Welcome to Wizzy News for this week – our weekly roundup of news and events at Wisborough Green Cricket Club.

Friday evening training

Parking

Just a quick reminder to park away from the village playground, Wyatt Close and Butts Meadow . Car parking spaces are available at the Village Hall car park where there are 10 spaces and Songhurst Meadow car park where there are 14 spaces.

If it is possible to walk or share lifts to the Green then please do.

BBQ

Our regular BBQ team aren’t able to run the BBQ on Friday evening – if you are able to help in any way please get in touch

Weather warning

The Met Office has issued a weather warning with heatwave conditions expected for the next few days. All those who are playing cricket this weekend – please use sun cream, drink water regularly throughout the day and stay out of the sun as much as possible.

Presidents Day – Sunday 29 June

Following on from last year’s Presidents Day, that seemed to be a party Club Day – the next Presidents Day is next Sunday. Please also advise if you and your family can attend.

Presidents Day is all about a celebration of cricket for all players, junior coaches, helpers and families involved with Wisborough Green Cricket Club.

The day will start at:

• 12:00 for drinks followed by a lunch at 1pm.

• A 30 over Cricket match – Presidents Team V Chairmans Team this will start at 2pm.

• A Few competitions will take place during the day:

o There is a guess the ‘number of boundaries’ competition £5 per entry. For clarity a Boundary is a 4 or 6.

o The raffle prize will be a Day out at Lords with the President and Chairman.
Lunch at Soutine a French Restaurant in St Johns wood. Then T20 match tickets to Middlesex v Surrey, with Pavillion pass to watch from the iconic Lords Pavillion.

o There will also be an opportunity to take a ticket in the Double Century Club draw.

As always, please wear a Club tie for arrival and lunch – once the lunch has finished and the match has started, please feel free to change into anything you would like to – shorts and flip flops are very acceptable. I am once again hoping this day will be a real party for you and your families, and a celebration of all the great things about cricket at Wisborough Green.

Please confirm your acceptance and the number of attendees at James.sadler27@gmail.com or
07973 414645

Honours Boards

Congratulations to all those who have made it onto the club’s Honours Board this week

Upcoming Fixtures

Hard copies of the Fixture Card are available in the Pavilion – please click here for an electronic version of the fixture card

All of our age group fixtures are available on the ECB’s Playcricket website – please click here

Another busy week on fixtures ahead :

• First X1 are at home to Aldwick at 1pm on Saturday
• Second X1 are away to Crawley Eagles at 1 pm on Saturday
• Women’s Hardball team are away to Slinfold on Sunday afternoon
• Midweek Twenty 20 team are at home to Follies Farm Old Spots on Wednesday evening
• Under 14’s are at home to Balcombe on Sunday morning
• Under 13 girls are away to Cuckfield on Tuesday evening
• Under 12‘s are at home to Horsham on Monday evening
• Under 11’s are at home to Lindfield on Tuesday evening
• Under 10’s are away to Haywards Heath on Saturday morning

Please come along and support our players if you can – they really do appreciate seeing familiar faces

Team selections

Team selections for this week:

Match reports

First X1 vs Bognor

I finally won a toss and selected to bat – with a team missing a few of the usually faces, I thought setting a big imposing total might be the best way to get a result.
• Things started well with Crombie and I taking advantage of some wayward first few overs from the Bognor openers
• After a couple of overs they found their lengths and pegged us back a bit – though some good running and punishing the bad ball got us to 44 without loss
• Crombie departed chipping one to cover
• We went from 44-0 to 54-3 as Jacko and Ranbo came and went – both facing 3 balls and not troubling the scorers
• Harry Hunter looked a little nervy but played some lovely strokes to build WGs total towards 100 in partnership with Vickery
• Harry got a good one and was bowled whilst Vickery slogged one too many towards long on and was caught – WG now 99-5
• Josh, having his first bat for WG 1s was frustrated with himself for not expressing himself more – just the one boundary before departing
• It then fell to Steve Talman and Joey CS to rebuild and they played with a nice balance – putting away the bad balls well
• A partnership of 37 before Joey was caught by the Bognor skipper
• The Steves carried on building and WG were hoping for 10 batting points at 180…..both were out before WG had got to 175
• Wolfie hit the shot of the day as he pulled one off his nose for 4
• He didnt have time to get his own back on Dave and run him out before Dave got bowled going for a second boundary
• 183 the total, 10 batting points secured and a decent platform to defend.
• Jack Dixon tucked into two meal deals to ensure he had the arm ready for his boundary riding throughout the second innings
• Things started brilliantly with the ball when Ran snicked off the dangerous Maskell in the first over, just the start we were looking for
• Dave G didnt quite find the same movement as he had when skittling 3 of Bognors top order last season
• Joey bowled well and got a wicket with a slower ball that Steve Harmison would have been proud of (Harmy Slower Ball)
• With Bognor 58-2 and two of their better bats in the shed the pressure was building
• Harry Hood looked awfully scratchy and left Wolfie scratching his head when like Houdini himself kept coenduring up a way of getting bat on it when he looked beaten all ends up
• Harry Hunter bowled really nicely and was also unlucky not to pick up some wickets
• Annoyingly WG just couldn’t find another breakthrough with a couple of catches going down
• Whilst Bognor got home with 8 wickets remaining it doesn’t quite do us full justice – I can’t fault the effort from all of the lads…..a pleasure playing with all of you!

Please click here for the full scorecard

Dan Vickery – Captain

Womens’ team vs Chiddingfold and Petworth

With two mid-week matches, the women had much to play for.

Tuesday saw us playing away against an organised Chiddingfold. Having never beaten Chidders, who can pick from a squad of over 65 women, we were preparing for a tough match. Added to which the pitch at Witley has its own challenges; a steep drop-off at one end and an undulating outfield. We needed to bring our A-game.

Chidders won the toss and elected to field first. In less familiar territory, batting first, the brief was to bat as if we were chasing and make every ball count. 1st pair Maggie and Ann set us on our way with smart placing and good calling, racking up an impressive 30 runs combined.

Hannah W and Fluff batted 2nd. Facing some awkward balls, confidence was waning and the pair managed to nudge the score on by 5 runs. Lots to play for, 3rd pair Hannah V and Tess joined the attack. Tess is great at placing the ball around the wheel, notching up singles and keeping the strike rotating. Hannah V had her eye in, reaching the boundary and the pair added a decent haul of 21. Final pair Nat and Bex stepped up to the plate. Dispatching balls to the leg side boundary they added another 30 runs, landing on a defendable target of 117.

Our turn to field. Starting slowly, and getting used to the pitch, we let a few pass us. Switching on, Fluff at deep cover and Tessa at deep point, backed each other and started covering everything on the offside. Hannah V, Hannah W and Maggie got going on the leg side and did not disappoint. Wickets from Hannah W and Maggie, and a run out from Bex at wickie, started to put pressure on the oppo.

We kept runs to singles and ultimately not enough to beat us! We won comfortably by 20 runs, and with smiles all round enjoyed our first proper win of the season.

Please click here for the fullscorecard

The second match a thriller against Petworth.

Yesterday was a beautiful Summer’s evening and the green was buzzing with a growing group of spectators and our optimism. As our scorer Suzana said, there are worse things to be doing than watching a match on a sunny evening in Wisborough Green.

Buoyed up from our win the previous evening, we set about the business of playing old rivals Petworth. We won the toss and decided to field first, leaving the oppo to deal with a dropping sun in their eyes later on.

In terms of fielding and bowling, we continued as we’d left it in the previous match. Everyone starting to read the bowler and then the batter and tracking the ball. Settling the nerves, Hannah V opened the bowling, with Ann, Maggie, Hannah W, Jen and Bex joining the attack. A particularly good line, length and pace from both Maggie and Hannah W saw two wickets bowled out, and the third a great catch from Jen at mid-wicket off Ann’s bowling. Maggie added to the haul with a cracking throw-in, square to the wicket from mid-on for a run out. Organised fielding on the leg side, Sarah sprinting the boundary at deep square, Hannah V covering fine leg and Tess at deep point covering the offside, all contributed to the campaign. Despite a particularly strong first and last pair, all told the oppo set a beatable target of 100 runs to win.

Keeping the batting line up the same, Maggie and Ann opened, but with less success this time against a varied bowling attack. Hannah W, keen to improve on her previous outing, started peppering the boundary, including with a couple of reverse sweeps! Tess impressed again, placing the ball for singles. Sarah paired with Jen, added a respectable 11 runs.

It left an achievable target for the 4th pair Hannah V and Bex. An unlucky deflection off the foot to glance the outside stump, increased the number of runs needed, but still within reach. Sensing a win, the barmy army were getting noisy. The Vickerys (all three generations of the cricketing dynasty) could be heard cheering every run. A few more boundaries got us nearer to the target. 10 needed off the final over, but against Petworth’s demon bowler. A chance for two runs on the 2nd ball, the first run safe, the second was tight. Reaching for the crease and with a decent bat slide, we missed by a hair’s width! This left us needing a 6 from the final ball, for the week’s 2nd victory…. too much, and defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory.

As always, because it deserves it, the tea gets a mention. Both teams, supporters, umpire Peter (thank you!) and scorer Suzana (thank you too!) enjoyed a banquet and bottle in the sunshine. As Suzana said, I can certainly think of worse things to be doing on a Wednesday evening.

Please click here for the full scorecard

Bex Samuelson – captain

Under 14 vs Steyning

As I lost the toss we were sent to put the pads on, Will quickly smashed a 29 and then our loaner Fielder Harry Maggs caught him just before getting retired. Arden then came in and hit some good shots to get 25. Oscar batted with Arden and hit 23 off 21. Then the wickets tumbled and josh scored 8 to add a few runs to the total.

There opening batters didn’t stay long at the crease before Harry got the first wicket, then from there they just kept tumbling with josh getting a very impressive 4-4 off 3 overs and Olivia with 2 maidens. Then hector came on and saw their final batters off with 2 wickets.

Please click here for the full scorecard

Henry Bruce – Captain

Under 12 vs East Grinstead

This week the weather wasn’t looking great with thunderstorms overnight but we were still able to play the game and the sun eventually came out.

We went to East Grinstead Cricket Club and played at their Fonthill Ground. This was our first time playing them and they were good hosts.

We had a very young team of U10s, U11s and a couple of U12s for this match. Their team was strong made up of more experienced players as they looked a bit older than our players.

We won the toss and chose to bowl. As the pitch was wet, the ball wasn’t bouncing up much so we thought it might make it trickier for them to hit.

Me and Archie opened the bowling, we bowled well and I managed to take a wicket in the fourth over, caught by Callum. Charlie, Eddie and James bowled our next six overs keeping the run rate low. Callum and Buddy bowled the next 4 overs, with Buddy taking a wicket on his final ball. Next up Cai and Reuben both took their first wickets for the U12s. Cai’s wicket was a run out when our fielder Eddie powered the ball at the stumps with an incredible throw! Reuben’s wicket the batter hit the ball behind him, Charlie caught it at square leg where he dived at the ball to catch it! Then we gave away quite a lot of runs, I bowled the final over and bowled the batsman out.

East Grinstead had lots of drinks and snacks ready for us between innings. I think everyone’s favourite was the jaffa cakes!

It was our turn to bat, me and Archie went first. They started off with some very fast bowlers and we did our best to get runs but had to fend them off. They took a couple of quick wickets then me and Eddie started to get some runs, we got a few 4s. Later on Seb and James came in to bat and each hit their first 4s for the U12s. We came close to winning but not quite. Everyone played very well and it felt good to be Captain for the U12s for the first time

Please click here for the full scorecard

Leo Roberts – Captain

Under 11 vs Roffey

I was not expecting to be Captain of this game but someone was needed last minute. We finally got to play after so many matches being cancelled due to the weather and it was a home game. We haven’t played them before but they were very friendly. The weather was perfect for a good game of cricket because it wasn’t raining and it was sunny.

We won the toss and decided to bowl first as we wanted to chase a total. We started with an early wicket but gave away quite a lot of extras. We were fielding well and got a few more wickets. Frankie bowled fantastically and only gave away two runs in his first ever over. Jack took two wickets and Buddy kept the runs low. Ethan got two wickets and a maiden over. Quinn came in not knowing he was going to play his first game until he got on the green but he got his first wicket. Me and Charlie had to wait until the end to bowl an over each, we didn’t give away many runs. I bowled then sprinted to get to catch the ball, wicket!

Thank you to the parents who brought the snacks and the refreshments, we really needed the drinks as it was very hot.

Back to the field ready to bat, I stayed at the side to do throw downs to the next batsman to get them ready. Freddie and Quinn were first in to bat and gave us a good start as they didn’t lose their wickets. James came in and upped the run rate by quite a margin by hitting six 4s. Later on Jack hit two 4s and Ethan hit one too. Me and Buddy were last to bat, calling well and taking the runs where we could. I hit two 4s and unfortunately we got out three times in a row, but their bowler was fast and accurate. I finished the game with a 4 which felt good because it is a great way to end a match.

We won by 54 runs and are ready for our next match!

Leo Roberts – Captain

Please click here for the full scorecard

…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 🏏😊

Cheers

Wizzy