Sussex Cricket Festival
28st July to 1st August 2008
Newhaven Under 12's vs Seaford (friendly), Seaford, St James and Bexhill

 

Monday 28th July 2008 Home friendly V Seaford

The sun was shining and due to Rye under 12’s letting us all down by pulling out of the Festival at the last minute, a friendly had been arranged with our local rivals and buddies, Seaford. We had lost two close matches against Seaford earlier in the season so revenge was on our minds. The “friendly” part of the match meant some lesser lights of the squad could get their chance. Seaford won the toss and decided to bat.

Newhaven bowled well and took the first wicket in the sixth over where Will B-D bowled Chris Pope middle stump.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This brought in Jacob Smith, a Sussex under 12 player, who could not play in the main festival due to his Sussex status. He amassed 49 runs before Rob Fogerty took a great low catch off Rhys Williams to send him back to the clubhouse.

 

Further wickets fell, but Seaford managed to amass 173 runs off 32 overs to give Newhaven a challenging target. Will B-D took 3 wickets for 19 runs, all bowled, Rob Fogerty took 2 for 31, Harry Stacey took 2 for 9 with his slow accurate right arm and Rhys Williams took 2 for 6 at the end with his “hocus pocus” run up dazzling the batsmen into submission.

 

 

Newhaven opened with Rob Fogerty and James Graham.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We needed to get about five runs per over. After 8 overs we had lost three wickets but were still on course with 41 runs (5 runs per over but watch those wickets!) Jonathan Bennett and Will B-D came together at the fall of the fourth wicket and slowly but surely built a partnership of 36 with Will leading the way with 30 runs (his previous highest was 9 runs) Will managed to hit Jacob Smith and his Sussex spin for 2 great fours and also hooked a shoulder height ball to the boundary for a further four. Jonno wasn’t far behind and scored a quick fire 20 before getting out lbw. After Will and Jonno were out the run rate slowed until Harry Davies came in at 9 and smacked 31 not out including 7 fours. Unfortunately, Harry got caught with the score on 171 to give Seaford another close win. We will beat them one day but everyone agreed it had been a great entertaining match and a good dress rehearsal for the Festival match the next day. Will B-D was man of the match with his 3 wickets and 30 runs. However, the whole team had performed well.
 

Seaford 173 all out off 32 overs

Newhaven 171 all out off 34 overs
Seaford win by 2 runs.
 

Tuesday 29th July 2008 away to Seaford

The sun was still shining as we travelled to the Salts recreation ground for our first Festival match against Seaford. The “friendly” yesterday had whetted everyone’s appetites and Newhaven were after revenge. Again! We had Ian Robinson back and Jacob Smith was not playing for Seaford. That must give us the advantage, mustn’t it?

This time we were to bat first and set them a large run challenge. Despite a couple of early wickets Newhaven progressed well with Ian Robinson coming in at three and amassing his best score of 43 off 50 balls. Jonno got 12, Will was out for 5 and Rhys got lbw’d for 0. Harry Davies came in at 6 to join Ian and scored another good score of 38 not out or was it 48? Further wickets fell cheaply and Newhaven finished on 147 off their 37 overs. Ian and Harry had put on 44 runs for the 4th wicket. Marcus scored 11 runs at the end. Still a challenging score for Seaford who had only 33 overs to get it.

Seaford started slowly with Jonno and Will opening the bowling.

 

At the half way point, 17th over, they were on 43 for 4 wickets. Way off the pace but with wickets in hand. Kieran Loader and Chris Pope both scored twenties but Newhaven struggled for wickets even though the run rate was kept right down. Ten different bowlers were used but still Newhaven could only take eight wickets. The match petered out to a draw with Seaford surviving on 92 for 8 off their allotted 33 overs. Newhaven had got a winning draw gaining 7 points to Seaford’s 3 points. A psychological victory with the bowling highlights being Harry Davies 2 wickets for 22, Rhys Williams 2 for 12 James Graham 1 for 3 off 2 Oliver Guy 1 for 0 off 2 and Conor Westgate’s slow but straight bowling getting 2 for 0 off 2 overs.

 

Ian Robinson was “wicky” for the day and performed well with 1 run out. It is great that the team can adapt to play in different positions and when Marcus injured his finger, Ian was there to step in at short notice.
 

Newhaven 147 for 9 off 37 overs,

Seaford 92 for 8 off 33 overs
Newhaven get a winning draw.
Newhaven 7 points, Seaford 3 points.






Wednesday 30th July 2008 home to St James.

St James had been swapped with Arundel for our group and had a good reputation in the area for producing good cricketing sides. Reports stated that one of their lads had scored 52 runs the previous day in a close fought contest with Bexhill. Rob Fogerty was able to give us a run down on the St James side as he had played for them last season. This information was to prove invaluable. St James won the toss and decided to bat. They looked over confident but from the start, you could see that they didn’t all get along. There was a lot of bickering and confusion with their opening pair that led to a run out that was instigated by Rob Fogerty. His smile was wide.

 

 

 

Harry Davies bowled their third batsman for 9 but then they amassed 101 not out for the next pair. Everyone was hit for runs but Harry was the only bowler to finish with a wicket. Our heads didn’t drop however and the half time chat reassured the side that we could still win the match. Don’t look at the large total but look at the fact we only needed just over five runs per over.
 

 

 

Marcus and Josh Bradford opened and both got out cheaply. This applied the pressure and gave St James too much confidence. They thought they had the match won after 8 overs where Newhaven were 45 for 2. Note the run rate of nearly 6 runs per over.

 

 

The two early wickets brought in Jonathan Bennett and Harry Davies. Two of our more experienced batsmen. They set about surviving for the last 25 overs and played themselves in. They played straight to the straight balls and hit the wayward balls to the boundary. They had “only 5+ runs per over” imprinted on their minds and played with extreme maturity.

 

After 15 overs they reached 105 and their fifty partnership. At this point, St James started to show signs of panic and unrest. They hadn’t got a wicket in 7 overs and the match wasn’t going to their script. I encouraged our pair and pointed out that St James were getting rattled. A bit of bickering was witnessed. Great news. Just keep going and keep playing exactly as you are now. The bickering increased and Jonno and Harry were thriving on it.

 

 

By the 22nd over their 100 partnership was up, Jonno had got his maiden fifty and Harry wasn’t far behind on 42. St James were looking defeat in the face and their fielding and bowling was suffering. A crowd had gathered of nearly fifty and the sun was still shining on Newhaven. At a score of 159, Jonno got caught for 79 and shortly after Harry got out after he had scored his maiden fifty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This started a minor collapse as five wickets fell for 19 runs. Could we throw it away from a winning position? St James sensed they could still win but Newhaven still had 3 wickets in hand and only needed three runs with 6 overs available.

 

 

Lewis Edwards and Will B-D were at the crease and scored the three runs needed to give Newhaven under 12’s probably their best win having won the match needing 182 runs.

 

 

They finished the match with 5 overs to spare and had a run rate of over 6.5 runs per over. A fantastic victory that we should all be proud of. Also, the largest score for the under 12’s since I don’t know when. Gary Dove is frantically trying to check, but thinks the 100+ partnership by Jonno and Harry is a Newhaven under 12’s record! Something to be savoured. A great all round performance. St James still couldn’t believe it and went away with their tails between their legs. Still bickering. Rob Fogerty continued to smile and was still smiling two days later when we had our next match.
 

St James 181 for 2 off 37 overs,

Newhaven 182 for 7 off 28 overs
Newhaven win by 3 wickets.
Newhaven 20 points, St James 0 points


Friday 1st August 2008 home to Bexhill

Reports stated that Bexhill had bowled Seaford out the previous day for 44 runs but had lost 4 wickets in winning the match. They must be quite good, mustn’t they? Newhaven were still on a high from their win against St James and were ready to give Bexhill a good thumping. Newhaven won the toss and put Bexhill in to bat. Bexhill had scored 111 on Monday and 45 on Thursday so they hadn’t scored too many runs. Newhaven scored 171 Monday, 147 runs Tuesday and 182 on Wednesday. 500 runs in three matches. A fantastic number.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bexhill lost early wickets with Jonno, James and Ian all getting one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They struggled for runs and by the 10th over had amassed 29 runs. By the 20th over they were reduced to 61 for 6 with Harry Davies 3 wickets for 3 runs. Ian had 3 overs 1 for 9, James 1 for 4 and Robert 1 for 8. Bexhill were struggling and finally reached 84 all out after 27 overs.

 

We were supposed to have tea now but it was only quarter past three so it was decided that Newhaven would start their innings and we would have tea at a more respectable 5 o’clock. Newhaven struggled early on and were reduced to 9 for 3 after 7 overs. I had fiddled with the batting order so knew that some of our more experienced batsmen were to come in further down the order. We had 43 overs to score 85 runs, slightly over 2 runs per over. Experience of the previous match kept panic to a minimum and when Marcus Richmond and Harry Davies came together at the fall of the 4th wicket, they both took their time and put together a partnership of 38 runs off 9 overs. This included the break for tea where they both stayed out in the middle. The lure of pizza and chocolate could not tempt them away from the job in hand. Bless them. After tea, another wicket fell but Jonno and Rob steadied the ship and quickly reached the target in 25 overs. 18 overs to spare. Another great victory from behind showing yet more maturity. The under 12’s have grown further this week and it shows just how valuable these Festival weeks are to the development of our young cricketers. The sun had remained the whole week and after 253 overs of cricket we all deserved a well earned rest. Everyone should be extremely proud of how their little soldiers performed. Everyone had an input to the unbeaten week and Newhaven finished the festival with two great wins and a winning draw.

 

Here’s to next year when the rules may be changed and we may have a greater chance of reaching that elusive final.

 

Thanks to all the supporters who attended. I think you all had your money’s worth. It just seems sad that it all had to come to such an abrupt end.

 

Don’t forget the under 14’s Festival week starting Monday 11th August. More excellent cricket will be witnessed. We all need your support.

Mike and Nick

 

 

 

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