Welcome to this week’s Wizzy News – our weekly roundup of news and events at Wisborough Green Cricket Club.

Lots to report on as usual including some more news about Josh Dixon who just can’t seem to stay out of the headlines. If you missed last week’s edition of Wizzy News, please click here

Green refurbishment : how it started – how it’s going

Our club cameraman Chris Marshall has managed to stitch together pictures of the Green while the refurbishments were being carried out in September last year compared to what the Green looks like now. What a difference in only a few months !

Thanks again to all those behind the scenes who worked tirelessly on the project and all who continue to work on the green for us all to enjoy.

Welcome back Rob Knight

Regular readers of Wizzy News may recall seeing an article a few years ago titled ‘Has anyone seen Rob Knight recently ? ‘ which included the pic below.

Following an extended absence from the green, we are delighted to see that Rob has resurfaced and is alive and well having recently returned from the Far East.

Our globetrotting former groundsman has often claimed that he is the only one at the club who dosn’t have an accent. For those who have never quite understood what he was actually saying, please click here for a helpful guide.

Joshie Dixon continues to take wickets for fun

In last week’s Wizzy News we reported on Josh Dixon’s noteworthy bowling performance. As everyone may know, the scorecards of all games are uploaded to a centralised database called Playcricket which in turn publish the top batting and bowling performances for the 200 plus teams in the Sussex League.

Below is a snapshot of the honours board for last week. Congratulations Josh for making it onto the board and keeping the Wisborough Green flag flying high.

If Josh’s performance last week wasn’t enough, his performance for the Sussex Disability team in their match against Wales was equally memorable after he picked up 3 wickets in only 4 balls. Please click here for the match report for this game.

Another awesome performance Joshy – we are all incredibly proud of you and your achievements !

Honours Boards

Congratulations to all players who made it onto our honours boards this week.

First X1 vs West Chiltington

Wisborough 1’s travelled to local neighbours West Chilt 2’s, who we knew would be a strong side as they have built quite the club over the last few years.

Captain Farmer elected to bat after winning the toss.

As the grey clouds cleared, out strode SCS (Steve Calder Smith) and James Janion to the middle. It was a lively start with plenty of wides and runs flowing, until James walked after a faint glove with only a half appeal saw him do the decent thing and fess up to gloving it behind. Top sportsmanship !

Ash joined SCS in the middle and they too kicked on until an uncharacteristic big shot/slog led to Ash being cleaned up by the Chilt Spinner. Raggy also came and departed after trying to clear the shorter boundary.

With the scores on around a hundred the Green still had a lot of work to do. Tarnie was caught, quite the catch tbh, as most watching on thought it was 4 off the bat. In strode Captain Farmer. The chat with senior pro SCS was just to rotate the strike and keep the runs ticking. Another long hop and Farmer’s eyes lit up, only managing to plink it down the fielders throat.

The tail had to bat around SCS, and that they did – Kleiny came hit a big 6 and departed. Steve then finally departed after a very fine 72 (the words on field were maybe not quite as polite) But to us our very own Chateau Margaux (the man gets better with age).

The job wasnt quite done though – we knew 200 was probably just below par but chasing any sort of score meant that the pressure was on. Dan rode his luck but with Jnr managed to kick on finding the boundary, and Joey came in and his consecutive boundaries and some fine running from the above trio (yes Dan even you are commended for running in treacle) the boys managed to get us to the magic 201. Our second top scorer was ‘extras’ at 44…

So another great part of the game – TEA. What a sight for a few ! If Vickery was as quick as getting to the front of the queue as he was getting in the middle, we may have put on 225. But a fantastic spread, saw the WG Bowlers fueled and ready to go.

Jnr and Kleiny were the first to go at the West Chilt openers and it was pretty clear what their intentions were – to clear the rope and be done with it. Jnr created the first chance but sadly it hit the floor. Kleiny mixed the odd Jaffa with a boundary ball and the score raced to 21 before Jnr struck first. Giving the opener a lifeline did not look to be going well as he smoked the ball around the West Chilts ground, but Jnr kept chipping away at the other end – both chances going to Dan Vickery, one of them a one handed blinder.

The score was 72/2 when Captain Farmer brought himself on (it was the 9th over which underlined the rate the Chilt boys were going) After getting out to 2 long hops from 2 games, what better a ploy than to bowl one to a man seeing it like a melon, but of course the ball followed him down the hill (Batsmen’s words) and it got big on him (Batsmen’s words) and he could only fluff it up to Juan who took a good catch. The Green were jubilant!

Jnr then nipped one back through the gate of the number 5 and Chilt were still swinging from the hip. Their captain was pumped and a chaotic 5 minutes unfolded that turned the game. He called a two running away from the danger man and left his partner down the river- a great throw from Juan and Vickery did the rest. He then smoked one up into the night sky, where the player of the day steadied himself and took a blinder. The team ran his way, as by then his legs could barely move, and a Zimmer was required.

Then on 100/8 off 20 overs, there was a quiet spell in the game where the younger batsman played very sensibly and straight and hit the bad ball. Joey Calder Smith, after his fine spell last week, had the magic to break partnership and leave the green on the brink at 132/9. Another good late partnership ensued but the Green knew that patience was key, and with the number 9 trying to farm the strike lead to the error, Hughie did the rest and the run out left Chilt on 164 – a 37 run victory for the Green.

Special mentions are for the Player of the match – SCS for laying the platform.Jnr close to pipping him for a solid knock and a great opening spell.
Vickery D also gets a mention for his glovework at key stages of the game!

Click here for the full scorecard

Second X1 vs Petworth Park

• Green welcome Petworth Park for the first time in many decades
• Petworth Park win the toss and elect to field
• Batters struggle against good bowling
• Richard Mellor rolls back the years and holds the innings together with a well played 40
• Green set Petworth a target of 115 to win
• Vickery tea is talk of the pavilion again
• Vickery gives the Green hope with an early wicket
• Bowlers struggle to make inroads as Petworth rack up the runs
• Green made to pay dearly for dropped catches as Petworth canter home with only 3 wickets down in the 22nd over.
• Matt Corby delights with his first wicket for the club
• Onto the next game against Crawley Eagles

Click here for the full scorecard

Under 14’s vs Horsham

A sunny morning greeted the one player short Wisborough U14s at Horsham where we were treated to the senior square which was in fine shape.

Kit Witheridge took the new ball and Horsham started strongly with a flurry of singles but it was not long before Kit found the breakthrough, trimming the off stump bail for our first wicket. With Archie Gray holding up the other end with good economy we felt like we were off to a promising start. But Horsham’s opener and their No3 dug in and built a solid partnership, both reaching retirement.

Some fine fielding from Cosmo Witheridge, Seb Scrase and young Gus Gray helped stem the flow of runs from this very strong all U14s Horsham side. Otis Wibaut took a wonderful wicket with his first ball to remove their No 4 before the next two Horsham batters again reached retirement scores of 40 and 41 respectively.

Archie Gray was rewarded for his tidy bowing with the wicket of their strong No 7 before Rafferty Finn took the last Horsham wicket in the final over of the innings. Wisborough had 230 to chase!

Openers Rafferty Finn and George Redgrove made a solid start with a 50 partnership before Rafferty had to retire on 41. Xander was out to a fine ball which stayed low. George batted well for his 26 before Lucas Graham-Cloete on his debut for Wisborough played some lovely cover drives for his 6 not out in support of Kit’s slog-fest of 23 not out coming from 5 fours and some cheeky singles.

Wisborough lasted the 25 over innings to post 125 runs in a hugely respectable performance from our slightly under gunned team who showed huge potential for the season ahead.

Jon Finn

Click here for the full scorecard

Under 12’s vs Three Bridges

A brilliant all round performance from everyone involved.

Having won the toss and choosing to field we had a few overs against two very good openers for Three Bridges who looked like they might be there for a while until a fantastic wicket from Bella broke the deadlock and from that point on the wickets came fairly regularly. It was excellent cricket in the field from everyone.

Buddy did a great job in his first ever go at keeping wicket. Henry F saved us 15-20 runs with an amazing performance at back stop. William, Sam and Freddie all fielded well with some great running stops and accurate throwing. Bella and Olivia fielded brilliantly and took two wickets each for 4 and 11 respectively in an excellent spell of bowling. This was followed by Xander taking 3 for 7 off 3 overs with some very clever spin variation, Hector taking a wicket from 3 overs for only 8 runs (with 2 maidens) and the final wicket was a great bowled/run out from Harry M. All of this was superbly captained by Raff who kept everyone organised and on their toes (as well as bowling 2 great overs) and in the end we bowled Three Bridges out for 103 with a couple of balls remaining.

Going into bat our openers faced some very good fast bowling and we lost a couple of quick wickets. Raff and Xander then steadied things with an excellent partnership and were both retired not out on 28 and 26 and Hector and Olivia then got us to the required runs with not out scores of 10 and 6, both scoring boundaries.

It really was an excellent team performance and what was especially pleasing as a coach was seeing the things we worked on at training on Friday put into practice so well during the game. Well done to all the players. Also many thanks to Tom and Kirsty for umpiring and scoring. See you all on Friday.

Dave McCullagh

Click here for the full scorecard

Under 10’s vs Barns Green

Well done to all the under 10’s in their first game of the season against Barns Green – particularly those who played their first game of league cricket.

It’s always good to get feedback from the opposing manager after the game. Here is a copy of the message we received from the Barns Green coach :

Thank you for hosting Barns Green this morning. I thought both sides played exceptionally well and given this was your first match with a new team, they were remarkable. The spirit of the match could not have been better and it is always pleasing to see encouragement and sportsmanship on the field.
Please pass on my thanks to all involved with the set up, drinks and take down of all the equipment. Sarah did a great job in scoring.
Glad to hear you numbers at training are high, this can only lead to a positive future within the club.
Good luck with the rest of the season and we at Barns Green will look forward to hosting you later on in the season.

Under 9’s vs Storrington

I was met with great excitement and enthusiasm from the players on their first game for the club out on the Green.

Storrington won the toss and decided to field first.

All the WG batters acquitted themselves really well developing an understanding of running between the wickets and trying to find gaps in the field, finishing with 221 points.

Pick of the batting went to Harry with 11 runs.

Second Innings WG showed excellent concentration and energy in the field, backing up well, and very unlucky with some tricky catches in the deep. Notably Sam so unlucky not to hold onto one which came down with snow on it !!! Pick of the fielders was Ethan who made sure nothing got past him to the boundary ropes.

Moment of the match came by way of sister/brother combination with Brianna bowling brilliantly to the Storrington batter who hit the ball early on the up towards mid-off where Bobby caught smartly.

For the players first time bowling in a match setting I was extremely impressed with their actions and confidence, we claimed 3 wickets, one of which went to top bowler for the match Matilda.

Player of the Match deservedly went to Bobby Pettett – with 10 runs, 1 wicket and 1 catch – well done Bobby!

Darren Hunter

Senior Team selection for Saturday

Please click here to view the senior team selections for this Saturday

Club kit

A number of parents have asked where they can buy kit. Please click here to order kit from our Gray Nicholls online store.

We encourange all our juniors to play in Wisborough Green branded kit – there is nothing better than walking onto the pitch wearing the same kit as all of your team mates !

Parent helpers for Friday evening training

We are always looking for parent helpers to assist our coaches at our Friday evening training sesions. If you are able to help out in any way please speak to your child’s coach or to our head of Junior Cricket Jon Finn via email jon.finn@icloud.com or mobile no 07801 140975

Village Mini bus drivers required

As we reported last week, the village has a very valuable Mini-bus service which is able to help non drivers in the village from time to time. There is a shortage of volunteer drivers at the moment and the Mini-bus Committee are looking to recruit and train volunteer drivers who would be able to help out for a few hours a month. If you are in a position to help out or know of anyone who is able to help, please contact Dave Wallace via email davedavewallacedave@outook.com or telephone 01403 700320.

RunWisborough 2022

We’re only a few days away from RW2022 and plans are all coming together for what looks likely to be a warm and dry event!  Last year broke all records in terms of entrants, race records (33 minutes for the 10k!) and money raised.  Each year we raise about £7,500 for your sports facilities and in the last year RW generated funds contributed about a quarter of the total cost of the drainage works.  Looking ahead funds will be used to build the new Pavilion.

There’s still time to enter (www.runwisborough.co.uk), but if you don’t fancy running you can still support your club by helping out on the day – please email chair@wisboroughsports.org if you can – we need helpers!!  If you can’t run or help then please come and eat lots of burgers and pizza!

Platinum Jubilee celebrations on the Green

Please do join in the festivities on Green for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations from Thursday 2 June to Sunday 5th June.

WizFest – Friday 3 June

Wizfest brings together all ages of the village from 13 upwards for an exciting evening of entertainment, food and drink. We welcome Pizza Trullo and Ox Burger for you to enjoy while listening to local bands. Brook Saunders has been busy brewing with a Jubilee special of Royal Blood Pale Ale from Wisborough Green’s very own Brolly Brewing.

….and finally – spotted out and about

That’s it for this week

If there is anything we need to know – you know where to find us !

Have a great cricketing week

#UptheGreen

Cheers

Wizzy