Newdigate 129 all vs. Wivelsfield Green 88 all out.

Newdigate went into the game knowing that none of the club teams had won a game this season yet and with the league matches starting next week it would be a great boost of confidence if they could get a win under their belt.

After losing the toss Newdigate was asked to take first use on a track that had played well the day before but with the early drizzle falling on it looking bit tasty for the bowlers liking. This was soon apparent as the home team was on a back foot with 2 wickets down with only 26 runs on the board. Soon the batting side was to be in deeper trouble as wickets kept falling to good bowling from the Wivelsfield young bowlers and some questionable shot selection from the senior batters. Enter Des Harris to the crease with his side 6 wickets down he started to take on the bowlers and with some of the most brutal batting you would see brought up his fifty in just 20 balls before being out for a what turned out to be a match winning innings of 54 (11 fours and 1 six).Newdigate were bowled out for a very disappointing 129 in only 21 overs.

After a very early tea break the home side came out to defend the well under par score with a sense of feeling amongst all that they could do so. The Wivelsfield openers batted very patiently putting away any loose balls to the boundary and reached 37 without loss and the target of 130 looked a much easier one than expected. But Harris had other ideas and as he did with the bat before started to get the wickets and all of a sudden the visiting side was 5 wickets down with only adding 6 more runs to the total. Young Thomas Ball then took over to take a further 2 wickets and had the home team buzzing with confidence that the win was not far out of reach. Newdigate were excellent on the field and with the last wicket falling with only 88 runs on the board and still over 23 overs left in play Newdigate walked off the field knowing that they had just pulled off a superb win out of a possible loss.Harris 4 for 17 and Ball 2 for 9 were the pick of the home team bowlers.

A very good game played in a very good spirit to give both teams something to talk about on the way home and look forward for the league season to start.