Ardingly College

Sussex Martlets (275 for six in ?? overs; H Laughton 93, A Davies >50, J Archer 63) lost to Ardingly College (276 for 1 in ?? overs; H Rollings 188, ? Clarke 59) by nine wickets

Report by Andrew Hartridge

To coin a football phrase this was a real game of two halves. With little hesitation the Martlets captain chose to bat first in a fixture that has been plague by the weather in recent years. The St James axis of Hector Laughton and Adam Davies both reached 50 with ease before Davies fell to a spectacular catch by Hazaifah Khan on the boundary, which typified the college’s high standards in the field. At 178 for 2 the Martlets enjoyed a hearty lunch, which perhaps got the better of Laughton who fell seven runs short of a deserved century. A postprandial half century from Joffra Archer (63) with cameos from Ben Canfield, Akeem Jordan and Peter Hartland ensured a declaration at 275 for five. College skipper Sam Rattle kept a lid on the scoring with his 17 overs of slow left-arm returning three for 83.

With the skipper confident he had plenty of runs to play with, the Martlets set to the task of taking ten Ardingly wickets. The first did come, eventually, only 248 runs later! Harry Rollings took rather a liking to the eight Martlet bowlers who toiled in the afternoon sunshine and eventually fell for a spectacularly destructive 188. It was a superb display and only a shame he couldn’t bring up the first double century on the college ground. Ably supported by Clarke (59) the target was reached easily with nine wickets to spare, 15 minutes shy of the start of the last 20 overs.

Many thanks to Ardingly coach Nick Tester who has supported this fixture over the past half a dozen years, with the weather finally relenting and the boys getting the game they deserve.

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