Middleton, Bognor and West Wittering start cricket season with victories

Bognor v Roffey

T20 Cup

Bognor upset a strong Roffey side to progress to the third round of the T20 cup.

Batting first, Bognor’s 162-7 was underpinned by Ryan Maskell’s 42 and 50 from Kiwi allrounder Nick Stobart.

In reply, Mike Harris (3-27) picked up two wickets in the powerplay, one thanks to a stunning one-handed catch from Josh Sargeant, and Roffey struggled to recover.

Theo Rivers’ 45 and a rapid 21 from Jas Bassan threatened a tight finish, but Stobart’s death bowling (3-26) ensured Bognor won by 20 runs.

Bognor take on Cuckfield, last year’s winners, in Round 3 on June 5 and face East Grinstead in their opening Premier League game this Saturday.

League gets major financial boost.

Bognor v Tunbridge Wells

National Cup

A disappointing day saw Bognor beaten by a good Tunbridge Wells side, with Viraj Bhatia’s 105 and a rapid 63 from Alex Williams taking Wells to 291-6.

Jamie Woolnough was the pick for Bognor with 3-64. In reply, Bognor faltered to 109 all out, with Harris top scoring with 30.

We want to retain our premier title.

Bognor 2nd v Chichester 3rd

T20 Trophy

Oli Handson’s superb unbeaten 98 (59) saw Bognor to a commanding 167.

Chichester were never in the game, finishing on 136-6, Jamie Woolnough taking 2-21 and Josh Broad 3-39.

Middleton CC’s 1st XI started their competitive season with wins in the Sussex T20 Cup first and second rounds.

In the first round they played Worthing and scored 180-2 from their 20 overs with 78 not out from captain Harry Hovey, supported by 49 from Mahesh Rawat and 39 from Sean Heather.

In reply Middleton reduced the hosts to 93-7 from their 20 overs with two wickets for Ajit Sambhi and James Barker.

In the second round Middleton played Billingshurs, who batted first and were bowled out for 68 from 16 overs, largely thanks to George Briance’s 5-22 from four overs, ably supported by James Barkers with 3-9.

In reply Middleton knocked off the total in 13 overs with Mason Robinson scoring 29 not out and Monty Morgan 27 not out.

On Sunday Middleton started their ECB National KO competition hosting Bromley Common at the beautiful Sea Lane ground.

Middleton won the toss and elected to bat. Openers Sean Heather and Harry Hovey took the score to 127 from 18 overs before Hovey (75) holed out to long on and Bromley were able to squeeze the hosts for a few overs.

Middleton were able to score 228 for 9 from their 40 overs, Sean Heather scoring 97 along the way. In reply, Middleton took early wickets with all bowlers contributing. After reducing Bromley Common to 46-7 the game was all but won. Bromley Common eventually losttheir last wicket for 99 from 23 overs. Sam Green took three wickets and Ajit Sambhi and George Briance two apiece.

Middleton aim to continue their winning start when they host Three Bridges in the first league game on Saturday.

* Chichester Priory Park held their first girls-only cricket festival to encourage primary school girls to come and have some fun while trying a new sport.

They were delighted to see a huge group of girls running across the field towards the ground. Some 60 girls from Lavant, Singleton, St Joseph’s, Parklands, The March, North Mundham, St Richard’s and Fishbourne schools took part.

CPP said: “It’s fantastic to see the desire and need for clubs to provide cricket for girls and we are excited about our future development.

“We are running our girls-only sessions on Mondays: 5-6pm for girls in Years 3 to 6

and 6.15-7.45pm for girls in Year 7 and above. We would welcome anyone who wishes to join us. Email [email protected] for more information.”

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 six-run 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.