So July 10th gave the Rovers an opportunity to notch up their first win of the season at home to fellow Cricketer Cup competitors the Old Cranleighans. A few early showers, along with blustery conditions didn't make for particularly pleasant conditions, and unsurprisingly when Matt Lee lost the toss the Rovers found themselves in the field. The skippers agreed a 35 over contest given there was a small football match between England and the Netherlands that evening!
Oscar Sheffield opened up on debut with the skipper and quickly showed us he's going to be a great addition to the club taking 2-32 from his seven overs. But it was Matt who made the breakthrough, 20-1, looking good. But with a hundred partnership for the 5th, and 50 for the 7th wickets things kind of got away from us, and despite the best efforts of Joe Naughalty, Lewis Franklin, Rocco Gamblin, Jamie Chester (see the Swordfish Trophy page), George Nott and James Scade, the OC's racked up a pretty mammoth 256-8. Nine dropped catches hardly helped!
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In response, it was always going to be tricky from 20-2, 34-4 and 48-6, finally ending up just shy of three figures! Oscar top scored batting at 9 with 16*, Isaac Abatan and George Deverall who was keeping, the only two not to turn their arm over, only managed 4 between them unfortunately.
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So a disappointing start, but the OC's seemed to enjoy their day so always good to keep the oppo happy and onside. So it was down to the President and Matty Lee to head to the Crown & Anchor via their accommodation, a barge on the Adur, to cheer England on.
And so to Thursday, after a solid England win in the Euros we were to welcome Brighton Brunswick to 'HQ' for the first time in decades thanks to the efforts of the skipper for the day Nick Ballamy. In complete contrast to Wednesday there was hardly a cloud in the sky, and with the President's Arms restocked we duly lost the toss for the second day running, and found ourselves once again chasing leather.
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The skipper opened up with a nice dark Dukes from the Pavilion End while yesterday's skipper Matt toiled into the wind from the Ladywell End, and when they both took a wicket in their first over BB were reeling at 5-2, maybe they celebrated the England win harder. A stand of 40 for the 3rd wicket only delayed the inevitable and Brunswick were all out for 104 in the 34th over. Pick of the bowlers was George Deverall with 3-12 from his six, the Welsh Wizard chipped in with 2-25 off seven, and every bowler ended up with at least one wicket, and unlike Mr Chester the day before, who was thankfully behind the stumps today, they were all very economical. So well bowled Lewis Franklin, John McCauley and Ethan Franklin.
So Matt decided he liked opening the batting so did so once again alongside Jamie and the two of them put on 41 for the 1st wicket, a huge dent in the target, Matt falling for a surprisingly good 23. When Jamie was next out, top scoring with 34 we were over halfway there. George D chipped in once again with 21, George N unfortunately failed to trouble Midge, Ethan was out for five and when Joe was out for two the locals were for some reason keen to get his autograph. Anyway it was down to Nick and Lewis to see us home by four wickets. Honorable mention to George Welsby for his TFC :) And so we retired to the curry house, via the Red Lion, Amsterdam, Swiss Cottage and the Ship!
So Friday arrives, too early for some, and our annual knock-up against the Sussex Martlets, I can't remember the last time we got the better of them, but we need a win to go 2-1 up for the week.
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This was Hector Loughton's gig against one of the other sides he plays for, and being the first skipper to actually win the toss this week, decided to, yes you guessed it, field first! Conditions had see sawed once again as heavy overnight rain delayed the start and we decided to play 40 overs with the BBQ in between as opposed to the normal declaration with lunch and tea, which lightened the load on the caterers (the President!).
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Today's opening pair were Lewis and George D who both impressed as per normal, the latter particularly so with figures of 3-35, the former 1-28. They were ably supported by Rocco, Joe, James (2-28) and the skipper (3-16) as the Martlets were skittled for 154 in the 39th over, game on. Unlike Wednesday's debacle in the field we didn't drop a thing today, with 8 wickets being caught.​​
Jacob Coupe and Isaac took to the field in pursuit of a famous win, unfortunately Isaac had to watch it from the balcony with beer in hand, but Jacob scored a fine 36, as Matt, demoted to three, and Oscar surprisingly, failed to make an impression either. So it was down to Rocco and Hector to do the donkey work, they put on 80 for the 5th wicket virtually seeing us home. Hec scored 38 and Rocco scored the only half century of the week. George D and Joe made sure there were no more wobbles and we ended up winning by 4 wickets with 12 overs to spare for the second day running.
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A cracking result to finish a cracking week. So once we'd finished with the pleasantries there were a couple of presentations to be made.
Earlier in the season, Midge, who's been scoring for the College and/or Rovers since 1984 decided to hang up his pencil case. Yes he still prefers a scorebook and different colours for each bowler, and doesn't mind leaving out little things like the names of a catcher if he can't see that far, and every now and then you get awarded a wicket or two even though you might not have bowled that day, but we'll be lost without him, so if anyone wants to fill his large shoes just shout. Midge was awarded the Rovers Lifetime Achievement Award, i.e. a cheap plastic swordfish spray painted silver.
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That then led to the big one, literally, the Swordfish Trophy, awarded to the person who made the biggest 'impression' on tour. Click on the button on the left to see who won it this year.
Well done for reading this far, I've almost finished!
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We're not the only ones who think we're extremely lucky to still be able to play at Lancing, many of our opponents are genuinely gobsmacked by the ground, especially if it's their first visit.
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So a huge thanks to Adam and Dom for preparing the wickets, in particularly this year with all the wet weather, to Hannah and her team for enabling us to have the BBQs each day, the Foundation for their support throughout the year, to Raj for his support and assistance, and for producing a raft of youngsters over the last few years who are the future of the Rovers, with many more to come by the looks of it too. Finally thanks to the College for allowing us back each year, it's greatly appreciated.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
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Keep scrolling for this year's averages...
Batting: Qualification 2 innings, average >9.5
Hector Loughton 106 @ 53 HS 68
Rocco Gamblin 98 @ 33 HS 51
Nick Ballamy 22 @ 22 HS 15
Oscar Sheffield 20 @ 20 HS 16*
Lewis Franklin 40 @ 20 HS 20*
George Deverall 34 @ 17 HS 21
Jamie Chester 45 @ 15 HS 10
Matt Lee 54 @ 14 HS 23
Ethan Franklin 19 @ 10 HS 14
Joe Naughalty 19 @ 10 HS 13
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Also batted: Jacob Coupe 36, Jonny Robinson 33, Ryan Maskell 18, Barney Hall 12, James Scade 0, 3*, 3, George Nott 3, 2, 0, Mike Brainerd 4, AJ Wood 3, Isaac Abatan 1, 1, Ollie John 2, Steve Crosby 1, Jeff Kerr-Dineen 0*,
Bowling: Qualification 2 wickets
​George Deverall 6 @ 7.5 best 3-12
James Scade 4 @ 24.3 best 2-28
Lewis Franklin 4 @ 39.5 best 2-85
Nick Ballamy 3 @ 26.0 best 2-66
Joe Naughalty 3 @ 29.3 best 2-25
Hector Loughton 3 @ 37.3 best 3-36
Oscar Sheffield 2 @ 16 best 2-32
Matt Lee 2 @ 16.5 best 1-8
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Also bowled: Chris McLaren 1-13, Barney Hall 1-17, Ethan Franklin 1-26, Richard Spink 1-31, John McCauley 1-34, Jamie Chester 1-38, Rocco Gamblin 1-75, Jeff Kerr-Dineen 1-106, Mike Brainerd 0-9 George Nott 0-18,
So cheers guys, great to have you all on board, especially you youngsters, hope to enjoy your company for many years to come. Was a great Rovers Week, and here's to next season - #UTR
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Macca
El Presidente
