Worthing CC and Portslade CC get winning league starts

Ansty v Worthing

Sussex Division 3 West

Worthing got their league campaign off to a winning start with an impressive bowling at Ansty.

After choosing to bat, Worthing got themselves into the reasonable position of 96-4 midway through the innings on what was a lively surface.

Darryl Rebbetts was the pick of the top order with 39, while Aden-Jay Wood (17) and Gavin Miles (13) also made telling contributions.

But the visitors collapsed, losing 6 wickets for 29 runs to be bowled out for 125.

Leon Anderson returned with impressive figures of 5-26 for Ansty, while Jake Wilson picked up two wickets.

Knowing the score was below par, Worthing needed to get off to a flying start with the ball - and they did just that.

League round-up from May 7 matches.

Openers Giorgio Rigali and Rebbetts bowled with patience, while probing, and coupled with impressive fielding, Ansty were left reeling on 31-5.

Despite a couple of partnerships, wickets continued to fall at frequent intervals and they were eventually bowled out for 98, some 28 runs short of their target.

Rigali finished with 3-35, Rebbetts 2-28 and Shane Felton 3-22.

Worthing captain Harry Dunn said: “A brilliant start to the season for us, it’s always great to get up and running with a win. We didn’t bat well enough and we all knew that, to not bat our overs was disappointing and I felt we were at least 40 runs light.

“However with the ball and in the field we were outstanding. Darryl and Giorgio got us on a roll early on to restrict them to 20-4.

“We continued to take wickets to keep the pressure on them, Shane Felton picking up a deserved 3 wickets. To win when you are defending 125 is a great achievement.”

See a picture special from Findon's division two loss to West Chiltington here.

Broadwater v Slinfold

Div 3 West

Slinfold won the toss and elected to bat.

Broadwater overseas recruit Akhona Mbanga made the breakthrough with two early wickets although Slinfold were able to score freely.

Wickets continued to fall but Fazlan Nizamdeen was the mainstay of the innings.

At 177-7 and Nizamdeen back in for 66 off 57 balls Broadwater were gaining the advantage. But an eighth wicket stand of 65 between Guy Thorne and Tom Endacott helped the visitors finish on 293- 9, Thorne finishing 88 not out.

Mbanga finished with 3 wickets and there were 2 apiece for Benn Challen, Graham Blann and Paul O’Sullivan.

Broadwater started well with an opening stand of 57 before Les Ward was bowed by Thorne for 25. Challen joined Andy Reid and moved the score on to 82 before Reid was judged caught down the leg side for 40.

O’Sullivan followed Reid back to the pavilion without troubling the scorers. Challen was joined by brother Gareth and with a 52-run partnership moved the score to 134-3.

Benn Challen fell lbw to Dan Smith for 40 and was followed back in by Ben Mckenzie and Mbanga.

With the run rate proving too much for Broadwater Gareth Challen finished 50 not out and he and James Horn took Broadwater to a closing 220-7 for a first loss of the season.

Skipper Benn Challen said: “With a couple missing through injury I thought we played well for 75% of the game. There’s a few areas we need to work on and improve and if we do that we should put a few wins on the board.”

Littlehampton v Pagham

Div 3 West

Littlehampton hosted Pagham in the first league game of the season. Mac Cox won the toss and elected to bat first.

The home side got off to a terrible start as Tom Lee was out first ball. James Askew (27) and Brad James (19) looked to build the innings. They both fell in quick succession and Littlehampton were 57-3. Mike Askew (29) and Nathan Perry (29) put on 60 for the 4th wicket and at 117-3 it looked liked Littlehampton could go on and post a good score. However, the last seven wickets fell for just 48 runs with Justin Scott taking 5-23.

Pagham lost opener Jack Stannard in the second over. Theo Benyon-Ayres (58) and Nick Smith (50) put on 85 for the second wicket and Pagham were making light work of the run chase. At 137-2 the game looked over however the home side fought back and six Pagham wickets fell for just 25 runs. Pagham got over the line eventually in the 38th over to win by two wickets.

Littlehampton's Mike Askew said: "Obviously its frustrating to lose the season opener but overall Mac and I were happy with the lads. With the bat we got quite a few starts and looked like we were going to set a decent score. We seemed to lose momentum when I pulled up injured and we lost a flurry of wickets for not many runs.

"Hopefully this will be the only typical LA collapse of the season! With the ball, Pagham were knocking the runs off easily, but then suddenly when we took the third wicket we seemed to really turn the screw and managed to pick up 8 wickets when it looked like we were only going to get 3 so we did well to come away with 10 points from the game."

Portslade v Preston Nomads 2nds

Div 3 East

Portslade got off to a winning start against Preston Nomads twos at Benfield Valley in a rain-affected match.

Portslade elected to bowl and after a couple of short delays for rain bowled Nomads out for 129.

Andrew Mamoany took five for 30. Nathan Lettres and Steve Case took two each and overseas player Nayeem Rosemond took his first wicket for the club. In reply, Portslade got home with five wickets in hand. Owen Piper top scored with 44 supported by Scott Ridge and Daniel Morely scoring 19 each.

Skipper Nick Clark said: “It was a fantastic start to the season for us. Really pleased with how we executed the game plan. Great spell from Andrew and a terrific batting partnership from Scott and Owen made the run chase comfortable.”

Preston Nomads 3rd v Southwick

Div 7 Central

The Wickers travelled to Preston Nomads and skip Harry Dorgan won the toss and put Nomads into bat.

The openers put on 100 before losing a wicket despite decent bowling from Paul Grennan, Gary Mussen and Paul Hudson.

Debutant Tom Bell took 2-28 and there were two victims each for Dorgan and Grennan. Some sharp fielding led to two run-outs and a final Nomads total of 235.

Southwick began their reply slowly but as Rob Cornell (9) and Tom bell (2) fell early.

Vice-captain Matt Vokes struck a magnificent 65 (10 fours), receiving good support from Chris Winter9(16), Craig Dawson (26) Harry Dorgan (27).

It was clear that the Nomads total was beyond reach so Grennan dropped anchor and saw the 40 overs out.

Skipper Dorgan said: “It was a losing start to the campaign but lots of positives.”

On Saturday Southwick host Dormansland.