Early start suits West Wittering's cricketers

Wittering did excellently well to get the Division 5 Wesgame on. Captain Carl Tupper won the toss and elected to bowl.

Arundel ticked along to 12 for no loss after six overs, but the bowling of long-armed paceman Steve Day that broke through the Arundel defences and opened the floodgates for a flurry of wickets.

Wittering put in a fantastic fielding performance at such an early stage of the season and every bowler called upon by the skipper did their job with astute thinking and execution.

Arundel collapsed at an alarming rate with Day (2-20), Harry Staight (1-8), James Staight (1-2), Tupper (1-0) and debutant James Munro (2-17) among the wickets. Pick of the bowlers was Joe Pink claiming 3-12 off his nine overs. Arundel set Wittering just 71 to win.

Gareth Lendrum and Tupper opened for Wittering, knowing they had 67 overs to score 71. That didn’t stop Lendrum and his usual flair, striking an early four and six in quick succession, putting Wittering at 10 for no loss after the first over.

Tupper nurdled and supported Lendrum (23) before he was removed attempting another big shot in the tenth over, with the score on 39.

Wicketkeeper Brandon Trimmer made a flying visit for two, but young fireball Charlie Caddy (22*) took it to the Arundel bowling attack.

The scores were level when Tupper (15) had a shooter deflect off his pads on to the stumps, but Caddy finished it off in style with a boundary over mid-off to secure 30 points to start Wittering’s league campaign.

Goodwood v Madehurst

Goodwood CC tied their opening match of the season against visitors Madehurst CC.

The ground looked fantastic, testament to the hard work of the groundsmen.

Madehurst batted first and opener C Coldburn (37) was the pick of the batsmen, hitting the ball to all parts, ably supported by C Cockburn (20), S Smith (23), R Smith (20no). Goodwood dropped a number of catches as Madehurst scored 156 for 7 off their 40 overs.

The best of the bowling came from Hari Elisetti (2-28) and 12-year-old Stanley Mayne (1-27), who bamboozled the batsmen with his leg spin. His father, captain James Mayne, also bowled well (3-27), achieving a magnificent milestone of 350 wickets for the club.

Goodwood replied slowly due to the tight bowling of Madehurst. Young opener Owen Spicer (29) played stylish shots and helped push the score along but Goodwood seemed were behind the run rate with wickets falling at regular intervals.

Hari Daugubati (33) and Johnny Heaven came to the crease, increasing the momentum with a fine partnership to get Goodwood almost within reach.

A great catch by Ward on the boundary removed Heaven (26) but Hari Elisetti and Stanley Mayne scrambled the runs to level the score from the very last ball.