Men's XI
Matches
Sun 13 Jun 2021
Nuthurst Cricket Club
Men's XI
229/4
228/9
Henfield
THE SCIENCE AND ARTISTRY OF CRICKET

THE SCIENCE AND ARTISTRY OF CRICKET

Raghavendra singh23 Jun 2021 - 11:31
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Report By Rahul Jobanputra

Heathfield 228-9 (Time limited) lost to Nuthurst CC 229-4 by six wickets

On a hot, balmy weekend the Nutters took on a youthful-looking Henfield side at Mannings Heath. The skippers opted for a time-limited game to make sure the post-match revelleries would be bathed in the evening sun!

With the mercury close to the 30C mark, Henfield won the toss and wisely elected to bat. Apart from an early strike by Jezzer, bagging Bagwell early in the innings, our bowlers struggled early on, clearly feeling the heat. The runs quickly piled up for Henfield with some excellent batting by Paine and Mendis who built up a quick-fire 70 run partnership.

Science lesson 1 (or 101?): if your team is dehydrated, water it, and, importantly (in a cricket match), take your time about it as the added benefit may just be that the opposition batters lose their concentration! Sure enough this is what happened and Henfield lost two quick wickets. Chippy who hitherto had gone for plenty in his opening spell, chose to defy science (and age!) by actually lengthening his run-up in the searing afternoon sun! Who would have thought that this would work? (He didn’t of course rely on our usually splendid fielding of this season as the mis-fields were more than occasional today). Jezzer chipped-in with another and Amol with a couple cleaned up the tail. But, by then, the short boundary on the Village Hall side and some aggressive batting, roared on by a large Henfield entourage, saw Henfield to a challenging 228 in their allotted time.

The Nutters trooped off, the sun beat down relentlessly, spectators and players seeking shelter from it where they could. A long tea break followed.

The pavilion and veranda offered no shade, those who sought the shade probably did not witness what happened next – two of the game’s more nuanced facets: the art of skilful batting and the ‘science’ of defending a total.

After a slow start, Jonny and Guy racked up what proved to be the match-winning foundation with an opening partnership of 125. Their all-round batting skills in full flow, and Guy’s artistic late cuts to the fore (including one through the wicketkeeper!).

Henfield seemed set on entertaining their crowd with an attacking field on an obviously placid surface with only a couple of boundary riders. Nutters were bemused but grateful, the craft of defending quite a large total with a time limit on the game was clearly secondary and ultimately allowed us to win. And, a sun-kissed early evening at the usual watering hole followed, Henfield’s players and supporters joined us in what turned out be a fabulous game played in good spirits and celebrated appropriately!

Match details

Match date

Sun 13 Jun 2021

Kickoff

14:00
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Lead Sponsor - Mannings Heath Golf & Wine Estate
Golf Day Sponsor - South East Hearing Centres
Club Sponsor - Red River Solutions