Seaford College

Sussex Martlets 216-8 dec

Seaford College 179 Daniel Smith 7-26

An enjoyable day was had by all at the delightful Seaford College, near Petworth. Martlets batted first against a college side depleted by exam pressures on a rather lifeless pitch. A solid start by openers Sam Carter (30) and Stuart Ritchie (33) was augmented by some power-hitting from guest/candidate Ed Lamb (35), to see us reach 93-1 shortly before lunch. Alas, the prospect of a good feed followed by a post-prandial snooze proved too alluring for the top order as wickets fell quickly to leave Martlets 125-4 at the break. Post-lunch contributions from Julian Barr (32) Greg West (32*) and Daniel Smith (29) pushed Martlets to a fair declaration on 216-8 (so fair, indeed, that Andy Cantrell stoutly refused to add to the score throughout the last over).

The competency of the declaration was an issue that was soon brought back into sharp relief as the school raced to 99-1 in response at tea, mainly due to some rather errant slow bowling. Nevertheless, a hot drink and some fine lemon cake had the desired effect, and in the final session Martlets reasserted the authority of experience, largely due to the slow bowling of Daniel Smith who abandoned his normal medium-fast seam to take 7-26 with some intelligent and probing off breaks, the Martlets thus sealing a 32 run win with 8 overs to spare to earn an enjoyable drink afterwards in a pleasant hostelry nearby.

For detailed information on each venue, please visit our Venues page