Old Hurstjohnians CC | Sussex Martlets

Match Report

On a surprisingly warm day at Hurstpierpoint College, the Hurstjohnians decided to bat first on a very flat wicket. Bardon and Rebbetts opened the bowling for the Martlets and restricted the scoring nicely for the first 15 overs. Leaving the Hurstjohnians 47-0 after 15 overs. But as the ball got older and softer the batters began to let loose on the spin bowling of Cooper and Ranamit. However, Ranamit did get a break through with smart work behind the stumps from Holman to get a stumping. Persistent and accurate bowling from the pair kept the scoring relatively low up until lunch but some lovely stroke making batting Campopiano and Ludlow meant they were able to score frequent boundaries to keep the pressure firmly on the bowlers.

After lunch Cooper and Milne took some stick from the set batters, however Campopiano did get dropped on the boundary before unleashing some big shots down the ground to go to his hundred. This forced captain Rebbetts to bring himself and Bardon back (the only available seam options) to try and get some wickets to stem the flow of runs. Rebbetts managed to take 3 quick wickets including the set batsmen Campopiano (131) and Ludlow (64). Bardon fully deserved his wicket late on in the innings after some tight bowling throughout the innings. For the Hurstjohnians Harrison was able to hit a fine and fast 55* off only 29 balls. Hurstjohnians declaring on 303-5 off 51 overs.

Wicket takers: Rebbetts 3-65 from 12 overs. Bardon 1-67 off 15 overs. Ranamit 9 overs 1-44.

This left the Martlets a huge task of chasing down 304 for victory. And unfortunately were bowled out for 198 off 48 overs. There were contributions all the way through the innings but by playing positive cricket striving for victory, it meant the Martlets lost wickets at regular intervals. Will Wild scored a patient 30 while others looked to be positive around him. Holman scoring a 40 ball 38, while Rebbetts top scored making a 52 ball 44. J Milne batted with the tail brilliantly but was last out as he fell for 39 from 67 balls. J Hutchings was the pick of the Hurstjohnians’ Bowlers as he picked up 4 wickets for 30 runs from 10 overs.

It was a brilliant effort from the Sussex Martlets against a very strong Hurstjohnians side. Hopefully the Martlets can fight back next year! A big thank you to Nick Hayday who managed to organise this game while his wife was having a baby!