Welcome to this week’s Wizzy News – our weekly roundup of news and events at Wisborough Green Cricket Club. If you missed last week’s edition of Wizzy News, please click here
Ken’s bench
It was great to see that a new bench to commemorate Ken Vickery was installed last Friday on the Durban’s Road side of the Green at the place where Lucy and Ken together enjoyed watching cricket.
Ken’s bench being christened by the new old boys – Wisborough Green’s footballing supremo Simon Penfold pictured left and the Cricket Club’s one and only Rob Knight.
Girls and Ladies tournament on the Green
Sunday is our not to be missed very first Ladies Day on the Green which will feature our Under 11, Under 15 Girls and Ladies teams in action against Chiddingfold, Storrington and Petworth. Matches start at 9am and and will run throughout the day to 6pm. The weather will be relatively warm (by southern hemisphere standards), the Pav will be open for refreshements and there will be a BBQ and live music between 12 and 1pm. Please do come along and support the girls and ladies in this very historic event .
Senior cricket matches on Saturday
Our Second X1 match against Crawley Eagles which was scheduled to be played on the Green on Saturday has been relocated to Petworth Park to give the Green some time to recover from the rehabilitation work that will be undertaken on Friday. Please do come along and support the team as they play on one of the most picturesque cricket grounds in Sussex.
Honours Boards
Congratulations to all those who made it onto our Honours boards this week
The game of cricket
This week’s topic is the ‘Dead Ball’. Please click on the link below for another colourful explanation by Stephen Fry.
Match reports
First X1 vs West Chiltington
Confident from a strong 246 run chase against Findon, Wisborough hosted old rivals West Chiltington, who for the statisticians out there, we convincingly beat away from home earlier in the season.
On what initially seemed like a temperate, somewhat overcast day the Wisborough Green consortium could have been forgiven for inserting the opposition, the brief debate further bolstered by the green top pitch the team were met with on arrival. Reason and common sense however prevailed and the silly idea was quashed quickly.
The Wisborough Green player arrivals were staggered and lethargic in nature when compared to the well presented, early arriving West Chilt XI. One exception to the West Chilt synchronised fleet was their umpire who had somehow ended up in Thakeham after a mid week miscommunication.
Faces were cross checked, comparisons made from the earlier season encounter and several concluded we were playing a completely different XI, some new faces having returned from school duty…..not too dissimilar to the Wisborough XI some fairly reasoned.
On to the toss and stand in captain Newman made his way…..cautiously….. to the middle avoiding an array of ankle twisting trenches – image of a man tiptoeing through a minefield springs to mind. The opposing captain made comment to said trenches and how his chocolate ankles may not withstand a full game. Mattock and Newman unsympathetically looking on quickly diverting attention to ask where their umpire was, “not sure” was the reply and “we may not have one”. Heads was called by the West Chilt captain as the sun burst through the clouds and temperatures climbed. Heads called, heads it was and West Chilt unsurprisingly decided to bat.
Back from Cardiff University, Hugo ‘Hugs’ March, opened up the attack from the Ken Vickery end. Hugo started well with some sharp in-swinging deliveries that troubled the batsman, creating a surprised dropped snick to stand in keeper Hopkins. Jules Hunt survived but not for long as Hugo finally got his man a few balls later caught well by Calder-Smith senior. At the other Nick Klein bowled up the hill with pace but couldn’t quite find his line.
Batsman 2, Charlie Woodage, back opening the batting from Brighton College started to show impressive signs the other end as Adam Trees joined him to replace Hunt at the crease. Trees looking less comfortable with the movement from March but he hunkered down to survive the early onslaught. The two built, on reflection, a match winning 106 run partnership both dispatching anything loose to the boundary, defending good deliveries and not offering up a chance as they went. The predictable pitch bounce and the lightning outfield meant there was fine margin for error and the slew of Wisborough bowlers called upon couldn’t quite get their line. March, Joey Calder Smith and Self arguably the pick of the bowlers.
A hard slog in the field but nothing should be taken away from the class of Woodage who finished the game 125 not out and Trees 52 finally ousted by the part time off spin of Newman. The late scalp of Jackson bowled March caught incredibly well by Calder-Smith senior was the only other highlight of the Green fielding and Turner finished the innings with some effective though rather ugly reverse sweeps to finish on 248 runs…..no wait a Rob Knight calculator malfunction… 259 for 3 off the allotted 40 overs.
Off the back of the Findon win, the Green strode out confidently looking to replicate a similar run chase. After a solid start however Calder Smith senior slightly overbalanced, LBW for 11. Cue in form Clark and he and Newman combined to capitalise on anything short, maintaining the required 6.5 over run rate with ease. Wishing the opposing umpire had stayed in Thakeham Newman felt hard done by after he was deemed out, caught behind for a quick fire 35, the ball clattering into his newly minted, woody, sounding left pad.
Ash playing the ball around with ease was joined at the crease by Martin Hopkins (circa 5.25pm), promoted up the order to ensure he was back to look after his 2 children in Storrington by 6.30pm. Hopkins start was cautious, rusty some would say, but as time ticked by Hopkins batting style became more aggressive and his shots grew more expansive. Onlookers could see the torn look etched on his face as he wrestled with the ultimate conundrum, family or runs, glory or divorce. The harder Hoppo tried to get out, the more runs he scored, quite the amusing dilemma! Swinging for the trees one last time however Hoppo was bowled on 43 by Bryans much to the relief of both Hoppo and West Chilt. Never have we seen Hoppo move so fast as he leapt into the changing room to grab his bag and then into his WSAT van to make a speed limit breaking journey home.
Whilst the acceleration was the shot in the arm the Green needed Ash started to get a little bogged down with spin and fell for another well made 55 maintaining his top spot as the highest run scorer in the Division. Maybe too much pressure was put on Klein to produce a quick fire 50 and following a huge 6 he fell to Hunt for 9. Joey and James Self got us close with some excellent cameos, Joey with a feisty 25 and James Self with 18 not out. Unfortunately however it was not our day and on reflection we weren’t good enough in the field and we were beaten by a better team.
As we commiserated in the club house with a few jugs of lager we received an uplifting Whatsapp from Hoppo who had thankfully made it home safely. It read “sorry lads might have been a different outcome if I didn’t have to leave”…..
Finally a special mention to Chris Francis for his attitude throughout the day. He was first to the ground, helped a lot with set up, and without prompt, moved the sightscreen several times for the opposition.
On to East Preston to get winning ways back.
James Newman
Click here for the full scorecard
Second X1 vs Petworth Park
WGCC 2nd XI narrowly loose against Petworth Park CC 1st XI.
The second team rocked up slowly to what was a gloriously sunny, clear afternoon at Petworth Park.
The Green won the toss and elected to bat first after analysing the road at the centre of the cricket field.
Jack Dixon and Ollie Warmington opened the batting and got off to a steady but promising start. Roughly 10 overs in, Oscar found himself slow to accelerate before being run out after a dubious call at the Wicket Keeper’s end.
Tarni Dixon was quick to score and added to Wisborough Green’s total impressively. Jack Dixon got carried away with a second attempted slog-sweep before being bowled out for 59. Wisborough 102-2 off 24.2 overs.
Tarni and Ollie Warmington proceeded to add to Wisborough’s total before a good catch saw Tarni out for 86. Wisborough 190-3 off 34 overs. Ollie was out for 30 moments later, swiftly followed by Frank Victory, who predictably and unsuccessfully tried a sweep. WGCC 197-5.
Wisborough managed to get 17 runs off the last 27 balls to finish the innings with 214-8.
After a scrumptious tea, least to mention the delightfully light triple chocolate cake made by Olga, a pastry chef and Ukrainian refugee, Wisborough lethargically headed to the field.
Ollie and Oscar Warmington opened with a high-quality spell, demonstrating an impressive display of swing bowling at both ends. After 10 overs, Wisborough had restricted Petworth CC to around 45 runs, and a win was in the balance. However, Petworth’s opening batsman accelerated their run rate, and after 20 overs, Petworth was 126-0.
Wisborough’s first wicket didn’t come until the 26th over, where Kit Witheridge’s superb bowling delivered a thick edge, expertly caught by Tarni Dixon ( well taken dad ) at second slip. Petworth 168-1. Wisborough did well to slow the run rate down before Oscar caught and bowled the other opening batmans on a respectable 103 runs. Petworth 208-2 off 33.4 overs.
With 38 balls remaining and only 7 runs required, Wisborough’s victory looked unlikely. Some good bowling from Josh Dixon and the Warmingtons prolonged the game until halfway through the 36th over, with Petworth chasing down 214 with 8 wickets remaining.
A good batting performance by Petworth was met with a strong bowling attack by Wisborough Green, unfortunately without any luck.
Jack Dixon
Click here for the full scorecard
Under 14’s vs Horsham
Match report by Rafferty Finn – under 14 captain
Wisborough Green were playing Horsham in one of the third to last league games.
There were no clouds in the sky and Wisborough Green were having to field first as Rafferty Finn lost the toss.
Horsham started very strongly with two excellent batsmen at the crease. We finally got the breakthrough after many overs, bowled by Gethin Wood and brilliantly caught by George Redgrove.
Their third batsman went for a duck with the wicket coming from Archie Gray. A very good innings by Horsham third batsman came to an end after being retired on 40.
In the closing overs of the game Rafferty Finn got a run out with their fifth batsmen departing for 27.
Horsham set a very strong score of 195 but they would have gotten a lot more if it wasn’t for Seb Scrase’s exceptional fielding.
It was a disappointing start for Wisborough as we lost our first wicket of Archie Gray from a run out in the first over. Wickets were falling but Xander Boyce came in and gave us hope by scoring a very quick 48 retired. There was a good cameo at the back end of the innings by Luc Trench scoring 11 not out.
A disappointing performance from Wisborough Green but a shout out has to go to Xander for a magnificent innings and to Seb Scrase for his fielding.
Rafferty Finn
Click here for the full scorecard
Team selections
Please click here for our senior team selections for this weekend’s senior games.
Update on Club Captain’s injury
Our club captain Dan Vickery sustained a rather nasty hand injury while wicketkeeping in the game against Rustington a few weeks ago, and had to have his thumb reset in a cast. Dan is hoping to get back into action to fight another battle for the cause in the next few weeks and is, as you would expect, somewhat dissapointed that he won’t be able to help with some of the household chores in the meantime.
Hope to see you back on the cricket pitch soon soon Dan !
Interesting stats
Our First X1 umpire and master statistician Peter Mattock has pointed out that last Saturday’s aggregrate score for the First X1 game was 493 runs for thirteen wickets. The previous week’s aggregate scores were 495 runs for 13 wickets – a mere 2 runs difference for the same number of wicket taken. That’s almost 1000 runs scored in the two games.
In the last Second X1 game at home 515 runs were scored in aggregate for 13 wickets, meaning that in the last 3 league games on the green, 1503 runs were scored for 39 wickets. There is clearly something about that number 13 ………..
One final stat for the collection is that during last Saturday’s game, our three top batters Steve Calder Smith, James Newman and Ashley Clark passed an aggregate of 1000 league runs for the season. An awesome achievement guys – well done !
Who ever said cricket was boring ? …..
….and finally – spotted out and about
How it started ……. how it’s going ….
Click on the video links below
That’s it for this week.
Thanks again to all our sponsors for their support . Please see offer from Savills below.
If there is anything we need to know – you know where to find us !
Have a great cricketing week
#UptheGreen
Cheers
Wizzy
