown (14) kept them in it. But Goodwood finished on 208-5.
■ Eastergate hosted the University of Chichester in a pre-season friendly that went to the last ball.
The uni scored 165-9, beating Eastergate (164 all out in 40 overs). Omn Saturday Eastergate host Goring-by-sea in their league opener. They host the Sussex Disability XI on Sunday,