Sussex Over 50s | Sussex Martlets

Match Report

On a dry afternoon in the South Downs National Park two experienced sides arrived to do battle in the bucolic surroundings of Madehurst CC.
Skipper Paul Lack discovered this attractive ground by an exploratory visit after his game near Arundel had been washed out.
A chance meeting with Michael the groundsman and a telephone call to Gary Taylor created the link to establish a first ever game for the Martlets at the ground.
Set in a bowl and hidden behind the farm house provided a test for some of the players; so the start was delayed by 15 minutes.
Sussex seniors decided to bat in a 40 over win/lose match
Guy Keeling opened the bowling downhill returning commendable figures of 1 for 27 off 7. Neil Billing worked his magic up the hill with two LBWs from umpire Jim and two catches by Dave Messenger resulting in a 4 wicket haul for 30 off 8 overs. One of his victims was Ben Ferns;well known to Martlets was dismissed by Neil.
Jeremy McGahan was introduced downhill and took a wicket in his 5th over producing figures of 1 for 34 off 8 overs.
Paul Lack replaced Neil Billing with a spell of 1 for 10 off 8 overs.
The most important part he played was bowling top scorer P. Standen for 40 who had gradually rebuilt the innings. At 100 for 6 it looked good for the Martlets as the fielding had been as good as the bowling.
Unfortunately the final 10 overs produced a flurry of runs from Sutherland and Poole with the only positive note being a brilliant catch diving to his right by keeper Phil Savage to remove Poole.
Coddington then hit a rapid 26 not out before Dave Christmas bowled Poole for 22 to result in 1 for 18 off his 3, bowling at the death,overs. Nick Beechey with 0 for 26 off 5 overs and Dave Messenger completed the bowling line up.

Martlets responded with Michael Loveday proving to be the main run producer before he was stumped for an excellent 45.
With Simon Barrs 13 they produced an opening stand of 39 with prospects for a win looking good.
Unfortunately after the rest of the batsman had starts 4 stumpings proved that in an attempt to keep up with the run rate the total was beyond the Martlets. At 121 for 9 both sides shook hands on what had been an excellent afternoon in a beautiful downland setting.
Special thanks to Mike Charman and Jim for umpiring as well as our scorers(the hardest part of any game) Adrian and Jim.
Hopefully our hosts will invite us again in the future and once again many thanks to them.