cricketer trophy first round
Lancing rovers vs Old hamptonians
In less than ideal conditions, having won the toss and opted to bat. As the President and Freano (Twelfth man) tucked into the Chablis on the balcony, on the field the Rovers got off to flying start with Maskell and M.Clarke taking us up to 120 within the opening 25 overs.
However, before long the trusty Lancing pitch began to show its true colours and a few tennis ball bounces/shooters later we found ourselves at 170 odd for 7 off 45. Some good hitting late on from Rob Wakeford, James Allen, Nick Ballamy saw us past the 200 mark and finish on 208.
In reply, OH started aggressively reaching 30 off the first 3 overs. They carried on to score quite freely, and at the 25 over mark they were at 131-3 looking comfortable.
Also, by this point M.Clarke had managed to cop one on the finger at short extra cover (dropping the catch in the process) and had to be whisked off by Freano to Worthing A&E to have his finger put back in. Massive shout out to Freano for then returning and putting in a great shift in the field!
Some very tidy bowling (as ever) from J.Allen and a glorious debut spell from T.Nightingale steadied the ship - the later picking up the big wicket of their no.4 who was going well on 55 odd (decent catch in the deep from Hector Loughton).
Even so OH were looking steady enough...that was until B.Hanley decided to turn to bowling off spin for his second spell....What followed can only be described as carnage. With the pitch now fully resembling a 5th day wicket in Mumbai, Brandon finished with figures of 6 wickets for 18 runs off his 10. It was almost unfair....almost!
H.Loughton dovetailed nicely with Brandon, claiming the last few wickets and when the umpire raised his finger for the final wicket (LB douche off H.Loughton), unbridled Rovers joy once again filled the Upper Field (and the Worthing A&E waiting room).
Clarkey at A&E
A long journey to South Wales and the Old Monmothians now awaits the Rovers in two weeks time, but the club are in high spirits and are all very much looking forward to the first mini-tour of the year!
