Wizzy News 11 July 2024

Welcome to another edition of Wizzy News – our weekly roundup of news and events at Wisborough Green Cricket Club. If you missed last week’s edition please click here

Parking on Friday evenings – now also at Stable Field

Just a quick reminder that parking is somewhat limited around the Green and we would like to appeal to everyone to walk to the green if that is possible and where we have to park, that it is done considerately. Please also be mindful of the implication of your parking on the flow of traffic around the Green – we obviously want to avoid any unnecessary risks caused by the build-up of traffic. Parking is available at the Village Hall, Songhurst Meadow and also at Stable Field.

Everyone’s co-operation would be greatly appreciated

Ladies and girls tournament – Sunday 14 July

This Sunday we are looking forward to welcoming a number of girls and women’s teams to the Green for our annual Girls and Women’s Tournament. Matches start at 9am for the girls – finishing at 12pm and the ladies start at 1pm – finishing at 6pm, with a BBQ at 12. Matches will be played simultaneously and promises to be another action packed day of cricket on the Green. Parking is as always a challenge and we would appeal to everyone to walk to the Green if you can and park considerately using parking facilities at Songhurst Meadow, the Village Hall and at Stable Field.

Honours Boards

Congratulations to all the players who feature on our Honours Board this week

Upcoming Fixtures

A full house of games coming up again this next week

First X1 are away to Crawley on Saturday at 1pm
Second X1 are at home to Crawley Eagles on Saturday at 1 pm
Under 16’s are at home to Slinfold on Monday evening at 6pm
Under 14’s are away to Slinfold on Sunday morning
Under 12’s have a home game against Crawley Eagles on Saturday morning

Please click here for all of our age group fixtures on the ECB’s Playcricket website. Fixtures are also listed in our official Fixture card, copies of which available in the Pavilion. You can also download an electronic copy of the fixture card by clicking here.

Team selections for this week

Match Reports

First X1 vs Rustington

Wiz won the toss and chose to bowl first on a moist wicket at Rustlington.

Hugo and Will opened the bowling and started well, mostly Hugo delivering some great balls however the oppo openers were able to put away any stray deliveries. Matt Ritchie took the first wicket as first change hitting the middle stump. The oppo opener and 3 played nicely for a healthy partnership playing anything with pace nicely. This caused the introduction of spin from JR (James Rainford) and Chris Marshall with some fantastic middle over bowling, Chrissy taking his first wicket for the 1s with tight economy. This bowling partnership steadied the ship for Wiz. This allowed Hugo, Ran and Will to finish off at the end with consistent wickets throughout as the oppo batsmen collapse, Hugo ending with a well earned 3 scalps. Rustington ended up with 228, a par score I thought.

Oscar and Tarni (and Will) opened the batting for Wiz and did not get the start we wanted due to an early wicket. Tarni then fell shortly after receiving a tight spell from the oppo opener. This caused JR to join Will. Both played nicely for a 50 run partnership, a platform needed for the Wiz. Will got caught behind from a ragging leg spin delivery. This led to 3 quick wickets from some handy bowling from the oppo.

Tom Dawson joined JR at the crease causing a start of a large partnership. Both smashing the ball all over the place and both obtaining 50s, Tom with a very impressive strike rate as if he’d been playing all season. However, this was not enough for the Wiz due to the prior collapse in the innings. Wiz ending up on 186 off the 40 (maximum batting points obtained). JR ending in a very respectable 66 not out.

Well played to all

Please click here for the full scorecard

Will Dixon – Captain

Many thanks to Chris Marshall for some great pics

**James Rainford in fine form with the bat**

**Tom Dawson rolling back the years with a fine fifty**

**Skipper Will Dixon looking for inspiration**

**Skipper Will taking on some wise words from top scorer James Rainford**

**Good day with the ball for Hugo ‘Hugsy’ March**

Second X1 vs Barns Green 2nd X1

Match highlights / lowlights

Skipper Frank Vickery loses the toss and asked to bat
Rain delays start to the game
Strong start by openers Chris Francis and Mick Hollands
Ash Perry deals in fours and big sixes but succumbs to a slow one
Wickets tumble at regular intervals which makes any progress difficult
Vickery rolls back the years with the bat as captain but doesn’t quite get the team to 100.
Quick turnaround to get back in ready for the big football match
Vickery keeps wicket and opens the bowling with Josh Dixon and Maggs senior both of whom have a super opening spell with Josh picking up a couple of wickets.
Vickery plays for MVP points before removing Josh Dixon from the attack and brings in Ash Perry who picks up a couple of wickets – most importantly removing their big hitting batters.
Sadly, it was all a little too late and not enough runs were scored in the first place leaving Wizzy Green to rue losing the toss and handing Barns Green their second victory of the season.

Please click here for the full scorecard

Frank Vickery

Women’s team vs Chiddingfold and Fernhurst

CHIDDINGFOLD
Sunday 30th June saw the return of the Women’s team for our 3rd league game against an organised Chiddingfold. Taking advantage of a rare sunny Sunday, and with a birthday to celebrate, the Meurer party van pulled up to the green. Out came the gingham tablecloths and ice buckets, unfolding a glorious match tea! With the scoreboard in place, and the barmy army settling in, we switched our attention to the match.

Winning the toss, Chiddingfold put us into bat. Welcoming Jo Owen on her debut, openers Sarah and Jo set us on our way. Meaning business from the start, they bagged a solid 29 runs off their four overs, including several boundaries, and each swatting a ‘six’ over the leg side. Now you know why we don’t park near the green Jo!

Jen and Jilly followed, with a decent 16 runs between them. Pushing for runs, and with sensible calling, our next pair Ann and birthday girl Tess put on a steady 10. Final pair Bex and Natalie showed no signs of slowing the run rate, finishing with a haul of 28 runs.

Having started this season showing a particular improvement in our fielding and bowling, it was great to see us starting to attack the batting. Wizzy conceded just the one wicket and settled on a respectable 123 runs off the 16 overs.

Wizzy then turned to fielding and defending the score. Ann opened. First ball, a deceptive full length and a catch from Jen at mid-on. Wicket! The oppo needed to up their game. They started to run well, keeping up the singles, but with Jo busy at deep square and Natalie chasing down balls at fine leg, we kept boundaries to a minimum. Nat, Jen, Jilly, Bex, and Jo continued the bowling attack. Sarah yet again showed safe hands keeping wicket, stumping a player to give Ann her 2nd wicket. Tess had plenty to do at point, and Jilly and Jen were sharp at cover and mid-wicket. Special mention of Jo’s sensational catch at fine leg, giving Bex and the team their 3rd wicket of the innings.

Good field placing and with Wizzy focussed on the task, the oppo were falling behind the run rate. In stepped their fourth and final pair. Nat, Jen, Bex, and Ann to bowl the final over, we set about defending our lead. Alert in the field, Wizzy were stopping most of the boundaries. But with clever running Chiddingfold started gaining on the target. The army, sensing a victory, were getting louder. On to the last over, and the oppo needed 13 runs and we needed a wicket. Sarah took a fantastic catch behind the stumps, to great cheers, only to learn it was a no-ball! Edging closer, the oppo matched our score on the penultimate ball. One run needed to secure the win. All fielders coming in to stop the single, the batter chipped it wide of point and ran…

Though losing (by the one run!) Wizzy should be proud, putting on a competitive performance against a much more experienced Chiddingfold. Thanks as ever to Suzana for expertly scoring, to Peter for umpiring, and our barmy army for all your support (we see you JJ). And what a match tea! The oppo were very appreciative of our hospitality and were kind enough to mention how much they enjoy playing Wizzy. I’m sure they would have said the same if they’d lost 😊

Batting stats: Sarah 19 runs, Jilly 11 runs
Bowling stats: Ann 2-25

Please click here for the full scorecard

FERNHURST
The next outing for the Women followed soon, on Wednesday 3rd July, playing Fernhurst for the first time.

Winning the toss, we elected to field. Welcoming Maggie to the Wizzy team for the first time, she was spotted bowling left-handed around the wicket during warm-up. Never too soon to take on the task of opening bowler, Maggie was invited to start our campaign. Our instinct proved right as she put in an economic over.
Ann followed, and continuing her good form took a wicket, caught by Maggie. Next up, pace bowler Fizz Gadd showed no mercy taking our 2nd wicket – bowled! Nadia was the most economic giving away just the 13 runs off her 3 overs, with Nat, Jas and Bex also stepping up to bowl. Another catch, from Bex, gave Jas our 3rd wicket, and the oppo landed on a target of 91 runs to win. Worth mentioning that as a team we are giving away far less extras than last season. Training over the winter and into the summer season is paying off. And again, our fielding was sharp.

Feeling confident, we went into bat. Putting the youth in first to set the tone, Fizz and Jas stepped in. It was clear from the first ball we were up against faster bowlers, and this was going to test us. Showing lovely technique, the girls collected 27 runs but conceded 5 wickets giving a net score of 2 for the pair. Up for the challenge, 2nd pair Nadia and Ann were in next. With intelligent calling, and pushing for runs, they secured a healthy 22 runs. Jen and Maggie were our 3rd pair and facing a challenging speed and full length, netted 2 runs. The target was slipping away. Final pair Bex and Nat fought back, putting on a solid 24 runs, but the gap was too big and Wizzy made do with a total of 63.

Thanks to Fizz and Jas for joining us and contributing some great cricket. Again, thanks to Suzana for scoring and Peter for umpiring. We are extremely grateful.

Batting stats: Nadia 14 runs, Fizz 13 runs
Bowling stats: Ann 1-7, Fizz 1-18

Please click here for the full scorecard

Bex Samuelson

Under 16 vs Horley

We arrived today for the first home game of the season at the fortress, with a fair bit of rain. A big player in Deccie was away today and our keeper decided a holiday was preferred than standing behind the sticks in the rain.

Alex was also another member of the holiday club and we greatly missed his chat. However, we did have a few great additions to strengthen the squad.

The oppo were very keen on getting a game on and with a relatively wet wicket, we tossed up and it was probably the worst toss of a coin ever, as it lacked any spin it the air. Anyways we won and chose to bowl, leaving the oppo skipper somewhat bemused with the poor coin toss, but the game is the game.

After a brief lesson in where to stand, our new designated wicket keeper, yours truly, was in place ready to start the match. Raff once again opened up the innings and got a few play and misses before squaring up the batsmen and a good catch by Ed at point saw their skipper leave the field. A new addition for today Matty opened up with Raff and bowled exceptionally well.

Will came on at first change taking valuable wickets and keeping the run rate down. One batsmen thought he was at the Euros and decided to kick the ball onto his own stumps. Ran (another welcome new addition) bowled nice line and lengths and kept things tight early on and got a valuable good wicket. Seb Scrace came in and also bowled very well today and took a good wicket, and also had an excellent selection for the sweets. Monty and Johnno came on bowled some good deliveries when the opposition were swinging and we restricted them to 126/8 off 20 overs

Onto batting and Ran and Will opened up and started exceptionally well. Ran hit some absolute bombs, including a massive six onto the house roof and got retired not out quickly. Will also made it past 30 before holing out knowing this was his last over. Raff went into bat and hit the biggest shot I’ve ever seen him hit but only got 4 for it due to it hitting the tree. Matt came in at 4 and kept the run rate going but unfortunately and the rain returned and called a halt to the match leaving us stranded in 95/1 off 10 overs. However a quick Duckworth-Lewis check showed we still got 4 points which takes us to 2nd in the league, only being 1 point being Chilt at 1st.

A good performance with the bat and convincing win. Apologies to Lucas, Sebby Garbett and Ed for not doing much today but the rain and some big bombs did stop most of us from batting, but well done to Ed for taking 2 good catches.

Please click here for the full scorecard

Joe Reed (Player)

Under 12 vs Roffey

This week saw an uptick in end of school festivities, awards and holiday season starting. We arrived at Roffey’s ground with 9 players. This was going to be tough!

Wizzy won the toss and elected to bowl.

We managed to get to 10 players with a determined debut match from skipper Josh’s younger sister, Ciara Braddock who would prove herself with 3 or 4 great stops on the boundaries and decent throw ins much to her brother’s relief plus cheers from the team. Great stuff Ciara and thanks for stepping up to the challenge!

The bowling also shaped up nicely with 8 out of 10 of our bowlers taking a wicket. Special mentions to Zach and Freddie Badham Jones taking their first in match proceedings and a double wicket for Lucy and Bobby Ayling ! Bowling really has come on this season and Wizzy defended in the field admirably with less players. Roffey’s innings closed 114-9 after 20 overs.

We got underway with Brookfield and Braddock opening the Wizzy innings but of course we would be interrupted by rain ! 10 minutes and no let up was looking challenging to restart but a gap opened up and out we went again. However the ground was more difficult to manage now sodden and runs did not come as rapidly as we had hoped. Over 6 bowler took the opening batters out, 35-2 on the board.

Buddy and Henry soldiered on to pull the score to 51-3 in the 10th. William Bunce joined Buddy and they pushed on to 64-4. The ground took another short fall of rain but the team battled on to build runs. The final partnership of Lucy and Freddie would go 8 overs of determined runs and cleverly collected extras concluding innings 91-7, just 23 runs short.

Not Wizzys match this one but as many will attest, cricket is a team sport indeed and despite being short of players, we still showed up, we still played as hard as we could and we still fought as a team! On to the next one 🙌

Please click here for the full scorecard

George Nicholls and Suzanna Braddock

Under 10 vs Lindfield

On Saturday 6th July, Wisborough Green welcomed Lindfield back to the green for a second time this season. The first match against them was hard but we were feeling more confident this time. We have improved a lot since last time thanks to our amazing coach Peter.

Lindfield won the toss and decided to bowl first. We did well but they had some very good bowlers so it was hard to hit 4’s and 6’s and we lost a few wickets but we kept trying and our communication was much better so we did get some runs.

Then we had a nice break and some juice and biscuits.

Lindfield batted very well and hit lots of fours and sixes. But we really kept our motivation going and our bowling is a lot better than before so we did get some wickets and there were some good catches.

The Lindfield man of the match was their captain and our man of the match was Oliver Johnson.

Now I have finished the report I want to say well done to Lindfield and wish them a good rest of season and I am honoured to have been the Wisborough Green captain for this match. Sometimes you win and sometimes you learn, and this time, we learnt

Reuben McCullagh (age 10) – Captain