West Chiltington

SUSSEX MARTLETS vs. WEST CHILTINGTON AND THAKEHAM CC – 10^th July 2025

A Martlet team, old and new, collected by MM Hector Loughton, assembled promptly (on the whole!) as our smart hosts, dressed in shirts and ties,  prepared the ground under the direction of their Club Chairman Stephen Hodgson. The wicket looked hard and true, the boundary was a long one on one side, quite short and straight at one end.

Youthful skipper Freddie Ferro won the toss and chose to bat on another hot day in this generally balmy summer.  Oscar Harman (17) went out to open with your scribe, a mere fifty years older: we were greeted by a first class Ranji Trophy player, Ashay Palkar from Mumbai, and the other “overseas”, Josh Strefner from Australia. A tense half hour went by, with a fair amount of “chin music” from the former, before the first wicket went down at 32 (the author, inevitably), the second shortly after, Oscar for 21.  Tayyab Mahmood and Caleb Laloo each got a start , Ollie Hewitt too, but Martlets found themselves at 74-5, with Freddie on 10 and Ed Middleton (16) walking out to join him 40  minutes before lunch !

Freddie and Ed, the last recognised batters, put together a scintillating partnership of 119, full of prudent defence and thrilling hitting off the four quality seamers which West Chiltington fielded, not to mention their spinners. The skipper’s relatively careful 63 (7 fours) ended at 2.43 pm, with Ed on 65. In the end Ed was unlucky not to get more than 75 (12 fours and 1 six) and was out with the score at 231 – his had been an absolutely vital innings from No. 7, with some magnificent hitting, which, combined with Freddie’s talent (he is Martlet “Batter of the Year” twice), really got the Martlets back in the game.

The tail wagged very satisfactorily, Neil Billing scoring a sensible and entertaining 21, followed by Johnny Wills and Paul Walker getting into double figures with some lusty blows, taking us to 258, the tenth wicket falling on the point of declaration !

It was probably a par score for this ground, and in the second over Ed surprised Tatchell with a quick first ball that took the glove and looped to Caleb Laloo at gully who made no mistake. However,  this brought Ashay to the crease who immediately embarked on some aggressive hitting, to the extent that Ed’s first 3 overs went for 42 ! At the other end Hamish Kidd had started generating fine pace and quickly got Pace for a duck and then the skipper Adam Trees, courtesy of a magnificent low catch by Ed at square leg. Expertly standing up to the stumps, Freddie took a very fast nick off Hamish to dispose of the other opener, and then 73-4 became 74-5 when Ashay, on 48,  hit a huge skier that Ed resolutely kept his eye on and coolly caught – is there anything this young man from Worthing cannot do ? With Ashay gone, the Martlets were feeling very much on top.

After Walks came on with his spinning excellence and sent back another bat, courtesy of a catch by Ollie Hewitt, the ‘keeper Raj and Dylan Trevelyan-Clark started scoring freely again: with the rate around 6-7 an over, a win was definitely on for West Chiltington if they could keep wickets intact, as Dylan in particular was hitting straight very powerfully and with fine judgement.  Raj was seventh out at 154, another Ferro catch behind off Johnny Wills, who kept his head varying his left arm twirlers, but then Turner at No.9 proved to be a talented batsman too.

The Martlets were beginning to sweat as the score mounted, Dylan T-C looking increasingly like a match-winner, hitting 16 fours and a six. Neil Billing was unlucky to have a chance dropped off him, and both Johnny and Paul took some tap. Freddie then brought Hamish back in a last roll of the dice: having bowled his first 6 overs for 4-23,  Hamish manfully produced four quick, but unfortunately wicketless, overs that went for 27 runs. At 232-7 the Martlets were staring down the barrel.

At the other end, Ed returned and bowled a fine over for just 5 runs, which gave the batters pause for thought and the momentum slightly shifted back to Martlets – and then suddenly it was all over. Hamish steamed in once more, Dylan T-C played on to the first ball of the 35^th over, Hamish caught and bowled Strefner first ball, and then bowled Gallis, the last man, three balls later – completing figures of 7-54 in 11 consistently quick, hostile overs and inspiring the Martlet win by 17 runs.

Such a great day it was – complete when Stephen Hodgson so graciously brought a jug into the away dressing room and the players of both teams chatted, sprawled on the grass in front of the pavilion. For the Martlets, Hamish, Ed and skipper Freddie were the heroes: others all contributed something and the will to win was infectious.  Walks jokingly ascribed the victory to his 10* at the end of our innings !

There can be few better villages to play in Sussex than West Chiltington and Thakeham,  and we were exceedingly well victualled throughout, wonderful catering provided by a cheerful team.  Many thanks to all involved in this super game, among them umpires Jim Gee and John Flatley, scorers Peter Harding and Roger Lusted, President Peter Jones (who had rescued this fixture from a limited over format some years back) and Chairman Stephen Hodgson.

A perfect example of Sussex Martlet cricket at its best.

Willy Boulter

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