On a somewhat grey day with a brisk breeze keeping the temperatures down , it was a case of men against boys at Midhurst with a fresh faced Midhurst side facing a typically grizzled set of Buccaneers .
Fielding a short but powerful batting line up and a multi-talented bowling attack, the Buccs chose to bat on a slow wicket. Ross carried on where he left off the previous week and Mann started confidently but was bowled by one keeping low. Rydon came in evidently looking to improve his fitness and was soon blowing hard after a series of smartly run singles, two’s and three’s. Ross got to his fifty without looking troubled then holed out to midwicket, perhaps caught out by the slow pace of the wicket. With Leefe providing a supporting role, Rydon decided he’d had enough exercise for one day and started to locate the boundary with a combination of well-timed straight drives and bludgeons past square leg. He was unlucky to be out on 97 trying to push the scoring rate when for the second week running a Buccs century beckoned. He was followed by the next generation with Charlie Leefe making his debut and a creditable 12 not out. Overall, a solid score of 207 in the allotted 35 hours on a wicket that was not easy to score freely on.
Midhurst started confidently enough with left-handed opener, Kemp, looking particularly strong on the offside. However, at the other end wickets fell regularly, Gwynn opening with a straight one that came down the slope and bowled the other opener. He set the tone with a tight spell of 1 for 18 off 7 overs and West provided useful support at the other end. Bryant and Brandes then came on and got excellent reward for good line and length. Bryant tossed it up and encouraged the batsmen to ‘have a go’. Figures of 3 for 20 were nothing less than he deserved for a very tight spell. Brandes finished on an equally impressive 3 for 28, one highlight being a pre-planned ‘legside strangle’ of Kemp which was well executed by bowler and wicket keeper (Mann). Another highlight was a fine catch by Okines who made a lot of ground to get to it. Finally, Okines came on to bowl and immediately found loop and turn as well as an excellent length despite two years away from the game. He finished off the tail and would no doubt have got more wickets had he been given the chance.
So in the end a comfortable win with the opposition only reaching 112 and contributions from everyone in the team.
Innings of Buccaneers
K Ross Caught Camp 52
J Mann Bowled Pearce 7
R Rydon Caught & Bowled Drayson 97
S Leefe Bowled Atkins 19
C Leefe Not Out 12
S Woolfries Not Out 1
Total 207 for 4
Pearce 7-0-25-1
Drayson 6-0-39-1
Cox 7-0-35-0
Atkins 7-0-36-1
Hamiton-Fox 4-0-29-0
Camp 4-0-28-1
Innings of Midhurst (10 players only)
O Pearce Bowled Gwynne 7
N Kemp Stumped (Mann) Brandes 41
N Cox Run Out 1
T Lush Caught (Okines) Brandes 23
S Leagood LBW Bryant 0
T Atkins LBW Bryant 19
S Drayson Caught & Bowled Brandes 2
S Lush Bowled Bryant 1
A Cox LBW Okines 4
J Hamilton-Fox Not Out 4
Total 112 for 9 (all out)
Gwynn 7-1-18-1
West 5-0-27-0
Brandes 6-0-28-3
Bryant 5-1-20-3
Okines 2-1-3-1
C Leefe 1-0-9-0