Horsham

Sussex Martlets V Horsham CC at Horsham CC.

Inaugural mixed teams match

15th August 2024

Martlets 193- 9 declared (50 overs, G Simon 40, T Mahmood 31)
Horsham 191 – 9 (39 overs, T Whyte 23-2, P Walker 7-2)

Horsham were due to face both a regular Martlet side and the Womens side. Due a perfect storm of competing distractions – A level results day, cricket festivals, our hosts numbers were depleted.

Cue ingenious negotiations between Alan Newman and HCC. The result – a wonderfully successful first ever mixed match involving the Sussex Martlets. Well done Alan (yet again). Ironically the fixture was eventually over-subscribed, leading to a 12 a side game. The Martlets fielded 5 females – Kirah Ambroziak and Eve Atkins of Petworth, Anna Scriven-Wood and Poppy Walker of Chichester and Annie O`Gorman, yes, she of the cricketing dynasty.

Horsham, meanwhile, fielded 4 females, Maggie Martin, Harriet Ashby , Harriet Thornton and Maddy.

The toss was won and we chose to bat. A very solid start by our 2 candidates Gus Simon (40 off 52 balls) and Tayyab Mahmood (31). Annie came in and proved as solid as both her grand-father and father put together! During the course of 5 partnerships Annie helped add 118 to the total. Although scoring a relatively modest 22, she never looked in any trouble and her innings was invaluable. Kirah, Dilshan Da Silva and Rob Burgh added a further 60. Eve batted confidently for over 20 minutes before Anna`s 22 in 14 balls left the Martlets on 193 with 3 balls to go before a 50 over declaration. No further runs were accrued as Shakeem Clarke (Sylvester`s son) took the hat-trick wickets of Annie, Poppy and Ben Whelpton.

Having been treated to a delicious tea, Dilshan and Anna opened the bowling for the Martlets. Conditions (a light drizzle, which never fully abated) were difficult. Our first 4 overs went for 34 runs, but yielded 2 wickets for Dil.

Poppy Walker bowled extremely well for 5 overs, conceding only 18 runs and having to contend with her father dropping a very catchable drive from Horsham`s most fluent batter. Gravett was dismissed the next over by an excellent catch from Da Silva in the deep. The fielding (and spirit) of the entire team (the skipper apart) was commendable, especially is such trying conditions. Decent catches were also held by Messrs Simon, Burgh, Whelpton (x2) and Scriven-Wood – who also contributed an excellent run-out.

3 miserly overs apiece for Annie and Eve (a supremely confident and talented 13 year old star who surely has a major future in cricket) kept the Martlets well in contention.

Whyte bagged 2 wickets in an enthralling spell and Horsham required 10 from the last 2 overs, with 3 wickets remaining when Clarke strode out. Walker senior made some amends for his earlier domestic catastrophe by conceding only 3 and clean bowling the West Indian dangerman.

Whelpton sealed a memorable draw with 4 dot balls and Horsham ended 2 runs short of our total. Tantalisingly short of being a classic, but still an extremely enjoyable and memorable match.

Many thanks to all involved, especially our hosts Shaka and skipper Ozzy, umpires Jeremy Beckwith and Richard Lewin and the scoring legend Richard Willmett. Tim Gregory deserves a special mention for recruiting such pleasant and talented females and Luke Forster for his efforts in respect of the male players. Dilshan was desperate to acquire some of their extremely fashionable kit!

It was wonderful to be supported by the President, Robin Carr and others.

The day was another success in a busy summer. Given the quality of both the cricket and the personalities (equally important attributes of any Martlet in the author`s humble opinion) there is much scope in the future for many more females to represent the Sussex Martlets in both the “regular” and over 40s fixtures.

PW

For detailed information on each venue, please visit our Venues page