Shoreham Village Hall
Sat 13 February
7.30pm – 11.45pm (bar closes)

Featuring:
Live band – ‘Coast’ (www.coastfunctionband.co.uk)
Kumar’s Curry
Licensed bar
Tickets: £20 (inc. curry)

Available only in advance from Nick Walker (01959 522335) or Pat Barrett (07894 431274)

Last month we completed the ground clearance of the northern perimeter and we now need teams to:

1. Burn the very substantial bonfire
2. Erect new fencing on the northern perimeter
3. Continue ground clearance on the west perimeter

We plan to meet at 9.30am and to make maximum progress, we need as many volunteers as can make it. Major tools will be provided but if you have any suitable items of your own, please do bring them along. To reward our efforts, and with grateful thanks again to Sue Pearce, there will be bacon/sausage butties and hot drinks served mid-morning.

If you are able to join us, it would be helpful if, for catering purposes, you could reply to let me know how many we can expect.

All the very best for Christmas and the New Year.

Martin

After contrasting events for either Saturday side the previous day, the Sunday side were hoping to achieve three goals:

1. Win
2. Make it a ‘crowd pleaser’ in the immediate wake of the ashes triumph
3. Get down the pub as fast as possible

Read on to see if they achieved all three…

Pat won the toss (my sources tell me) and decided to field on a swelteringly hot day, and opened up with Steve and Nigel, who reduced the visitors to 8 for 3 from 6 overs, with Steve (8-6-6-2) bowling with venom and Nigel (5-3-6-1) bowling with Glenn McGrath style accuracy. They were then replaced with Tom Palmer (5-0-22-0) who bowled well with few breaks, except to wonder how the ball didn’t reach any of the fielders, before Alex continued his 100% record with 1 dropped catch on Saturday, and another on Sunday in a similar fashion, in the covers. Jamie Bromfield then struck a crucial breakthrough and set up a good spell for George Rivett (5-1-31-2), which started with 1 over for 15 runs, and the other 4 overs going for only 16 runs with two wickets to bring the score to 100 for 6. Sam Trick (7-1-22-0) then bowled a really tight spell at one end, with Alex Haysler (3-0-17-1) coming on and bowling their slogger with a quicker ball. Debutee Dan James (1-0-6-0) then bowled a tidy over to leave the target at a gettable 131.

After a Trick tea which went down a treat and left some of our senior spectators full (both in stomach and in confidentiality, so don’t worry Brownie), Ray and Nigel took to the crease, scoring quickly to reach 36 in 8 overs before Ray was out to a regulation edge for 10. George Rivett then arrived at the crease, found a hole in his bat, and promptly departed for a Golden duck, which brought Tom Palmer to the crease on a hat-trick ball, which he survived. However, Nigel departed the next over by skying a catch for 24 to leave the hosts struggling at 43 for 3. However, from then on, Tom knuckled down and Alex hung around to pull the home side ever nearer the target, before Domestic Tom departed for a well compiled 33, the top score for the innings. However, Alex then swung from the hip at a straight one and departed for 9, and Captain Pat departed for 1 in an innings where he kept finding that fielder with cover drive after cover drive, to leave Shoreham teetering on 87 for 6.

However, Paul Styles met Jamie Bromfield at the crease and put on a stand which saw them get to within touching distance of that target, with Jamie (16) departing with Shoreham needing 3 an over from the final 10 overs. Steve then met Paul at the crease and blasted 14 (a cry of ’serious beans’ heard from the viewing gallery) before trying to finish the game with a six and leaving Shoreham on 128 for 8. Debutee Dan then departed for a golden to leave the players and spectators alike on the edge of their seats at 128 for 9, just three short of victory. Two overs passed without a run being, which added to the tension from the gallery, before Paul (13*) cut the last ball of the over for four to give Shoreham a tense, although well deserved victory – another good team effort. 2 out of 3 goals ain’t bad.

Alex Haysler

8th August – 2nd XI v Plaxtol

Plaxtol’s is a small ground – about the same width as the excavations for the gas pipeline that presently skirt their boundary fence – so high scoring can be expected. James Asplin, who opened at one end, began his run up by pushing off from the sight screen. At the other end James Blomfield was an intimidating sight as he rushed downhill. Despite the pace and aggression of James A and James B, the restored skills of Richard Bredon, the ageless wiles of Dangerman (aka Ray Trick) and the accuracy of Andre, the home side scored steadily. The longest interval without scoring was when Andre tried to give his surname to the scorers. The record shows that James A took 2 for 74, James B 1 for 52, Richard 2 for 52, Ray 2 for 47 from 5 overs, and Trampoline 2 for 47 off 8.

A single bowling point was to be our only reward for the day. Our own innings crumbled. The only notable resistance came from Dangerman, who was captain for the day, and whose 45 accounted for more than half the runs to come from a Shoreham bat. Andre kept the captain company for a long time, in a stand of 47, and his innings was described as possibly the best duck ever made by a Shoreham batsman.

Special mention should be made of Graham Clark, who dusted off his old school kit to make a comeback for the day, and of Darren Richardson who, despite an interval of years since his previous game, kept wicket splendidly, particularly to the two Jameses, who tested his full repertoire of diving takes on both sides of the wicket. Darren was showing signs of seizing up by the time he was manoeuvred into the car for the homeward journey. Word has not reached us as to whether he was successfully extricated at the other end and he hasn’t been sighted since. Get well soon Darren, and we hope we’ll see more of you as soon as you have regained full mobility.

15th August – 2nd XI v St. Lawrence

Despite there being no first team fixture that day only eleven players were available, including Steve who was given a warm welcome by all his old friends at St. Lawrence.

Will Stanyard donned the marigolds, which were being passed around like a case of swine flu, and he too put in a great performance.

The opening 18 overs really determined the course of the game as Nigel and Steve were bowled through: Nigel taking 3 for 23 and Steve 1 for 22. With most of their main batsmen removed early on, St. Lawrence were unable to pick up the pace in the second half of their innings, Richard Smith’s 43 being the only notable score in their 141.

Of the other bowlers used Richard finished with 2 for 33, Sam and Jack each contributed a cameo role and ended with a very economical 1 for 2, whilst Papillon took 1 for 34 in 9 overs.

St. Lawrence’s opening bowlers were difficult to get away and after 13 overs the score stood at 26 for 1, but the depth of our batting talent was shown by the fact that Steve was pencilled in at nine. Will coming in at four picked up the tempo, particularly after the first change of bowling, and Paul and Nigel (who top scored with 45) accelerated us through the winning tape with 12 overs to spare.

22nd August – 2nd XI v Withyham

8 man Withyham were asked to field by Captain Brown, and Montie and Alex were sent out to open. Both players, deliberately or not, took quite a lot of liberties with the field – many aerial shots landing in the gaps where there might have been a fielder under other circumstances. There was also the entertaining spectacle of Withyham’s lively opening bowler bouncing Alex. By standing on tiptoe and swatting Alex managed to tip the ball over the keeper’s head. Alex did eventually manage to locate a fielder with a lofted shot and then Sam joined Montie, and they carried things along to drinks, when the score was 92 – 1 and Withyham were up to 9 fielders.

After the break, scoring accelerated. Sam fell just short of 50, Montie carried on to get 76, Rupert and Jack made lively contributions, and eventually everyone got to bat, although Captain Brown didn’t face a ball as the Ageing Hack perished at the other end in the middle of the last over with the total at 248.

After tea, 10 man Withyham proved a far tougher proposition than they had been earlier in the season. Fresh wells of talent had been tapped and from the start they scored at the required rate of 6 an over. As soon as one or two wickets were taken and we felt in the driving seat another batsman would take up the battle and push the score along.

You know that popular computer game, the Sims, where you can create your own characters and then send them into real life situations? Well someone invented an improbable, one-legged bowler called Brad and sent him into our game. Amazingly, he managed three wickets in his nine over spell, whilst at the other end James B bowled tidily and took just one scalp. Next up were Rupert and Jackson who both bowled very well. Rupert is unrecognisably stronger and faster than two seasons ago, when your correspondent last played alongside him, and troubled each batsman. Jackson had a great day. Having failed to take notes from the book, I have to rely on memory to say that Jackson took three important wickets and Rupert two, but that may not be exact.

After young Rupert exhausted his permitted overs, James Martin (or is it Martin James?), who had made a good contribution in the field, was called up for one over. At this point, Wythyham’s number 10 batsman was proving himself to be a mean striker of the ball. If their last pair remained together for the last eight overs, scoring at the same rate, then the result would be very close. JM (or MJ) didn’t produce the answer in his first over and so Sam was called upon, and he produced the final wicket. In the end, the win looked comfortable, but right up until the last it had not seemed that way.

Finally, in this review of the last three weeks, I’m sure that you would all like to join with me in offering sincere commiserations to Mark (and any other Australians who are reading this) for losing such a well fought test series. No really.

See you Saturday Mark. We’ll help you forget the pain.

Ahahahahahahahaha!

Wyn

On a hot and humid August Sunday Shoreham looked to get early runs, getting to ten overs with only the loss of Alex Haysler (5). Good contributions were made by Paul Styles (21), new kolpak wicketkeeper Dhana (20) and other debutee James Martin (17) to leave the home side 69 for 4 after 24 overs. Steve met Jamie Bromfield at the crease. After 31 overs, Shoreham were 140 for 4, with Steve (65) and Jamie (32) putting the other batsmen at ease and allowing cameos from George (12) and a comical partnership between Danny Setterfield (6*) and Russell Brooks (5*), with the two of them almost knocking each other over in the middle of the crease, and included Danny hitting a sumptuous cover drive to end the proceedings. The shot of the innings goes to Danny, but for a premeditated defence off a juicy full toss. The elated team were soon tucking into a juicy tea supplied by the Rivett clan, before heading back out in search of those crucial 10 wickets.

Things started well for the home side, with some electric fielding coupled with thunderous pace bowling from openers Steve and Jamie (8-3-18-0) left the opposition miles behind the run rate, and with Steve picking up the first wicket. Dan Setterfield (5-2-6-2) and Alex Haysler (3-0-20-2) then began to bowl in tandem, reducing Halstead to 55 for 6 with some good bowling from Jack Rivett (3-1-6-1). However, the opposition put together a defiant partnership to get Halstead to 120 for 6 (you don’t want another over do you George?) before the breakthrough was achieved by new recruit James Martin (4-0-39-1) with some tight bowling from Captain Pat (2-0-2-0), before Steve (6.1-2-11-4) came back on to clean up the tail. This left the highly successful Sunday side with another momentous victory to add to the collection before heading to the pub to talk about World Economics – ask Pat.

- Alex Haysler

Shoreham’s innings got off to a poor start losing both openers in the second over to P.Grayland (5-14-2). This bought A. Monteith (38) and the inform P Edge (76n.o) to the crease. The pair shared a stand of 88 which included a couple of huge sixes by P.Edge and some sharp singles. Hibbett (6-43-2) picked up a couple of late wickets but the damage was already done as Shoreham eased to victory by 6 wickets in the 30th over

- Sam

> View scorecard

Ed, in his inaugural match for the 2nds, had the privilege of choosing which end he wanted to bowl from for once, and reasoned that Jasplin would prefer bowling uphill anyway. After bowling a couple of shocking wides, Ed then bowled a beauty to get Halstead’s opener caught behind by Will Stanyard. Tight bowling by James at the other end was rewarded by the wicket of Halstead’s other opener. Shoreham had made an imposing start, and at one stage had Halstead on 41-4.

JD took over from Ed at the top end, and bowled well off his reduced run-up. He eventually got the important wicket of Halstead’s no.4, who was on 60 at the time, thanks to a nimble stumping by Will. Nick Walker kept up the pressure, after replacing James, and picked up a wicket towards the end of his spell. Ray also chipped in with 4 tidy overs, and earned himself a wicket too. It was the returning Ed who got the wicket of Halstead’s other dangerous batsmen, who was on 70, and he ended up with what could well be his career best figures of 9-19-4. I might retire now.

Halstead reached 190, 28 of which were extras. Shoreham fielded very professionally throughout the game – of the 9 wickets we got, 5 were catches, 1 a stumping, and 1 even a full-blooded run-out. Other points to note are: apart from a tired final over, Jasplin bowled extremely well; and our only other bowler was Jackson (although the scorecard has mistaken him for his brother – not that I think he’ll mind) who threw in the odd pie across his 3 over spell. Juicy.

Confident that our batsmen could knock off the runs, most of the Shoreham team huddled around the radio inside the pavilion to listen to the Ashes. Meanwhile, out in the middle, our trusty opening pair of Ray and John launched into the Halstead bowling. 32 overs later the same pair were still at the crease (although one looked like he was about to keel over) and hit the winning runs to complete a whopping partnership of 194! Ray was 67no and John 80no (yes their were a lot of extras).

This historic feat was celebrated at the pub long into the night. And the Boakes Meadow Massive continued the drinking back at their HQ until Rupert fell over one too many times, and Jasplin fell asleep on a black marker. Yay.

- Ed

> View scorecard

The bowling was opened by the Shoreham pace attack of Steve and Jamie Bromfield who each bowled very economically and Steve’s blistering pace proved too much for Mason who snicked one into Richard’s waiting gloves. Jamie struck in the next over to dismiss MacDonald for a duck with a well placed yorker. Steve was replaced by new recruit Will Smith who we poached from last week’s opponents Knockers. He immediately riled the men in bat with some brilliant pace and was well assisted by Nigel at the Car Park End. After each taking a well deserved wicket, they were replaced by Dan Setterfield and Howard Atkinson who joined Will as a debutant. Danny got his fifth wicket in five games and Howard bamboozled the batsmen with some crafty off-breaks which were rewarded with a wicket. Sam and George gave us a total to chase before Steve returned to bowled an excellent final over which included 2 wickets to clear up the tail end.

A special mention should go to the fielding of Shoreham which was reminiscent of Jonty in places and Monty in others. George seemed to have holes in his hands but Jamie made up for this with some excellent stops and two superb catches one of which included a full length dive at square leg including a celebration in mid-air. Dan took a solid catch at mid wicket as did Howard on the boundary. Nigel took advantage of a mix-up to claim a wonderful run out while the batsmen had a polite conversation over who was to blame and Patrick took two catches which included a wonder catch at short leg to bring up the ten wickets.

After a successful Setterfield tea, Styles and Jeffrey wandered to the crease and opened up steadily against very tight bowling. The opening partnership of 63 was broken when Nigel fell on 25 and was followed by Nash (13) and Sam (12) whilst Paul (45) steadily built up the runs. The wicket of Sam brought Jamie Bromfield to the middle and he began steadily with a single before hitting 8 consecutive fours. After this quick flurry, the win seemed imminent as Steve (31no) came to join Jamie in the festivities. Unfortunately, Jamie did fall after a well earned 39 which left Smith to finish the innings with 1no. To add to the glory, England had also managed to hold on for an unlikely draw in Cardiff!

- George