Match Report

With the long winter months concluded, Spring had well and truly sprung in the village of Lavant. After a successful period of indoor cricket and winter nets the mighty Lavant were stirring from their cricket hibernation. Feeling the sun and warmth on their backs the players arrived at the ground which was looking amazing from a top effort from the resident dinosaur in getting the wicket ready for the 1st game of the season.

After a slight change in the fixture Lavant were welcoming Worthing CC to have the honour of gracing the Lavant hallowed turf. 

The Lavant captain (nursing many an ache and an injury) hobbled to the middle to inspect the pitch. With the pitch looking flat and very easy on the eye many observed the skipper deep in thought obviously considering what the best course of action was. 

Ok who are we kidding. He looked at it, shrugged, said bat first and walked off to find the opposition to do the toss. 

With an extensive winter tossing training regime paying off the home captain won the toss and elected to bat first and gathered the team to outline the master plan of what was expected from his batting line up. 

With the inspired speech ringing in their ears the Lavant players skipped to the changing room feeling 7 foot tall and like a million dollars ready to do battle with the young and hungry looking Worthing bowlers. Yes….it was that good a speech.

With a batting line up stocked with talent the team were spoilt for choice. Justin and Joe were asked to start up top looking to get the team off to a good start. 

GAME ON!

With the first over going for 12 the game got off to a blistering start. Justin was able to pounce on some loose bowling and heaving some mighty blows into the farmer’s field. With some clarification required around balls hitting trees on the way out of the atmosphere, Will ‘The master’ MC was seen booking in for counselling having still not got over the tree ‘incident’ from last season. Even Lloyd ‘The Lumberjack’ arrived later in the day obviously sensing that there could be a need for bark battering…

After a calmer second over, double disaster struck with Joe first being out trapped in front LBW (out for 2). Justin continued to score freely but was unstuck by a delivery that stayed low and snuck through his defences (out for 17).

After 2 quick wickets (and the pitch behaving in a classic April village manner) it became clear that a watchful rebuild was required to just steady the ship.

Next out was Harry ‘The Hawk’ and the ever dependable ‘Super’ Steve. It was an exhibition of what was required to steady an innings with both men keeping a close eye on the ball and taking the runs where they could to make sure the scoreboard continued to move. 

With a generous amount of extras being provided by Worthing it was a faultless partnership until drinks (apart from a very dodgy moment where Steve seemed to think he could run a lot faster than Usain Bolt….almost running himself out by a country mile)!  

With a healthy 85 runs on the board the feeling was to guide the team to 20 overs and then at least one of the men cut loose.

Harry took off showing an immense amount of batting class finding gaps all around to caress the ball to the boundary. With ‘The Hawk’ just showing up and looking like a million dollars many a Lavant player were wondering was it really worth doing any batting training via winter nets!! With scores moving rapidly and the team reaching 100 at the 20 over stage the batting plan was coming together with Harry sailing past his 50.

With Worthing scrambling to stop the scoring the runs just kept piling on until the 23rd over when Super Steve (looking to go big) didn’t quite middle one and was out caught for a very respectable 33.

With plenty of overs left on the board Andy was next in but, looking to just guide a delivery to 3rd man, ended up offering up catching practice edging to 1st slip for a decent catch.

Next up was Will ‘T-Rex’. After working tirelessly on pitch preparation his little arms were tired but that wasn’t going to hold him back. Deploying his customary way of hitting the ball hard into odd areas and looking busy he was also unstuck early being bowled for 5.

With still plenty of batters waiting in the hutch next out was Will ‘The Master’ MC to push the team forward for the last 10 overs. After taking a moment to get used to the bounce on the pitch (just about managing to keep a very low one out) Will was happy to get off strike and allow Harry to continue his good work.

Speaking of which….the Hawk looked like a man who was batting on a different surface to everyone else! Really looking like he was in the groove some of the shots he was unleashing were glorious to behold and were a pleasure to watch. So much was Harry in the zone that he seemed unflustered by the fact he had passed the 100, with only a muted celebration and utter concentration with the task in hand! 

Harry and Will MC took the game by the scruff of the neck and moved it forward quickly with the scoreboard flying past the 200 mark in the 32 over, until Will seemed to be bowled in a bizarre manner where the ball seemed to get under his bat and dislodge the bail but without anyone quite knowing how? Will trudged off after scoring an important 32.

With the game reaching the end Tam entered the fray and as always took the right option for the team looking to get off strike and allow Harry to face the remaining deliveries.

With the innings coming to a conclusion (and Harry carrying his bat for a simply magnificent 103 not out) Lavant had posted a monster score of 220 for 6 off their 35 overs.

Tea was taken and a big thank you to Chris ‘John’ Mclean who (even though he wasn’t playing) arrived with the Mclean family to deliver a simply stunning tea for all to tuck into with the only slight contentious moment around how to spread the jam and cream on the scones!! A massive thank you to Chris and his family highlighting the spirit and ethos of Village cricket that Lavant tries to uphold.

Hoping his team hadn’t enjoyed themselves too much at tea the Lavant skipper gathered his troops and Lavant took to the field hoping to defend their total. 

Starting off at (his favoured) river end the Lavant ‘overseas’ looked to get into his work for the 2026 season. Tam ‘Jean Claude’ Van Tran kept things tight and didn’t allow the openers anything to score off. 

At the other end, looking to exploit the conditions, Peter ‘The Professor’ started well. Bowling a good line and length he struck with his 3rd ball of the game to break through the defences of the Worthing #1! 

With the Lavant players buoyed by their early breakthrough their eyes were suddenly drawn to the specimen of a man walking to the middle. The Worthing #3 looked like a man who wasn’t prepared to block….and what happened next was quite simply unbelievable.

Taking guard it didn’t appear the #3 batter even bothered to look at the field. Peter bowled a perfectly decent delivery which was dispatched to the boundary. The next delivery was then blitzed for a huge 6.

The onslaught continued with Tam and Peter trying everything but the brutal hitting was something to behold. With fielders stationed all over leg side boundary the Lavant skipper held onto hope that the #3 didn’t have much of an off side game…until he smashed a ball over extra cover for 6 into the farmers field and then lost the match ball over mid off (ending up in the river)!!

In the 7th over (and with the score flying past 50) and with a real sense of worry that this one batter could take the game away from the home team, the Lavant skipper looked to make an early change in the attack, turning to his Apex predator in the hope he could insert dominance to the proceedings…

…..and boy could he ever! 

Now some people might suggest the first ball of the season from a bowler might be considered a bit of a loosener, but ‘T-Rex’ might have suggested otherwise that his first ball (a filthy full toss) was all part of a masterplan to deliver an extinction level event to the Worthing #3.

Some would say that it flummuxed the batter….others would suggest that the batters eyes lit up and tried to hit it into another county….needless to say the bat speed was immense but didn’t connect, allowing the ball to smash into the stumps and clean bowl the danger man!

There were huge celebrations and relief all round with the hope to regain control of proceedings.

Tam and Will kept things nicely in check bowling tight and relying on some great work in the field. The only issue being when Andy (whose ground fielding was amazing) lost a shoe. As Dave ‘The shoes’ Burford had arrived to watch the game the whole team drew breath in the fear that the shoe curse had struck once more but thankfully all was ok.

Suddenly, as the overs ticked over, the advantage swung back towards the home side as the pressure to chase down the total started to take its toll.

Tam was rewarded for his efforts picking up a wicket and finished his 7 over spell 1 for 30.

Will T, after picking up the crucial wicket, was getting the ball to talk through the air and picked up a second wicket of the day and finished his 5 over spell with impressive figures of 2 for 10.

Next on was Stu ‘Stewie’ Smith who was making his home debut for the mighty Lavant and with the crowds gathering to see some quality leg spin he didn’t disappoint. No looseners here! The first ball was on the money and it continued in this vein throughout his first 3 overs. With plenty of runs still left on the board Stewie built the pressure and started to go through his different deliveries and with the last ball of his over picked up his first wicket! 

With the leg break foxing many a batter Worthing seemed to have no answer and just couldn’t get away, and Stu picked up two more wickets in a dazzling spell of leg spin bowling offering spin and control finishing with brilliant figures of 3 for 13 off 7 overs! Great work Stu.

Replacing Tam at the river end the ‘Master’ entered the fold and just did everything his team mates always kind of expect from him…..bowling tight and giving the batters nothing! We just can’t take for granted what Will MC brings to the bowling attack and (dovetailing perfectly with Stu) squeezed the life out of the Worthing batters who now were way behind the required run rate.

Will picked up a wicket in his second over and kept things tight throughout his spell. The relentless pressure forced Worthing into a suicide single which left the Worthing #10 way short of his ground, allowing Will to scoop up the ball and under arm throw it to the keeper’s end for the simplest of run outs! 

Will ‘The Master’ MC finished his 7 over spell 1 for 33.

With the game suddenly coming to a conclusion the Lavant skipper returned to Peter who was able to settle into his bowling (without the prospect of a batter trying to hit everything into a different time zone) and bowled well finishing his spell 1 for 39.

With the score just ticking above 120 in the 29th over the writing was on the wall and Worthing were all out for 128 in the 30th over giving Lavant their first win of the season.

A terrific team effort from everyone and It has to be said that both Tam and Peter stood up well to the challenge of the explosive #3 batter and really didn’t do an awful lot wrong, and should be applauded for their efforts under the extreme pressure with the ball being smashed to all parts!

Great work to everyone getting the season off to a good start. On to the next we go! 

Man of the match

A clear and obvious winner. Man of the match goes to Harry ‘The Hawk’ Howe for a simply majestic (and match winning) innings. Honestly Triple H looked like he was batting on a different wicket and it was a classy, faultless and match winning 100 that you could ever wish to have seen. Very well done Harry.

Champagne moment

Some really solid moments in the game but nothing stands out more than the wicket from our resident short armed predator. The wicket of the #3 Worthing batter was probably the difference between winning and losing and was a crucial moment of the game. Well done Will T.