Worthing CC’s wonderful weekend … tight at top for Haywards Heath CC
What a weekend at Worthing Cricket Club. The first XI finally chalked up their first win of their Sussex Premier League season – then the club staged a successful fundraising day on Sunday.
Worthing got their first win at the 13th time of asking, winning at home to Bognor by 35 runs.
Campbell Macmillan scored a magnificent 102 as Worthing were all out for 246, and when Bognor replied they were all out for 211, with Harry Dunn taking 5-64.
Jubilant skipper Darryl Rebbetts said: “I’m so proud of the lads.
"We've worked incredibly hard and fully deserved the win – it's been coming.
"We've haven't had much go our way, but the strength of a side and club is how you dig in when you're struggling, not just when you're winning.
"This is a great sign for us moving forward. We have five games left and we'll be putting everything in to win those five.
"Huge congratulations to Campbell Macmillan for his first Premier League 100, especially after an 80 and 60 in the previous two weeks, richly deserved. We then backed it up in the field as everyone contributed, especially Harry Dunn with his first five-fer this season.”
A day later, Worthing CC turned red to raise vital funds for the Ruth Strauss Foundation the group set up in memory of forner England captain Andrew Strauss’ late wife.
The charity does crucial work in supporting families that have received the worst news possible: the expected death of a family member from non-smoking related cancer.
Worthing said: “As a club we wanted to do our bit to support the cause and through the generosity of our members, supporters, players, friends and volunteers we have raised upwards of £1,750.
"Our inter-club tournament has been played for three years now; however this was by far the most successful and as a club we are extremely proud of the outcome.
"We had a seven-over softball tournament with players from the under-eights combining with Premier League players to produce some great cricket but most of all have a great time and raise money for such a worthy cause.
"There was also a barbecue and raffle which went down a treat as well as a bar to keep everyone well fuelled and hydrated throughout. Everyone managed to dig some sort of red clothing out of the wardrobe and looked fantastic as we turned ‘red for Ruth’.
“Days like this don’t run without selfless volunteers and supporters so we thank Tom Simpson for organising and promoting the day, and Nadine Whitehouse who has had a very long, tough cancer journey and brought forward the idea to support the foundation. Her work in finding raffle prizes and collaborating to turn the club red was incredible. Finally, thanks to our officers and helpers that gave their time to help.”
To donate, go to fundraise.ruthstraussfoundation.com/fundraisers/nadinewhitehouse
Mayfield v Haywards Heath
Division 2
It’s tight at the top of the table but Haywards Heath are six points clear at the summit after winning a low-scoring encounter at Mayfield.
Only 22 points separate the top four so Heath skipper Callum Smith knows there’s plenty of work ahead as they look to clinch the title or even the second promotion spot.
Heath were put in and were grateful to 36 from Jethro Menzies and 32 from Fred Wallis in giving them the platform from which they reached 147 all out.
Mayfield never settled in reply and 4-22 from Chris Abbey and 3-31 by Smith helped Heath bowl them out for 88 for a 59-run win.
Smith said: “It was a massive win, there are five cup finals to go now.
"The pitch was wet and hadn’t been covered so getting stuck in was always going to be tough.
"A good opening partnership of 70 between Jethro and Fred set us up – as soon as Mayfield took the pace of the ball, scoring became tough.
"Wickets fell at regular intervals and no-one could get going, Charley Amey finished not out on 25 to see us to a total of 143 which felt competitive on the tough pitch.
"Mayfield opened watchfully against our pace up top and put on 30 for the first wicket.
"But similar to the first innings, as soon as the pace came off, the game changed.
"I took three, Aussie Chris Abbey four as we took all 10 wickets with spin bowling out mayfield for 88 and taking maximum points.”
Littlehampton v Billingshurst
Division 3 West
Littlehampton’s promotion hopes suffered a blow when they lost at home to rivals for the prize Billingshurst.
Littlehampton lost the toss and were asked to bat first.
Their innings never got going with Tom Martin (4-44) and Tom Ellis Cole (3-31) doing most of the damage as the home side were bowled out for 115.
Connar Robson top-scored with 24.
Billingshurst looked to score quickly and were flying at 50-0 off six overs.
Three quick wickets left the away side 56-3 but Toby Alexander (47) made sure his side didn’t collapse and Billingshurst walked away with a comfortable six-wicket victory.
Littlehampton skipper Mike Askew said: “This is the first week where I’ve been really disappointed.
"It’s hard to have a go when you’re one of the players but we know our performance on Saturday was completely unacceptable.
"Billingshurst are a good side and I take nothing away from them but we were so bad, especially with the bat.
"We will need to be much better in the remaining games but I back us to bounce back.”
In the same division, Findon won the derby at Goring by 136 runs. Akarshan Arora struck 69 and Felix Jordan 56 as Findon piled up 252-9 after being put in, with Oliver Watkins and Matt Keen each taking three wickets.
Goring were bowled out for 116, with Graham Manser, Alex Stephens and Arora taking three wickets each.
Streat and Westmeston v Southwick and Shoreham
Division 8 Central
At one of the most scenic of cricket grounds Wickers captain Tom Bell again lost the toss, his team being asked asked to field first.
On a fast and hard wicket an attack of Hsrry Sutton and Matt Rowson bowled with pace but no success.
Most of S&W’s early runs came from edges as the ball flew across a quick outfield somehow eluding an unlucky slip cordon.
Eventually Sutton saw off James Porter for 6 but his partner Graham Hart hit 89 before he was caught and bowled by Mark Broxup.
Hart shared partnerships of 32 with Porter and his brother Matthew who finished not out on 73.
Dean Ghasemi took 2 wickets and a catch and youngster Ahmed Oryakhail bowled Callum Tomsett for a golden duck. As the innings came to a conclusion Wickers fielding became ragged, allowing the home XI side to post an imposing total of 229-6.
S&S opened with Broxup and Peter Fieldwick but Broxup failed to trouble the scorers, leaving Ghasemi to try to form a partnership – but against some very medium military bowling the batters struggled to hit the ball hard, frustration leading to a succession of wickets.
Fieldwick fell for 14, Ghasemi was bowled by Richard Berrick for 23 and Sutton battled to 15. Captain Bell played very well for 33 not out but S&S slumped to 126 all out. Berrick and Hart topped the bowling charts with 3 victims apiece.
Bell said “On a very good batting track we did well to restrict them to what was probably a par score. Chasing over 200 is always tricky though.”
Southwick & Shoreham 2nd v Littlehampton 4th XI
Batting first In their first match for a number of weeks, Wickers twos were soon trouble at 55-7 until a decent partnership between Iain Gray (23) and John Sharman (8) saw them to 110 all out from 38 overs.
A superb bowling performance featuring 3 wickets for Ali Jenkins and 2 for Christian Lloyd kept S&S in the match but Littlehampton crept over the line in a tense finish. Scoring 114 for 8 in 38.1 overs