Worth School | Sussex Martlets

Match Report

The Martlets season got off to a fine start at a sunny, yet bone-freezing chilly Worth school. Led by star alumnus Toby Pullan, a strong Martlets side assembled to take on the school boys in the season opener for the Martlets. After a completely unfixed toss, Messrs Campopiano and Ashworth strode to the crease expectant of runs on a fine looking pitch. After a steady start, it soon became apparent the pitch was on the slow side, and runs would be hard to come by, especially amid some probing bowling by the Worth opening duo of McLoughlin squared. A fine catch in the cordon dismissed Ashworth (1), bringing Guy Forster to the crease for the first time in 20 years. Campopiano (14) struck a couple of quick boundaries before succumbing to McLoughlin snr., bringing Loughton to the crease. Loughton (22) and Forster (11) fell in quick succession (54-4), leaving Shaw and Rebbetts to try and rebuild the innings. But when Rebbetts fell to the bowling of Grant for 12, the Martlets were in trouble at 82-5. Alongside Pullan, Shaw began accumulating and accelerating, taking the Martlets beyond the 100 mark. Shaw (34) became McLoughlin snr.’s third victim, and when Messrs Davies (5) and Horsham (0) fell in quick succession to young spinner De Havas, the Martlets were once again reeling at 137-8. But a fine captain’s knock from Pullan, ably supported by Jackson, starting dragging the Martlets towards the 200 mark. Pullan was particularly belligerent straight down the ground, passing 50 in just 51 balls – a fine counter-attacking knock. Pullan was eventually stumped off the bowling of De Havas for 66, a knock that brought the Martlets a competitive total. Some fine scampering between the last pair of Jackson (13*) and Murray (9*) saw the Martlets end on 195-9 off 49 overs. De Havas was the pick of the bowlers with 4-63, ably supported by McLoughlin snr. (3-32) and Grant (2-38).

After a very al fresco interval, the experienced duo of Murray and Davies opened up for the Martlets. As you would expect from the miserly pair, runs were very hard to come by for the Worth openers. And with the pressure building, Davies provided the breakthrough, trapping Padulkar for 16. Davies (3-38) soon after picked his second and third wickets, leaving the hosts reeling at 46-3. Murray was then rewarded for his relentless accuracy, picking up De Havas, via a smart piece of work from Campopiano behind the stumps – this proved to be Murray’s only wicket, but figure of 8-5-10-1 demonstrate the vital role he played. The openers were replaced by the equally experienced Rebbetts and Horsham, who did not let off on the pressure. Rebbetts added the fifth wicket, before Horsham trapped the opener, Lewis, who had provided some resistance in his knock of 31. With Worth 79-6, it was left to skipper Pullan and Jackson to polish off the tail. Pullan found some swing to take two good wickets, whilst Jackson – perhaps a little rusty in his opening over and a half! – soon found his rhythm to take the other two, guiding the Martlets to a 86-run victory.