The second game of the season was also our second on the road as the Parkhurst mob rolled into Westfield on Sunday, after a positive batting display the previous week and the confidence that our bowling is usually the stronger part of our game we had every confidence that playing a team that provided us a very close fixture last year and that with a few more runs could have turned into a win, that this year we could make this our first win of the season!

Winning the toss, Parkhurst opted to bat first and what looked to be a very friendly pitch, to which full credit must be given to the groundsman as even though it’s early season the Westfield pitch always looks fantastic and when we revisit later this year against Sedlescombe I’m sure it will look sublime then as well.

A shift in the team meant we had a large bowling attack than normal so a shift in the batting order was required, Luke Keeler and Mark Sztyber opened up for Parkhurst and on a nice quick wicket looked to get the score moving quickly….Too quickly for Big Mark in fact who, on the first run of the day, proceeded to pull a muscle and required a firm rub down with some ‘secret lotion’ after which he looked refreshed and ready to continue, though he could only score in singles or boundaries until the end of his innings, swift 2’s outlawed.

The pitch was playing fairly true, with the rain just before play giving slight variation to the bounce but sadly this was what did it for Luke, after 2 wides to start the over, Jarvis got one on target and with a bit of pitch of assistance to keep the ball to the floor pinned Luke in front for 5.

In a shift to the batting order comparable to the earthquakes shown in a disaster movie our unflappable night watchman, Paul Leitch came in at 3, on a pitch that seemed more suited to the graceful shot rather than the big heave, and he didn’t disappoint playing some fantastic cuts and flicks to accelerate the Parkhurst score quickly and calmly with Mark playing some lusty blows to keep the fielders on their toes and at drinks Parkhurst were looking well set for a big total safe in the knowledge that they had 100+ only 1 wicket down and power hitting available later in the in order, what could go wrong!

Those who have played for Parkhurst for more than 2 games (let alone the years reserved for other members of the club) can tell you how part 2 of the innings was about to unfold.
Mark having this time given himself a rub with that magic stuff that keeps a man moving when the muscles say no, was unable to find the same fluidity he showed before the drinks break, departing on 39 to a , shortly after Paul after having reached 50, fis first for the club, also having failed to add to his score since drinks misjudged a ball from Philcox that beat him for movement.

Brendan O’Sullivan and Gareth Baker now at the crease, Bren after a few interesting strokes settled in and started to find a good rhythm, Garth(1) trying to put the pressure back on the bowlers with a few big swings caught a bit of bad luck with the ball going from pads to stump.

Perry Holland was next in and is well known to the Westfield players as his regular friendly team Sedlescombe shares this ground and several players, with some light hearted ribbing in the morning Perry came out ready to put it all behind him and make a big contribution, he couldn’t have done better, for comedic purpose, than he did, hitting the ball to Stretton, who after a teasing juggling act, held on to the ball leaving Perry high and dry on…0.
The laughter from the Westfield players carried far and wide as Perry wandered back to the hut, tail firmly between his legs!
By now the Westfield bowlers were finding a good level of control and with Nanji, Philcox and Patel all bowling on a spot and claiming wickets, the Parkhurst total which at one stage looked like it may push towards 250, began to falter as the middle overs proved again to be a sticking point for our batsmen as maidens began to flow our run rate started to dip.

Bren continued on now joined by the club Chairman Richard Ahsam, who set about putting together a solid partnership to slow the collapse that was in danger of damaging our great start, done with a mixture of grace, poise and war cries better suited to the latest episode Game of Thrones than the cricket pitch Rich got to 25 before succumbing to the nagging lengths offered up by Cornfield.
Tom Burgess now joined Bren at the crease and whilst hitting the ball was lacking a little on timing with several shots up in the air from Jarvis but managed to find gaps, though good field positioning stopped any major issues, Bren(27) having played well in his opening game of the season found himself LBW to Jarvis who after some early struggles was finding the right lengths and joined the Westfield bowling in putting us under pressure.

Russell Barker(5) came in and played a nice click to the short boundary before getting a ball from Fellows that just kissed the top of off after just the faintest of movement to deceive the bat and for the final few balls Tom was joined by Stevie who after a few risky swipes made it to the end of the over and after a talk with the skipper, Tom faced the first ball of the next over to play all round a swinging ball to be bowled allowing Jarvis to claim his third wicket of the game.

Parkhurst all out for 195 and tea was served, a great selection of sandwiches and cakes gratefully received by all!
It was time for Westfield to begin there chase of what we believed would be a very defendable total, though we knew that Westfield would look to score quickly with our extended bowling line up we had confidence that we could secure our first win of the season.
The innings began as expected that the Westfield batsmen would look to chase quickly with Philcox picking up on anything loose and everything else as Russ B and Stevie opened the Parkhurst bowling with a bit of medium based wobble, which worked, as philcox going for a ball that was full and wide and deserved fully a fate of flying over the boundary ended up going high and caught, giving Stevie his first wicket for the club and the first catch of the day for Paul, Philcox gone for 17.

The pitch was showing that the slow bowling tactic was working, though as we had agreed to playing to the league rules before the game we were having a few issues with no balls and free hits, though we managed to develop a knack of taking wickets on these balls!
Wickets continued to fall rapidly as the batsmen continued to be tempted by the shorter boundaries on offer and the bowlers finding the slightest bits of movement off the pitch with Westfield losing Stretton(0) off the bowling of Russ B to another catch from Paul, Jones(0) to the light tweaking off Rich(once he remembered which pitch to land the ball on) and the opposition skipper Edwards(3) to a similar ball he bowled him with early, though this time it was not a free hit!

With Westfield in a spiral we were feeling fairly good in the field, the loss of Russ B from the bowling attack (due to high no balls) was contentious , though we knew the rules before coming out, the constant reminder that wickets needed to be taken was reinforced by the blows delivered by the next man, Nanji, who took a liking to the bowling of Big Mark and proceeded to carve 22 runs from the first over the folling over was better but the Westfield chase got the kick start it needed with balls disappearing to even the long boundary, Nanji not content to pilfer the small side of the ground as we had done.

A bowling change was called and Perry Holland, fresh from the batting ‘performance’ of the season duly obliged taking 3 wickets in total beginning with Johnson(5), who had sat happily by as Nanji made light of the bowling, and Perry would take the danger man and Paul his 2rd catch of the day, but not before Nanji had scored a quick 62 and Westfield were well into 3 figures, Jarvis would be the last of Perry’s wickets who had supported Nanji’s assault well with a mixture of strokes and shots would finally find our man with the sticky hands, Paul, making catch number 3.

The skipper decided to have a bowl as well, carefully timing his turn to concede with the appearance of a colt (coincidence I assure!) and after an edge through the slips, collected the off stump, though rumblings about bowling action limited his use, however with Westfield in the region of 130-8 we still had enough bowling held back for any circumstance that felt could occur in the search for the last 2 wickets.

Enter the partnership of Patel and Fellows, few chances given the ones that were we didn’t take and all the time with some nice stroke play from Patel(51*) and stoic blocking from Fellows(2*) the Westfield score began to climb, bowling was changed, fields moved but the ball found its way through the gaps and sadly we had to watch as the score ticked closer to the total, the bowling tightened and the last few runs took several overs to be achieved but thanks to the solid ground work to put them ahead of the run rate early on it was inevitable that when we didn’t take the wickets, they would make the runs and finished with a boundary to give Westfield 198-8 and the win.

A big thanks to all who played it was a great day for cricket and played in the right way, and afterwards we all adjourned to The New Inn to find a delightful cottage pit(with cheese crust) was waiting for us.

On to the first home game of the season….