Band of Brothers | Sussex Martlets

Match Report

Martlets arrived at Marden Cricket Club again on a sunny day at the end of August pleasantly surprised to see a rock hard wicket, short boundary and fast outfield. Finally the cricket season was producing some wickets for the batsmen! Martlets did however opt to bowl as B of B showed their competitive spirit the previous year as Sussex Martlets held onto a draw 9 down!

Davies and Murray opened the bowling, but had little luck as both found the edge without success. Davies did get the first wicket with an LBW to get Martlets going. Rebbetts replaced Davies and immediately got some success with a rare run out as Paget hit the ball towards mid on and set off for a run, only for the outstretched right hand of Rebbetts to pluck it out of thin air cleanly and throw down the stumps. Murray took the third and his first in his 10th over to finish with figures with 1-42. Rebbetts though was taking advantage of a fast wicket for a change and took two wickets to add to his run out with short balls as Jayatissa toped edged to Omkar at third man and A Davies top edged to Shaw at slip. Rebbetts continued his form finding the edge of two more B of B batsmen including the dangerous Hulbert to take his figures to 4-15 off 6 overs and Band of Brothers 101-8 staring down the barrel of a very low score on what was a beautiful wicket. In came Cornwallis to accompany Huggett who was looking very composed at the other end. Cornwallis smashed everything in his half through the off side for 4 showing very positive intent as he raced to 50. Thankfully Martlets had Shaw on hand to take the final two wickets after lunch but Band of Brothers had doubled their score for their final 2 wickets ending on 222 all out.

Martlets strode out looking for another excellent chase after their 282-9 just two days earlier. Carter and Nelson looked comfortable to begin with but Carter played down the wrong line to Hulbert as Martlets moved to 22-1 as Martlets leading run scorer for the year Jordan Shaw entered the crease. He immediately took the attack to the oppo moving through to a 39 ball 50 before falling the following ball, adjusted to have edged behind. Martlets did stumble in the middle as we went from 98-2 – 124-7 as Rebbetts entered. Martlets pride themselves on their spirit of cricket ensuring equal opportunities for all. Matthew Ritchie showed excellent signs for the future scoring 17 amongst the chacos and loss of wickets at the other end. Beechey, Davies and Joe Akers – Douglas were the casualties at the other end. Rebbetts and Knot looked to rebuild as they still had plenty of overs to chase down the 79 needed for victory. However, after putting on 39 for the 8th wicket, Om chipped one tro extra cover and had to go for 3. The reliable Mike Murray entered but didn’t last long as he was adjudged LBW for also just 3 to Hulbert who now was into his 16th over. He also dismissed Stuart Ritchie two balls later to take Band of Brothers to victory by 42 runs, bowling out Martlets for 180. Rebbetts was left on 41 not out. A disappointing loss for Martlets who will certainly be looking for revenge next season when we host.