Chichester Priory Park 1st XI celebrate 175th anniversary with emphatic nine-wicket victory
On a special day as Chichester Priory Park Cricket Club celebrated its 175th anniversary, the 1st XI produced a dominant all-round performance to secure a convincing nine-wicket victory over Chippingdale.
After winning the toss, Chichester elected to bowl first, the opening bowling partnership of Elijah Stead and Andrew Crookham set the tone with excellent control and discipline. Stead bowled a superb opening spell, finishing with figures of 1-14 from 7 overs, while Crookham kept things tight from the other end, finishing with 0-23 from his spell.
The pressure created by the opening pair saw Chippingdale reduced to 33-2 after the opening 10 overs, with Chi’s bowlers maintaining excellent discipline and control. The middle overs were where Chichester truly built and maintained their dominance, with Elliot Scott, Owen Harris and Tim Wergan continuing to apply pressure and force further wickets to fall. Chippingdale captain Josh Bourne attempted to rebuild the innings before being trapped lbw for 30 by Tim Wergan.
Scott produced an excellent spell in the middle overs, finishing with figures of 1-25 from 8 overs, while Owen Harris contributed with the ball and in the field, producing a superb run out before claiming his first wicket for the club, finishing with 1-30 from 9 overs.
Ben Saunders offered further resistance with a well-made 43 before also falling to Wergan who finished with figures of 6-27 off 9 overs, his first 5-wicket haul for Chichester Priory Park. With a constant fall of wickets, Chippingdale struggled to build towards a competitive score, seeing them all out for 158.
In reply, Tim Wergan and Toby Toft gave Chichester the perfect start, batting with great temperament and control while punishing any loose bowling from the Chippingdale attack. The pair put on an excellent 93-run opening partnership before Toft was dismissed for a well-made 38.
Wergan continued to score at a good pace and was joined by Simon Hasted, with the pair producing another brilliant partnership of 67 to guide Chichester comfortably to victory.
Wergan completed a magnificent all-round performance by finishing unbeaten on 104, scoring his 100 off 93 balls, bringing up his third century of the season, as Chichester secured a dominant nine-wicket victory.
A complete performance with both bat and ball saw Chichester collect the full 30 points on a memorable day for the club. The 1st XI will now look to continue their momentum next week as they travel to Ansty CC.
Match photos here
Chichester Priory Park 2nd XI returned to winning ways with a hard-fought three-wicket victory away at Bosham, chasing down 137 inside 23 overs to claim maximum league points.
After Bosham chose to bat first, Priory Park’s bowlers kept things tight from the outset on a difficult batting wicket. George Hobkirk was outstanding, producing an excellent spell of 2-15 from 7.2 overs, while Jonathan Heaven ripped through the middle order with 4-25. Finlay Rustell also claimed two early wickets as Bosham were dismissed for 136, despite Jimbo Scott making 26 and Jamie Glennie top-scoring with 36.
In reply, Chichester’s chase never quite went to plan as wickets fell regularly. Ben Hubbard gave the innings early momentum with a brisk 21, while Jonathan Heaven followed up his fine bowling display with an unbeaten 31 to hold the innings together. Alongside Arran Goode with a patient 24 to get the innings back on track. Despite a few nervy moments, Hobkirk finished things off with a boundary as Priory Park reached 140-7 with 17.1 overs to spare.
It wasn’t a flawless performance, but Chichester showed character with both bat and ball to secure a much needed valuable win and take all 30 points.
Chi 3XI second best to Littlehampton in the Priory Park sunshine
Chi 3’s hosted Littlehampton in the park on a warm day and had no hesitation in batting first on winning the toss. Littlehampton started with some tight accurate bowling and Chi soon found themselves 3 down for not many, Ewan Edwards and Stu Gillett However steadied the ship and absorbed some good pressure, although once Gillett fell for a quick fire 20 a meaningful total looked a long way off.
Step up Ewan Edwards, the talented youngster batted all the way through, using his experience to build partnerships all the way down and run well between the wickets, especially with Oscar Clifford Brown who added 50 together for the 6th wicket. The youngsters ensured max batting points were achieved and the final total of 192 was a welcome result. Edwards finishing unbeaten with a magnificent 110.
In reply on a flat wicket, early wickets were key, however Littlehampton took full advantage of a wayward start and boundaries flowed, enter Oscar Clifford Brown and Toby Lewis into the attack, 16yrs and 17yrs respectively, they applied the brakes and bowled with great control to change the game, Oscar Clifford Brown snared 3 wickets in his 8 overs whist Toby Lewis conceded only 16 runs in his 8 overs whilst picking up a wicket also. At this point with a Chi win looking on the cards the Littlehampton number 6, R Budd dug in and showed real fight to grind out a solid 61 not out, working well with the Littlehampton lower batters to use the overs, he kept the scoreboard moving and they would reach the target of 192 with a couple of overs to spare.
Having been their best bowler earlier in the day with 3-12 Mr Budd showed his skills and was the difference between the 2 teams.