West Wittering get league season off to winning start
West Wittering v Henfield Sussex League Div 4 West
Having won the toss, skipper Brandon Trimmer elected to bat– testament to an unseasonably dry April and the hard work of the groundstaff at the Millenium Meadow.
Openers Gareth Lendrum and Ted Bloomfield batted watchfully. Lendrum was unafraid to punish anything short and laid the foundations for the innings, batting positively for 48.
Wittering slipped to 68-3 as George Stewart pinned Zander Muir LBW without troubling the scorers.
Johnny Miller’s watchful 37 steadied the ship. Accompanied with parters Trimmer (13) and Fergus Carty (8), Miller accumulated and moved the score on to 149-5, negotiating the away swing of Asmus Mitchell (1-44) and steady lines of Manoj Subramanian.
Miller’s demise to Harry Stewart (3-49) brought James Staight in.
After an early reprieve, Staight was ruthless with the Henfield bowlingas he raced to 54 off only 36 balls.
Staight’s knock was brought to an end by Alex Rydon running him out as he looked to keep up the tempo.
The onslaught continued with Joe Pink scoring 16 and a very handy 26 by debutant Joseph Dear. West Witting were pleased to have used their full allocation of 45 overs and finished on 256-8.
The team knew the match would hinge on the wicket of
Henfield’s talismanic batsman Tom Paine. With Pink (3-22) and James Staight keeping it tight, Henfield’s response stuttered to 94-7, Joe Sissons (2-12) and Carty (1-7) bowling well.
Henfield ended 118 all out off 30.4 overs with West Witting securing the opening-day win by 138 runs and 30 points.
Portslade 3rd v West Wittering 2nd Div 9 West
At Wish Park in Hove, the pitch had a very green top and the toss seemed an important call and Portslade chose to bowl
first. After a tricky start Steve Day and Will Finch put on 50 before Day was caught in the slipsn.
However, one of Wittering’s youngsters, Zach Stewart, took the attack to Portslade and scored a quick fire 44 before being bowled.
Wittering’s mid order could not punish the bowling in the closing overs and could only reach 162-5.
Wittering bowling duo Andrew Priest and Kieran Baker ripped through the top order sharing six wickets for 37 runs but the Portslade captain
scored a quick fire 100 not out to take the game away from Wittering.
Aldwick v Arundel Div 6 West
In their first league outing of the season both teams showed nerves and were clearly rusty in some departments, which resulted in a massive total of 73 extras in the game of only 272 runs.
Batting first, Arundel lost both openers, Rob Bright (8) and Ian Ritchie (4), cheaply thanks to Ian Horner (3-15). Further in roads were made
by Frankie Bigwood (2-26 ) and the vistors were soon reeling on 67-7. However, Carl Harris (40) and Charles Hawkes (18) took their side to a respectable 139 all out.
Aldwick skipper Alex Cooper (14) fell to Carl Harris (1-25) and the key to Arundel’s victory was a four-wicket haul from Kieran Hornsby (49).
Luke Barkes also scored 14 and the home side’s lower order took the game to the final over. Last man Frankie Bigwood (7) fell to Arundel skipper Jamie Towe (1-23) to give his side a sixrun victory.
Pagham 4th v Aldwick 2nd Div 12 West (South)
Aldwick skipper Ian Guppy strode out to the cease with his side wobbling at 31-4 chasing 133. He hit nine fours and six sixes in an unbeaten 88 and shared in a 58-run partnership with Mark Lester where he scored all the runs.
Max Pigden (2-53) and Joshua Kerr (2-29) could not prevent a five-wicket victory for the visitors.
Earlier Aldwick’s wicket takers were Liam Hicks ( 2-30) and Alex Ryder ( 1-17 ).
Lavant CC v
Chidham & Hambrook
Lavant chalked up their first win of the season with a spirited performance.
Howick, Brooker and Burford helped Lavant to 193-2. In reply Chidham were held to 79 all out, largely by Howick with 4-10 and Davidson, for a 114-run victory.
Davidson made a direct hit on the stumps from about 30 metres.
Ashling v Walberton
Ashling got their season off to a winning start with a 30 run victory over Walberton.
Opening batsman Mohit swept the first ball for four. and the home team struck 70 runs after only ten overs.
Mohit’s 39 was followed by a magnificent 88 by Vaz Kumbhar. After good support from Gavin Coyle (24) and Ben Harrild (22no), Ashling ended on 202-4.
Tidy bowling by Vin Kumbhar and debutant Rob Colaco prevented Walberton from making a quick start, and Ashling used seven bowlers as Walberton could only muster 171-5.