Chichester Priory Park 1XI Secure Seven-Wicket Victory
Chichester Priory Park produced an excellent all-round performance to chase down 163 and secure a convincing seven-wicket victory.
Put into bat first, the opposition struggled to build a substantial total as the Priory Park bowling attack kept the pressure on throughout the innings. Early wickets from E Stead and A Crookham left the visitors on the back foot, before O Harris produced an outstanding spell of 4 wickets for 40 runs from 8.5 overs.
There were useful contributions with the bat, with P Osborne top-scoring with 38, while T Alexander added 32 and A Barr 24. However, wickets fell regularly, including three wickets from 155 onwards, and the innings eventually closed on 162 all out from 41.6 overs.
A superb response with the bat Chasing 163, Priory Park made a steady start but lost T Toft for 13 and T Wergan for 21, leaving the score at 48/2.
That brought together S Hasted and E Stead, who completely took control of the chase.
Hasted played a superb innings, striking 62 from 76 balls, including 12 boundaries, while Stead was equally impressive, finishing unbeaten on 58 from just 55 balls, with eight fours and two sixes.
The pair put on a match-winning partnership, taking the score from 48/2 through to 155 before Hasted was dismissed for his excellent 62.
With just eight runs required, Stead remained at the crease to see the job through, with O Harris unbeaten on 0, as Priory Park reached 163/3 from 29.3 overs.
Pictures are HERE
Priory Park 2XI complete superb chase to defeat Arundel by four wickets
Chichester Priory Park 2nd XI produced a fine run chase to defeat Arundel 1st XI by four wickets, reaching a testing target of 234 with 14 balls to spare.
After winning the toss and electing to field, Priory made a dream start through Tom Symington. He removed Gareth Challen and Oliver Ward without scoring before dismissing Jacob Locke for 22, leaving Arundel struggling at 37 for 3.
Finlay Rustell then bowled Ashley Field for 15 to reduce the hosts to 79 for 4, but James Essex and David Glanvill launched an impressive recovery. The pair added 129 for the fifth wicket, with Essex compiling an excellent 97 from 111 balls and Glanvill accelerating to 69 from just 55, including eight fours and three sixes.
James Mayne eventually removed Glanvill before Rustell denied Essex a deserved century. Further wickets from Rustell and Jonathan Heaven helped restrict Arundel to 233 for 8 from their 40 overs.
Symington finished with 3 for 49, while Rustell was the pick of the attack with an excellent 3 for 36 from his eight overs. Mayne and Heaven claimed a wicket apiece.
Priory’s reply began badly when Jes Goode fell in the opening over without scoring, but Matthew Croker (43) and Rehan Meiring steadied the innings with a 41-run partnership. Meiring made 24 before Alistair Derry injected some urgency, striking three sixes in a rapid 24 from only 17 balls.
Two wickets with the score on 95 left Priory wobbling at 95 for 4, but Ollie Greenlees and Matthew Sharpe rebuilt with a crucial 70-run partnership. Greenlees contributed 31 before Sharpe and Heaven took control of the chase.
Sharpe played the anchor role superbly, making 48 from 61 balls, while Heaven launched the decisive counterattack. His unbeaten 41 came from only 24 deliveries and included four fours and two sixes, keeping Priory comfortably ahead of the required rate.
Sharpe fell with just three runs needed, but Symington arrived and immediately struck his first delivery for four to seal victory at 235 for 6 in 37.4 overs.
It was a composed and well-paced chase, built on useful contributions throughout the order before Heaven’s explosive finish secured the full 30 points. The victory was especially impressive against an Arundel 1st XI containing two batters who had earlier threatened to take the game away from Priory.
Chi 3’s returned to the Park with a win against Southwater 2’s.
Jes Goode had been moved up to the 2’s so skippering duties fell to Stuart Gillett. The stand in skipper lost the toss and Southwater did what you do in the Park and elect to bat.
Chichester opened up with Saqib Khushnood and Oscar Dutton, a tight opening few overs was disrupted with the left-hand opening bat going on the front foot and being very aggressive from the first ball, a flurry of boundaries and some ‘swing harder’ moments followed before he top edged one into the safe hands of Elliot Goode.
A similar approach was adopted by the number three and some astute field placing blocked his scoring zones and led to Rupert Gillett bowling him with classic off spinners delivery, wickets came at regular intervals however a good stand between the accomplished number three and another put Southwater in a good position however Dutton returned to claim a very well deserved 5fer, his first for the club and Southwater were bold out for 195.
Chichester set about the chase cautiously with Burrows and Lewis up top.
Some steady opening overs ensued until Burrows missed straight one and Hubbard joined Lewis who took the score on to 131 with Hubbard in particular playing some nice aggressive shots to spread the field.
A couple of injuries ensued for Southwater who fielded with 9 for a short time and the ice pack stock at the park was diminished by the Southwater team and Chichester were cruising.
However, the captains words of batting sensibly were not adhered to, not for the first time!
A flurry of wickets, 4 for 26, left Gillett Senior and Hanif Shakoori to steady the ship and Shakoori plundered a number of boundaries including a glorious 6 towards the end and Chichester got home relatively comfortably despite the slight wobble in the middle order.
A great results from a great team with strong performances across the board.
Tough day for Chi 4XI at Bognor
Chichester 4s visited Bognor Regis 3s at West Meads on Ssturday. After winning the toss and electing yo bat.
Chichester found the going tough. Losing wickets at regular intervals.
At 46-6 they were looking down the barrel but Justin Scott support by Harry Milward put the pressure back on the bowlers, taking the score to 89 before being we caught on the boundary.
Mudaseer Kashifi then took the initiative with some excellent shorts before falling for 24. Closing on 139. Chichester would have to bowl and field well to get a win.
The opening bowlers of Montgomery and Kuntze kept the pressure on, but Anderson proved the difference between the teams. His hard hit 83" proved decisive. Chichester will rue the missed chances, which would have exposed the Bognor lower order.
4s take on Broadwater in Priory Park next.
Women 1XI secure fine victory
A dominant all-round performance saw Chichester Priory Park secure another convincing victory after winning the toss and electing to bowl first against West Wittering Women’s 1st XI.
The decision paid off immediately as Priory Park struck early. A sharp run out from Ruby Whitley set the tone before the bowlers took wickets in quick succession, putting the opposition under pressure from the very start. Leading from the front, captain Mel Beaumont produced a superb spell, claiming a five-wicket haul, Ella took 2 wickets and bowlers were supported by incredible catches from Laura Cassidy-Rice and Rachel Aslett to dismantle the batting line-up and leave the visitors with little chance to recover.
Chasing the target, Priory Park batted with confidence. Grace Audus top-scored with an excellent innings of 43. She was well supported by Clemmie (28*) and Lara (10*), whose composed and steady partnership ended with a very convincing win by the 16th over.
Another fantastic team performance with contributions in all departments, highlighted by tight fielding, superb bowling and a calm, controlled batting display to finish the job.