Selsey's nine men hold on... Aldwick give up top spot

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West Chiltington and Thakenham 2nd v Selsey

Division 6 West

Travelling with nine players to face a strong side was always going to be eventful, and Selsey were asked to field in intense heat.

The openers started to tuck into some loose bowling from Tom Cripps and Martin but a couple of maidens from Cripps led to a wicket for Martin, well caught by Thariq.

Harrison Baker came into the attack and picked up the wicket of Wood for 39. The spin of Humphreys kept Selsey in the game, picking up 4-52 with good catches from Cripps, Thariq and Bhutta behind the stumps.

West Chilts declared on 269-8 after 44 overs.

Humphreys and Cripps soon got the scoreboard ticking, putting on 45 in no time before Humphreys was caught and bowled by North for 27.

Bhutta came in with one thing in mind and his first two balls were launched into next week. Six overs later he was well caught for a brisk 43, bringing Horner to the crease. He played sweeps, drives and cuts all around the wicket for a smart 39 until he nicked behind off the spinner, who soon got rid of Thariq.

Cripps was at the other end with the occasional cover drive thrown in until he was bowled by North for 30.

Martin and Baker launched sixes all around the ground and the tail survived to steal an unlikely draw.

Aldwick v Bognor 2nd

Div 6 West

Aldwick suffered their first defeat of the season against their local rivals but it could have gone either way with Bognor wobbling on 183-8 chasing 216 for victory. However, the cool heads of Jack Hickman (16*) and Ed Firlotte (19*) got Bognor past the winning line in the 44th over.

Earlier, Aldwick opener Ed White (56) held his team’s innings together with a defiant knock despite losing wickets at the other end. At 39-3, Aldwick had lost last week’s centurion Alex Cooper for only 7.

In the middle order, Andy Burtenshaw (31) and Ian Guppy (67) swung the game back in Aldwick’s favour with a 78-run partnership. In typical big-hitting fashion Guppy blasted seven sixes and four fours in his feisty knock.

Bognor’s Sam Adams finished with a haul of 6-41 from 15 overs. Aldwick’s total was taken to a competitive 215 all out mainly thanks to the late input of Jamie Murphy (28*) and John Young (17).

In reply, Bognor opener Sayed Bablu Ahmed ( 112 ) almost single-handily took the game way from Aldwick until he was finally undone by Murphy (3-29).

John Young (3-56) also bowled well in a long spell but with Ahmed’s runs on the board Hickman and Firlotte just had to hold steady to give their side victory by two wickets.

Because of the defeat, Aldwick have lost top spot for the first time this season – but will attempt to bounce back to the top this week away to Rustington.

Littlehampton, Clapham & Patching 3rd v Aldwick 2nd

Div 10West (South)

Aldwick’s second season without a cricket pavilion after their arson attack is clearly affecting the recruitment of players and yet again Aldwick twos were forced to put out a weakened side that was a mixture of retired players and young colts.

Aldwick battled bravely, but were easily defeated by 108 runs and remain fifth.

LCP batted first and veteran Geoffrey Cole (93) was in good nick falling just seven runs short of his century to Paul Gibbs (2-74). Ian Horner conceded just 15 runs in his nine overs, but the wickets went to Jonny Knapp (2-29) and Ben Cooper 2-41) in good spells.

Dheeraj Kumar (48) helped take the home side total to 210-7 from their 40 overs.

Chasing an inprobable 211 for victory, Aldwick opener Paul Gibbs was out for a duck, the first of Tim Peters’ four victims (4-25). Horner proffered resistance with a defiant 38, but apart from Dion Sampson (16) and Arthur Bradbury (16) the visitors collapsed to 102 all out. Two wickets apiece for Theo Hemsley (2-10) and Darin Bird (2-4) helped polish off the beleagued visitors.

This week Aldwick twos will hope for better at home to Rustington.

Aldwick v West Wittering

Lord’s International T20 Cup

A good all-round performance from Aldwick resulted in a defeat for West Wittering and progress to the next round of the Lords international T20 Cup to face RMU.

Wittering raced out of the traps with openers Carl Tupper (31) and Steve Feazey (28) building a perfect base for their team-mates to exploit in the second part of the innings.

Of the rest, only James White (10) made double figures as Aldwick’s bowlers (Harry Rossor 2-20, John Young 4-18) and fielders (three run outs) took charge.

Aldwick lost opener Alex Cooper for a duck but then reluctant opener Dion Sampson with 4 , Tom Hoare 30* and a typical innings from Ian Guppy (33 in 11 balls including three sixes and three fours) saw Aldwick home in 12.5 overs.

For Witterings, Joe Pink and Rob Gray took the only two wickets.

Emsworth v Bashley 3rd

Hants League division three south

Emsworth won the toss and elected to bat. Will Pitts and Akshat Mehta got Emsworth off to a good start reaching 57 before Pitts fell for 26.

Akshat was caught for 30. Bashley’s Mike O’Sullivan took two for 18 and slowed Emsworth down. James Swaine with 37, Rob Norris 28 and Stu Parsons 27 got Emsworth up to a reasonable score of 181-8 off 45 overs.

Bashley started well until Jithesh Nair claimed two wickets. Mike Offord removed the other opener and at 36-3 looked in control. But Bashley recovered well with Ryan Taylor and James Turner looking comfortable.

They got Bashley up to 107 before both fell either side of a drinks break. Emsworth kept going and had Bashley at 123-7 but a couple of dropped catches gave Mike O’Sullivan the chance to hit Bashley close to score.

He fell for 30 to Lee Gray and with Akshat picking up a wicket too Bashley were 158-9 with four overs left. The last pair got Bashley up to 172 before falling on the last ball to give Emsworth a nine-run win.

Lavant v Boxgrove

This was the first warm and sunny afternoon’s cricket for Lavant this season and skipper Steve Brooker had no hesitation in deciding to bat first.

Ian Rawnsley continued his fine form put on 40 for the first wicket. Lavant quickly lost four wickets for 14 runs which brought brothers Dave and Peter Burford together.

They took the total to 151 and with additional runs from Robin Burford allowed Lavant to declare at 182-8 at tea. The pick of the Boxgrove bowlers were Gottesman with 3-24 and Wakefield with 3-31.

Boxgrove’s reply started briskly with Thorpe and Gottesman striking the ball hard all around the ground. Gottesman was caught by Peter Buford and Thorpe to a fine running catch by Dave Carroll.

Wakefield and Holl added more than 30 runs each and Boxgrove eased past the Lavant total to win by five wickets with two overs to spare.

Dave Burford had scored 52 not out in Lavant’s innings and then taken 4-69. The return derby is eagerly anticipated in July.

Chichester 4th XI v Broadwater 3rd

On a sunny day in Priory Park Chichester opted to bat first, very keen to maintain their winning ways. Henry Whitby scored 46, Jonathan Maynard 41 and Steve Price an entertaining 111 before retiring exhausted, which allowed Toby Toft to reach ten before the overs ended.

So 243 was the score to beat and Broadwater looked to be racing ahead in the first nine overs. Billy O’Brien dismissed the opening batsmen Sinsbury 43 and Wells 27 and the game changed.

Captain Roger Smith, who took three for ten, was delighted with youngsters Theo Batchelor (3-13) and Stanley Mayne (2-7) and Broadwater were all out for 104 in 30.1 overs.

The umpires enjoyed the sporting spirit showed by both teams.