Sir Paul Getty XI

Ladies and Gentlemen, I bring you the match report from Sunday 9th August, where the Sussex Martlets made their long awaited return to the hallowed turf of Wormsley, to face the mighty Sir Paul Getty’s XI.

Arriving after a 2-hour journey there for most, the team began to take in their surroundings, with this being the first time at Wormsley for many of the side. The setting of the ground, nestled into the rolling hills, with the famous red kites swooping overhead, was the perfect setting to lose the toss and be asked to chase leather in the sun. In all truth, I don’t think the phrase ‘being asked to chase leather’ has ever felt more appropriate.

With several drop outs during the week, we were already a depleted side and it was a scary prospect waiting to find out exactly what sort of jets were in that Getty’s XI. Muzza opened up and as always, no one really knew what to do with him. 11 overs, 30 runs and 3 maidens does not tell the picture of how unlucky he was. A tough chance dropped with Cadle up to the stumps, plus a few LBW shouts not given, coupled with inside edges, I think was a sign of how this was going to play. Outside of Muzza’s 11 overs at 2.73 an over, we really didn’t have much else to cheer about.

The fall of the first (and only wicket) came when Daz trapped opener Wilson on 72 in front of all three, despite feeling incredibly unwell. However, Daz shouldn’t have been so good as this brought Ethan Berlusconi to the crease. Ethan, a friend of the show through our Free Foresters connections, went a little bit nuts. For context, Ethan has a 180 for the FF against Oxford University this year, to go with his 200 against Cambridge the year before… By lunch Getty’s were already 204-1…. HOWEVER!!! Not having any genuine quick bowlers with long run ups worked in our favour, as the Martlets managed to power through 36 whole overs before the interval! And that really was the last bit of enjoyment we got I think on this day.

Soon the other opener, Robinson, brought up his 100 and we soon realised we were only going to be out here for as long as it took Ethan to get to his 100, which he soon did at ease. Both men batted superbly to secure their milestone shields to go on the wall of the Pavilion. Getty’s declared on 318/1 off their 48 overs. A flat deck, that offered no turn for Trotter or Harman, with little to any bounce, made batting somewhat quite easy for players of that level. A special mention to Ben Whelpton, who covered a silly number of yards at deep cover preventing runs, but also retrieving balls from the sheep. Would love to put a tracker on the man one game, just to see how many steps he does rack up!

After a quick turn around, yours truly and Hector strode out to the middle to tuck into the flat deck. Naturally, Getty’s obviously had some genuinely sharp bowlers in their arsenal, which brought a lot more seam and bounce out the deck than the Martlets’ vertically challenged attack could. At 33-0, we were feeling good, before Hector fell to a superb flying grab at second slip by the Getty’s skipper and I soon followed by snicking behind. And with that, wickets began to fall at regular intervals.

Oscar battled away for a well made 1 off 32 balls before falling straight after the last drinks break. It took some nice words from a few of us to talk Oscar out of retiring from all forms of cricket immediately. Muzza put in a valiant effort, getting the side tantalising close to batting out for the draw with only a few overs to spare (15 from 56 balls not out), but alas, it was not meant to be. The Martlets were all out for 127 and were truly outclassed by their opposition.

A disappointing result on our return to Wormsley, but a valiant effort given the circumstances. A massive thank you to Rob Burgh and Tom Whyte, who both had reservations about being picked for the game, but when called upon served their club excellently and both can be extremely proud of their efforts with both bat and ball against that super-team.

The Getty’s skipper, Jake, was very gracious in victory and knew of the drops out we had suffered, but was quick to reassure me they are very much looking forward to returning to the castle in 2 years time. Jake did then rub it in somewhat by letting me know he too had drop outs to deal with, but was able to call upon a former test cricketer to fill his side. Cheers, Jake!

A shorter than usual match report by my own standards, but reliving the pain of that first innings has not been fun whilst writing this.

Lots of love, Ready xx

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