Three Bridges Double up on the Nomads!

The 1st team had an afternoon to forget at the SCMG in the Sussex Premier League. Three Bridges had won the earlier encounter with a stunning last ball win at home in May. Will O’Donnell held all the aces on Saturday as he enjoyed a 6 wicket haul for just 21 runs. The Nomads have had better days with the bat as they fell for 119 all out. AOB secured two wickets in response but the game and points were gone in a flash.

Its a game to condemn to the shredder and make sure to come back firing on all cylinders. Our Title retention bid is now but over however there are 8 important games to go. Not least a trip to title hopefuls Horsham on Saturday.

Lets Go Ones!!!

4s Lose a one run Thriller at St Matthias Stephen Oliver writes

4th team vs St Matthias 2nd XI – Sat 16 July 2022

To the edge of glory…

A hot dusty day at the Horsdean “amphitheatre” – what would the toss bring and more importantly what did our team look like. We welcomed Arjun and Rupert for their senior team debuts as we looked to find the combination for a winning performance.
Toss won; we took the decision to bowl first. Maybe brave in the heat, but since when did the skipper follow convention. If truth be told, we had lots of bowling potential, with untested batting, so we would play to our strengths.
Early on we discovered 2 things. Firstly, the opposition were not playing LBW (which we noted and umpired to a consistent standard), and the bowlers had failed to adapt their respective radars to the location. Maybe the bowl shape was confusing to them?!
Not only were there 23 wides, but we also conceded 36 byes leading to extras being the top scorer for St Matthias and this in no way a reflection on our young wicket keeper who did a very good job in the face of the wayward distribution.
Nomads failed to catch. Although only about 5 chances went down, there was always the threat that wickets might fall if we could only find a way to break into the middle order. In many other respects, the fielding was to a good standard and certainly Arjun and Rupert looked comfortable against the senior players.
At tea it was almost remarkable, St Matthias had scored 212-4 with exactly 150 off the bat. The bowling statistics on Play Cricket look like they reflect some degree of misallocation, so please treat with caution.
Ice lollies helpfully provided for all, and the skipper ignored 4th team convention and had a team “motivational” asking for batting partnerships, so that if we batted to 40 overs we would win.
Nomads set off. With the captain opening with young Arjan who showed a calm head and good technique. Unfortunately, the skipper offered catching practice to the cover point who dived in the air and snaffled it. Quickly followed by others we were 53-5. The skipper ruefully reflected upon his half time pep talk (and indeed cricket life in general!)
Then Luke Owen and young Tate Hector decided to bat together and build a partnership. Whilst not faultless, it was effective and Tate played some excellent shots, with Luke using his core hockey skill to good effect. We had moved to 128-6. Carter came and built a further partnership, and we were 160-7 when Tate was bowled for 45. Danny joined the fray; we needed a run a ball. This was going to be tight – just like the 4th team cricket of last year.
Carter tried to force the pace and was caught, Hick swished a few but was LBW (our umpiring was tough but fair) and in the final over Danny and last man Luca needed 6 to win. The bowler kept his nerve and served up enough variety that we could not find the shots we wanted. Luca was run out off the last ball going for the second run that would have tied the game.
The skipper had moved from depths of despair to the actual edge of glory and victory.
We had chased down 200 thanks to the patience of Tate and Luke, supported by Carter. Yes, extras had also been our top scorer (at 47), but we had found some determination and actually scored more runs off the bat than the opposition. An easy day to ponder what if…. but instead, we had a beer.
I am not in the habit of declaring a man of the match, much of our sport should be about the team, but Tate anchored our run getting with an excellent 45, was nifty with his wicketkeeping gloves in the face of some very “unhelpful” bowling and kept focus. Well played youngster.

Bowman says ‘ Our 4s have been involved in back to back losing thrillers which has taken its toll on their league position in Division 8. We are now favorites to fall through the trap door come early September. Lets try to do everything we can to enable them to claim 3 or 4 victories and stave off the dreaded relegation!