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

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Historic first ladies match on the Green

The sun was shining and the green was looking perfect, setting the scene for what was to be a historic moment in the history of Wisborough Green Cricket Club, our first-ever Women’s Cricket Team match.

On Tuesday 21st June 2022 history was made as Wisborough Green Women’s 1st Team stepped confidently onto the pitch for the very first time to face Fernhurst/Petworth at home, following weeks of training from Tom Dawson, Mark Meurer and the legend that is Peter Klein. They were cheered on by our very own Wisborough Green Barmy Army! The team was set up at the beginning of 2022 and has seen nearly 20 women join the club and attend training on a Tuesday evening.

Fernhurst won the toss and elected to field first.

First into bat were Hannah Williams and Jill Corby who together scored 24 runs in their 4 overs as a pair with no wides and no no balls bowled. The second pair to play was Kirsty Dawson and Captain Sarah Meurer who took 24 runs and faced 7 wides from the opposition. The third pair was Jen Cambell and Bex Samuelson who between them had the highest scoring 4 overs achieving 34 runs and facing 4 wides. Bex was also the highest-scoring batter of the game making 24 runs – great job Bex. Tessa Finger and Ann Wells scored 7 runs but did not get much of a chance to hit the ball as they faced 6 no balls and 10 wides! Finally, Claire Witheridge and Trish Dixon batted the final four overs and scored 9 runs and faced 8 wides and 2 no balls. The final score in this pair’s format was 358 runs to Wisborough Green.

At the break all the players enjoyed an amazing homemade cricket tea which included sausage rolls, sandwiches and cakes all provided by the Wisborough Green players, a special mention about Jen’s delicious homemade scones – there was more food than we could have possibly eaten. Well done to the team for making such a wonderful effort, it was greatly appreciated by the opposing team and the spectators!

It was now Wisborough Greens’ turn to field and it was fair to say the bowling was one of the areas we were keen to ensure we delivered on and we did. Special mention to Hannah for two wickets and to Trish who took two brilliant catches. The boundary fielders were light of foot and quick to get the ball back to the wicketkeeper. Wicket-keeper Sarah Meurer was a safe pair of hands behind the stumps ensuring we didnt concede any runs behind the wicket . Fernhurst/Petworth ended their innings on 310.

A special mention has to go to Wisbrough Green players Tenia who came into field for Wisborough, Kirsten (3 runs), Louise Dace (5 runs), Fiona Dendy (4 runs) and Sam (6 runs) who all swapped in to support the other team and field.

The evening was finished with three cheers for each team, a captain’s handshake and a glass of Rose for all the players – we could not have wished for a better start to Women’s Cricket at Wisborough Green Cricket Club.

We received a lovely note the following day from Helen Hayward the organiser for Fernhurst/ Petworth saying ‘Thank you so much for a super evening. The cricket was great, the food was delicious, the wine perfect for a summer’s evening and the spectators created a fun atmosphere, it was the perfect evening. You have set a very high bar for your future games!’

Onward and upward for this newly formed and very keen team.

Sarah Meurer

Pics from the game (thank you Chris Marshall)

Honours Boards and special mentions

Two very special mentions this week. The first mention has to be the historic first ladies game on the Green. The Ladies team have only been training for a short while and the progress they have made has been nothing short of phenominal. Cricket is a very technical sport and to see how the ladies have mastered the game in such a short space of time has been a joy to watch.

As far as their very first match is concerned – it wasn’t only what they did on the field, but the way they did it with such big smiles on their faces that made it such memorable event and a real advert for women’s cricket.

Special mention must go to Sarah Meuer for all her efforts, drive and enthusiasm to get ladies cricket on the map at the club.

Well done ladies – the cricketing bug has well and truly bitten in a very big way at the club . Long may it continue !

Ladies – this song just for you – please click here

The Second mention is for Ashley Clark, our First X1 batter for his fantastic 143 n.o. against Rustington. Hot on the heals of DJ Dominique’s undefeated century against Rustington last week (fantastic knock DJ !), Ashley’s performance is not only his top score for the club and the top score for the entire club this season, but it also ranks as the top 3 highest scores ever posted by a batter in the history of the club according to the Playcricket stats. Incredible acheivement Ashley – congratulations ! There is clearly something very special about the Rustington ground that two of our batters scored undefeated centuries in consecutive weeks. Perhaps we should have a word with Rustington and suggest that we use their ground as our second home ground. One other point of interest is that both Ashley and DJ have regularly attended nets training on Tuesday evenings, and the week that DJ scored his century he trained on both Tuesday and Thursday evenings. It’s probably just a coincidence …..

Congratulations to all those who made it onto our Honours boards this week

The game of cricket

This week we are covering off being ‘stumped’ – an all too frequent form of dismissal in the game. Please click on the link below for another informative video by Stephen Fry.

Match reports

First X1 vs Rustington

It was a bright sunny afternoon when we arrived in Rustington, and Captain Farmer won the toss and once again elected to bat to try and put some scoreboard pressure on the home side.

A new opening partnership of Dan Vickery and Steve Calder Smith (SCS) strode into the middle, and it was the opening bowler and Captain Finlay Gardner who caused some early issues – he was like watching a young James Newman, bit of pace but a questionable action. Dan sadly fell to his not so favourite, favourite shot, the leading edge and Newman Gardner had his first victim.

Out strode Ashley Clark. He was positive in his approach and it wasn’t long before he started to time the ball to the boundary. SCS however fell when the score was on 30, another leading edge this time from brother Ben Gardner.

Fresh from his second team heroics, DJ saw himself at number 4, and he was again positive and had a great battle with Ben West, a left arm spinner, very much their very own JSC (Joey Calder Smith) and the pick of the home sides bowling attack. DJ and Ash rotated the strike well, and with little risk moved the score to 103 before DJ fell (20) trying to hit one down the ground.

James Rainford (Jnr) arrived at the crease and Ash started to up his tempo with one over in particular going for 18. Ash was on 96 when he lost a ball deep into Rustingtons bushes. Luckily this was found and not too much of delay was had before he could resume, the captain however was also distracted by Peter Klein who was keen to get the Play Cricket App on the iPad up and running. Luckily for us, Ash smashed the next ball along the deck to bring up his maiden WGCC ton. A well timed innings and a great thing for all to watch.

Jnr fell at 156 for 4 and with around 12 overs left Captain Farmer strode in to try and push the rate. Some quick blows and he also fell chopping on with the scores at 197 for 5 and a great time for Kleiny (I want time, but not too much time, but plenty of time to whack it). It didn’t take long before his arms were in full flow. Ash too was joining the party, as Captain Gardner came back on, and didn’t really protect his boundaries much to Clark’s delight. Kleiny fell on 219 for 6 and it was the returning Self that had the job of finishing the innings with Clark. He did so with some deft touches and comical fielding. 256 for 6 and a great first innings total. Ash Clark with a superb 143* – the 3rd highest score ever by a Wisborough player according to the Playcricket stats.

Rustington had a new tea department and it did not disappoint. The Scotch eggs and jam and cream scones were a delight.

It was Jnr and the returning Hugo March from his loan spell in Wales that opened the bowling. They bowled with great control and movement and made it hard for the Rustington openers to attack the power player. Between them they knocked over the top 4 in the first 10 overs. By now the sun had gone down and wind and a bit of rain set in and it was fairly grim, but the catches were taken well by Self, SCS and Dan Vickery (Even with Peter Mattock ready to signal a wide)

At 24 for 4 the Green had a feeling that it was a routine victory and took their foot off the gas for 10 overs. Captain Farmer in particular offering 3 overs of filth, and Juan taking some tap. The score raced on to 98 before the Calder Smith combo removed the happy swinging Chapman for a quickfire 39 (Bowled JSC, Caught SCS).

Jamie Self returning from the US of A took a few overs to warm up but soon found that his box of tricks hadn’t left him, with slower balls, cutters and swingers the order of the day. It was Nick (I want that end, but not that end, but I will finish them) who bowled with pace and between himself and Jamie mopped up the innings for a 60 odd run victory.

A great victory, and special innings from player of the match Ashley Clark.

Onwards

Jonny Farmer

Click here for the full scorecard

T20 vs Loxwood

• After losing the toss and being put in Wisborough wanted a strong and fast start, however with the ball nipping a little in the first few overs it wasn’t as fast as we’d have liked.
• This was until James “Janet” Janion took advantage of the short leg side boundary and dispatched a couple of sixes in quick succession.
• A terrible bit of running then saw Vickery depart for 9
• Jack Dixon walks to the crease and upped the rate, almost immediately sends the ball through his mum’s windscreen!
• Janet and Dixon continue to build before Janet falls one short of retiring for a decent 34.
• However, Jack clearly had a grudge with one of our own, firstly running out Callum without him facing a ball and later dropping a catch off his, surprisingly decent, bowling
• The total was building nicely with Captain Farmer and Jack building a partnership
• After Farmer fell and Jack retired there were useful contributions from Hoppo, Sam, Ran, Hugo and Will
• Wisborough ended on 150 from their 20 overs
• We then took to the field with enough on the board to be quietly confident, that soon changes when Loxwood skipper used the short boundary and some full tosses from Hunter to hit over 20 from the first over.
• This bought on Will and Hugo who soon removed a number of danger men in quick succession. Will claiming the valuable scalp of the Loxwood skipper again.
• Much to Vickery’s disdain the ball was then chucked to Pricey to turn his arm over for what I think must be the very first time – and we were all surprised with the outcome.
• Pricey bowled well and even got a wicket in his three overs.
• Wickets fell consistently with Ran, Hoppo and Farmer all coming on and getting wickets
• Harry Hunter was bought back into the fold and took 2 wickets from a much tighter second spell
• It was then left to Vickery to close the innings out, tossing one up for the batsmen to hit straight down Hoppos throat – another claimed by Farmer as a trap well sprung!
• A great result, played in good spirits against a good bunch of guys.
• On next to Petworth Park…..

Under 16’s vs West Chiltington

Match report by Oscar Warmington – U16 Captain

The Under 16’s got on very well in their first game of the season against West Chiltington with a win after finally getting a team together.

Skipper Oscar Warmington won the toss and elected to bowl first with the pitch having a slight green top.

The game started off with a flurry of runs from one of the West Chiltington opening batsmen, but Will Dixon made an early breakthrough getting the other opener out bowled.

The bowling in the middle overs was good from Wisborough Green, the star bowlers in the middle overs were Matthew Ritchie only conceding 7 runs off his 2 overs and Rafferty Finn taking 2 wickets (the most for the team).

The batting innings started off very well with Ran Dawson and Ollie Warmington putting on a good partnership scoring very quickly with a flurry of boundaries, with Ran retiring on 50. The middle order batted well with Harry Hunter scoring 17 and Matthew Ritchie scoring an impressive 43.

George Redgrove who was playing 2 years up scored a very respectable 15 runs. The game then became very close with 4 runs needed off the last over with 2 batsmen playing a few years up, then Rafferty Finn stepped up and scored a 4 and sealed the game for Wizzy with 5 balls to spare. Special congratulations to Lukas Graham-Cloete, Zach Dawson, Archie Gray, Rafferty Finn, and George Redgrove for all putting in a great shift in the match whilst playing a few years up and sealing the win for the team.

Oscar Warmington

Click here for the full scorecard

Under 12’s vs Ifield

Originally scheduled as a home fixture this was played at the picturesque Ifield home ground due to the School Summer Fair on Wisborough Green.

The toss was won by Wisborough who elected to have a bowl.

Under warm skies Wisborough found the going tough and in complete contrast to last week conceded their highest amount of extras in an innings this season. Characteristically tight performances from Olivia and Bella along with a good spell from Harry M yielding 2 wickets gave Wisborough some hope of control. Alas, there was some powerful hitting by the Ifield batters as they amassed a commanding total of 163.

The Wisborough reply got off to a good start with Buddy and Joe finding the boundary in the opening overs, but aside from a punchy knock by Jackson the imposing Ifield total was never really threatened as Wisborough were bowled out for 71 in the last over.

A difficult day against a good all-round team who will be challenging for the league title this year.

Click here for the full scorecard

Under 10’s vs Horsham Trinity

A warm summer’s morning welcomed the Wisborough Under 10’s to the picturesque Horsham Trinity ground.

Wisborough batted first and it didn’t take long for Freddie Brookfield to find his rythum amidst some average bowling at best. Josh Braddock played his part well with good calling between the pair.

Max and Ollie were up next and after a few tentative shots Max got going and hit some great 4’s .

Wilf and Charlie were next to bat hitting some quick singles and going after the bowling as best they could. Charlie’s batting has improved a lot this season and there is no doubt that there is much more to come from Charlie.

Josh had another bat with Tommy as we were short of players, and both did very well against a good bowling attack.

Freddie and Max came in as our last pair and Freddie was in no mood to hang around, playing some beautiful drives and hitting the ball to all areas of the park. Spectators were in awe at Freddie’s masterclass in batting and could have watched him batting all day. Max was an able supporter and the pair notched up 38 runs in their 4 overs.

Wisborough ended the innings on a highly respectable 336.

After a few drinks and too many biscuits the players took to the field ready to take on the task of defending the total.

The bowlers all bowled tight lines restricting the Horsham Trinity batters to only a few fours.

It was so pleasing to see how the bowlers changes their action when things weren’t going ther way – typified by Wilf who bowled a couple of wides, changed from bowling over the wicket to around the wicket and then took two wickets in two balls. That was awesome Wilf ! Great effort from Ollie as well who bowled with a sore hand and persevered despite some discomfort.

The fielding was very good and it was great to see catches being held and the general alertness in the field on a hot day.

Horsham Trinity finished on 239 sealing a fantastic and well deserved victory for the Wisborough team.

Special mention must go to Josh whose captaincy was outstanding. His encourgement of the bowlers was really good and he moved the fielders around very well to fill all the gaps.

Max Vasadi also deserves a special mention . His batting , bowling and fielding have come on so much this season – well done Max.

The players nominated Wilf as the player of the match for his outstanding bowling and he rightfully lead the team off the field to shake hands with the oppo.

Many thanks to chief scorer Richard Davies and assistant chief coach James Braddock for their invaluable help.

Under 9’s vs Roffey

Away to Roffey on another sunny evening, Matilda captained the team, with Roffey winning the toss and deciding to bat.

Our backing up, throwing accurately back to stumps and focus is really showing through now, with two good catches to boot from Bobby and Freddie .

Bowling figures suggest more practice needed as we clocked up too many extras, that said we did take wickets with Freddie taking 2, Edward and Harry both taking one a piece.

Wisborough Greens turn to bat chasing 273 to win, we got off to a good start with debutant Tommy and Edward first pair up.

Matilda and Zach were next in, I was really impressed with their calling between the stumps and running the singles. Matilda’ s batting against Roffey’s best bowler was amazing, he was on a good line straight at the stumps, a really good show of straight drives and blocks.

Freddie and Bobby kept the runs coming with a good boundary by Freddie, but in the last over some of our bigger shots managed to find Roffey fielders who took good catches.

Final pair of Harry and William returned a great combined run score of 22 with just one wicket taken, great boundaries by Harry and great running between the stumps with William.

Game finished narrowly losing by 12 runs, well done to Roffey, but I do feel on our day, if we bring all our component parts together these are winnable games, batting and bowling practice Friday

Darren Hunter

Senior Team selections

Please click here to view the senior team selections for the senior games this weekend

….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