Rodmell Cricket Club

The Cricket Club enjoyed another season on the beautiful field that continues to be the envy of clubs across Sussex.  We played seven Sundays at home – winning one, losing one and drawing five – lost two matches to the weather and lack of opposition, won both our 20-20 evening games and toured once again to Hampshire.  This season also saw the first Rodmell century and 5-fer in living, or at least recent, memory and a hatful of 50s for Paul ‘Nobby’ Norledge, Spencer ‘Spence’ Prosser and Roy ‘Roy’ Chapman.

We welcomed old friends back to Rodmell in teams who have been coming to play here for many years.  Our first match against Brighton and Hove Crescent on 20^th May ended in a hard-earned draw, thanks to Bob Foster and Jacob Prosser dropping anchor to preserve the last wicket.  Roles reversed the following Sunday when we couldn’t break down some stubborn resistance from both Chalvington and Ripe and had to settle for a draw ourselves.

Our tour to Hampshire in early June started well with a straightforward 20/20 victory over a Deloitte’s side (including some players who looked like they had played cricket before) but was followed by a battering by Temple Sheen, where they followed up an intimidating 257 for 2 with an even more intimidating bowling spell from 10-year old ‘Henry’.  More draws followed in June and July against Angmering, Gentlemen of Lewes and Breeding and Bramber, a game which saw Rob Manktelow score a magnificent 113 and Tim Coope bowl a scarcely believable spell of 10 overs, 3 maidens, 35 runs, 5 wickets.

The games against The Invalids and East Dean in July were unfortunately lost to the weather and an absence of East Dean respectively, before September finally saw results on a Sunday with a win against Brighton Xiles and a loss to Zambucan Tigers, under the more aggressive captaincy of Richard Sellick, standing in for captain Spencer.

We owe a large debt to the people who not only make the games happen but who help make them such special occasions.  To Spencer for managing to cajole 11 people onto the pitch for (nearly) every game, and head (and only) groundsman Richard Sellick for turning out playable wickets in difficult circumstances.  New recruit Steve Pickup not only brought the ability to play cricket to the team (not always a given) but access to Sussex CCC’s expertise, which saw a team of their groundsmen coming to Rodmell at the end of the season to work on the pitch and get it set up for next season.

Big thanks to Derek Carpenter for taking on the mowing of the outfield and helping to make the ground look even smarter on match days, to Nikki and Mark Terry for being the best scorer/umpire couple in the Ouse Valley, to Chris and Fred Wettern for letting us turn the Croft into a cricket car park, and to David Smart for raising the flag on game days.

Finally, heartfelt thanks to the pub for supplying sandwiches and oh-my-god scotch eggs, and especially to Kim, Lesley and Sarah for making cricket teas the reason so many teams keep coming back to Rodmell.

Rodmell Cricket Club 2018 Season

20 May v Brighton & Hove Crescent – Draw
B&H Crescent 189/4 dec, RCC 163/9

27 May v Chalvington & Ripe – Draw
RCC 198/5 dec, C&R 94/5

8 June v Deloitte’s (20:20) – Won
RCC 130/5, Deloitte’s 110/7

9 June v Temple Sheen – Lost
Temple Sheen 257/2, RCC 132

17 June v Angmering – Draw
Angmering 188/8, RCC 108/9

1 July v Gentlemen of Lewes – Draw
RCC 216/5, GOL 180/9

5 July v Harvey’s (20:20) – Won
Harveys 97/9, RCC 101/3

8 July v Beeding & Bramber – Draw
RCC 238/4, B&B 196/8

22 July v East Dean – Cancelled

29 July v The Invalids – Cancelled

2 September v Brighton Xiles – Won
Xiles 145/7, RCC 148/3

9 September v Zambucan Tigers – Lost
ZT 203/9, RCC 163

All RCC results, scorecards and statistics can be found at https://rodmell.play-cricket.com/website/team_statistics/64146

2018 Batting – most runs

1. Norledge         317
2. Prosser            218
3. Manktelow     123

2018 Bowling – most wickets

1. Coope              11
2. Courage          10
3. Last                  8

2019 Fixtures (2.30pm unless stated)

May 5          v          Angmering

June 2         v          Brighton and Hove Crescent

June 9         v          Tour

June 30       v          Gentlemen of Lewes

July 7           v          Chalvington & Ripe

July 21         v          Beeding and Bramber

July 28         v          Invalids

August 11   v          St Peter’s

Sept 1          v          Brighton Exiles

Sept 8          v          Zambucan Tigers