by Charlotte Burton

Weekend July 30-31

What a week!!! To say I am happy is nowhere close, I would say I am ecstatic, I have been walking round with a big smile on my face for the last few days.

Where do I start, we have won our first trophy of the season, we have two sides in the quarter finals of the County Championship, another side at the top of the table and a team that has blown one team away in two weeks!

Last week we had a total of 7 matches with 5 wins and 2 loses.

 

Under 11s

The 11s had their final matches last week of the season and after playing a number of friendly’s it was down to a competitive competition to finish of the season. The girls had 3 days at the Arundel Festival, where they played Essex, Middlesex and Surrey. With quite a few players on holiday Matt Bourne invited two players from Worthing Chippingdales who he felt would be able to play for Sussex, one on the Wednesday and the other player the Wednesday and Friday, and these girls did not fail, they both did extremely well and fitted in so well with the side, I hope Matt is sending them to trials this year!

They first played Surrey on the Wednesday and won by 7 wickets. Sussex restricted Surrey to 96 for 4 and Sussex reached the total with 3 wickets down with 3 overs remaining. But it was captain, Ella Bourne, that stole the show on this day taking a hat-trick on her last over, finishing with figures of 3 for 11 off 4 overs and then Ella went on to score her maiden County 50 for Sussex in 41 balls and was not out, a great day for young Ella.

The second day they came up against a tough Essex side and lost their only match by 5 wickets, but Georgina Humphreys scored a good 38 off 42 balls and Ellie Robinson took 3 for 15 off her 4 overs.

On the final day they played Middlesex and Sussex knew that not only they had to get a win but also a good run rate to be in with a chance of winning the festival as Essex and Surrey also had won one match. It was a good competitive match against Middlesex, with on of their batsman scoring a 50, but with some tight bowling Sussex kept Middlesex down to 107 for 8, with Ella Bourne, Ellie Robinson and Pheobe O’Borne taking two wickets each.

Sussex were determined to get the runs and get them quickly, but losing 3 early wickets, Sussex needed someone to stay around and score quickly, and after her 38 the day before, Georgina Humphreys was continuing her form with the bat and lead Sussex to victory and finished on 48 not out off 40 balls.

Surrey had also won their match against Essex, so it was down to which team had the best run rate and after much waiting around, Sussex were crowned Arundel Festival champions after having a run rate of 5.9 while Surrey’s was 5.6. This is the first time Sussex has won the Arundel Festival and the first trophy for Sussex; let’s hope there are more to follow from the other age groups this season.

I am so pleased for the under 11s they have had an outstanding season and to see them on the final day so happy was really good to see.

 

Under 13s

The 13s had their final County Championship league match which was a re-arranged game away to Kent. At the start of last week we all thought that they had to win to get through to the quarter finals otherwise it would be Kent, but what we didn’t know is that Kent also played a re-arranged match against Surrey last week which Surrey won and ultimately affected the table in the end.

Sussex were put into field and bowled brilliantly and getting Kent out for 93 off 24 overs, with Tara Norris taking 3 for 19, Molly Beadle 2 for 9 and Eleanor Monk 2 for 15. Sussex started well with the bat with Tara Norris scoring 17, Eleanor Monk 10 and Ellen Burt 26, but we had a massive collapse and were bowled out for 92, so we lost by 1 run!! However we did just about enough to be top of the table, Kent finished on an average of 14.5 and we finished on 14.75 (too close for me!). But the 13s are through to the quarter finals this weekend which is brilliant.

 

Under 17s

After weeks of cancelled matches the sun was finally shinning on the under 17s. They had 2 matches this week and we also welcomed back Georgia Adams who had unfortunately been out for over a year with a foot injury and she looked like she hadn’t missed a game.

The first match was away to Gloucestershire and if I am right I think it is the first time a Sussex side has played Gloucestershire. Sussex lost the toss and were asked to field, and we started well with Sophie Parnell taking two early wickets, while Izi Noakes followed soon after taking the wicket of the opening batsman. Sussex bowled tightly and were not giving anything away as they bowled Gloucestershire out for 76 with Jade Elphick taking 4 for 10, Izi Noakes 3 for 21, Sophie Parnell 2 for 15 and Chiara Green 1 for 8 off 9. Also Carla Rudd took two good catches behind.

We knew if we wanted to get maximum batting points we would have to get the score within 19 overs, so openers Chiara Green and Georgia Adams, were positive and attacking from the start and got Sussex to 30 in no time at all until Chiara was caught on 21 off 28 balls and Georgia soon followed on 14 off 21 balls. Sophie Parnell and Carla Rudd continued where Chiara and Georgia had left off and lead Sussex to victory with only 2 wickets down and in 17 overs, so maximum points!

Their second game was 2 days later at Blackstone against  Kent who were, at the time top of the league. We won the toss and elected to bat and our run rate was going well, but we kept losing wickets at regular times, however Izzy Collis and Izi Noakes put on an important partnership of 56, with Collis scoring 17 before being given out LBW. Izi Noakes continued to stick around and was hitting the ball hard, and reached her first County 50, she was eventually bowled for 65 off 77 balls. Sussex reached 182 for 9 in their 45 overs after Jade Elphick hit out in the last over to make sure we got maximum batting points. Kent had their overs reduced to 41 overs after bowling slowly. Izi Noakes and Sophie Parnell started well with the new ball taking 3 early wickets, however Kent were keeping up with the run rate but Chiara Green and Georgina Monk took the two main wickets. Sussex then slowed Kent down and soon the 41 overs were up and Kent reached 143 for 8 with Sussex winning by 39 runs. Izi Noakes finished her day off with 2 for 27, Chiara Green 2 for 33 and Sam Wright 1 for 9 off 6 overs.

The win against Kent has meant Sussex are now top of the table after winning all their matches, let’s hope it continues with their 2 remaining matches.

 

Seniors

After a successful win last week against Yorkshire at Harrogate, the Sussex Women were looking to put on an equally good performance for the home crowd at The PROBIZ yesterday, and they did just that.

Yorkshire won the toss and elected to bat first, which again was to go in Sussex favour. Opening bowlers, Georgia Elwiss and Alexia Walker started well with the new ball and used the overcast conditions early on in the day to their advantage. Elwiss took the early wicket of opener, Salliann Briggs, while Walker followed soon after, removing opener Kathyrn Doherty.

Two more wickets fell in quick succession, with Sophie Parnell running Lauren Winfield at Mid Wicket and Walker taking her second wicket and bowling out Yorkshire’s overseas player, Liz Perry.

Holly Colvin came into the attack and again caused problems for the batsman as they struggled to score and soon Colvin took two quick wickets, fellow England spinner, Danielle Hazell and Jessica Watson.

Yorkshire were 50 for 6 and it looked like Sussex could get Yorkshire our for under 100 like the week before, however Katherine Brunt and Laura Spragg put on a partnership of 34 before Spragg was bowled by Izi Noakes. Brunt followed soon after Caroline Atkins caught her off the bowling of Noakes at mid on.

Off Spinner Charlotte Russell joined in with the wickets taking the final two resulting in Yorkshire being bowled for 101 off 39 overs. Colvin finished with figures of 2 for 14, Walker 2 for 24 and Noakes 2 for 14.

Sussex openers Sarah Taylor and Caroline Atkins went out to bat and looked to be positive and attacking from ball one as they played their shots with ease, driving and pulling the ball to the boundary. Both Taylor and Atkins were determined to get the runs quickly so Sussex could get maximum batting points and going at over 6 an over they soon reached the score in the 16^th over with Atkins hitting a four to the boundary to see Sussex to victory and reaching her half century, while Taylor scored 40 off 48 balls.

We also had the squad photo at The PROBIZ yesterday which was a great success, I will keep you posted on details on that.

  

We still have a lot more games this week:

 Tuesday 2^nd August – Women T20 Comp @ Normandy

Wednesday 3^rd August – Women T20 Comp @ Normandy

Friday 5^th August – Under 17s v Hampshire @ Yateley CC  - 11.30am start

Saturday 6^th August – Under 13s v Buckinghamshire – Quarter Finals @ Ferring Cricket Club – 2pm start

Sunday 7^th August – Women v Berkshire – away – 11am start

 

I hope my smile stays this week!!!