Reports and Results
U11s Festival Week
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Last week was our final festival week, with our U11s having 3 games, away to Petworth on the Tuesday, followed by home matches against Rottingdean and Horsham.
The trip to Petworth started with Ferring winning the toss and electing to field. Teddy Paice set the tone with the ball getting the first wicket and finishing his 3 over spell with 1 for 4. Stanley Spencer (1 wicket), Harry Challen (2 wickets), Louie Biggs (2 wickets for 2 runs off 4 overs), and Tillie Creasey-Fumagalli (1 wicket for 0 runs off 1 over and a run out) left Petworth in huge trouble at 33-8. A late rally got their score up to 61-8 before the innings was wrapped up with Neo Williams taking 2 wickets in his first over. However, the reply got off to a bad start when Neo was clean bowled with the score on just 4. Runs from Ralph Hall and JJ Young got the score up to 33-2 (Ralph out for 14), but when JJ, Louie Biggs and Teddy Paice were all out with the score still on 33 the target of 62 looked a long way off. Fortunately excellent batting from Harry Challen (23 not out) saw Ferring home for the loss of 6 wickets in just 12 overs.
The next day was the home match against Rottingdean, and again captain JJ Young won the toss and elected to field first. Two early runs outs got Ferring off to a good start, but a left hand combo unsettled the bowling attach and the score moved from 7-2 to 65-2, but the spin of Louie Biggs (1 for 9) and Archie Creasey-Fumagalli (2 for 18) took 3 quick wickets to move the score to 65-5. Again the dial moved though, Rottingdean finding another excellent partnership getting the score up to 104. Neo Williams then took a quick 3 wickets for just 4 runs removing both batsmen that had scored and it was left to Peaches Cooper and Esme George to wrap the innings up with a wicket each, as Rottingdean finished on 122 all out. A big total to chase and again wickets fell early, Ralph Hall and Harry Challen out early with the score on 17. Opener Neo Williams put up resistance to the new ball scoring a battling 24 off 49 balls but when he fell with the score at 58-5 it felt a long way to go to get a win. However, a captains innings by JJ Young upped the run rate and with Teddy Paice started a magnificent comeback. Although Teddy was out for 11, JJ was able to manage the strike to keep the score ticking quickly, getting the score up to a tied 122-7 with JJ on 46 not out. All that was left was for him to hit a four to win the game and bring up his first ever hard ball 50 off just 40 balls and 2 wins out of 2 for Ferring.
Last up were Horsham at Ferring on a day which had seen plenty of rain overnight. A delayed start to get the ground ready was needed and Horsham sensibly elected to field first on a wicket that was going to be lively given the weather. It proved so with Neo Williams being hit in the chest early by a ball the bounced up and caused him to go off injured. Despite the ball moving around Louie Biggs and Harry Challen scored well against the new ball, but when both of them were out along with returning Neo and Alf Lawrence the score was still only 58-4. A solid partnership from JJ Young (19) and Ralph Hall (21 off 41 balls) ticket the score along to 91 before both were out in quick succession. Wickets then fell frequently with the score reaching 107 all out. The reply from Horsham never really got going with 4 early wickets falling to leave them 8-4, and then 23-5 with Louie Biggs taking 2 wickets and Teddy Paice bowling a fantastic opening spell of 3 wickets for 3 runs off 3 overs. When Ralph Hall got the wicket of the Horsham captain for 26 with the score at 44-6 it was the beginning of the end. Wickets for Archie and Tille Creasey-Fumagalli, and Harry Challen saw Horsham bowled out for just 55.
A fantastic week for the U11s who played 3 won 3 and finished 5th in the league for the whole week and being right up there with big clubs such as Haywards Heath, Eastbourne, and Horley whilst finishing above Worthing, Pagham and Hastings. Our thanks to Broadwater who we worked with for this week to ensure these talented youngsters had sufficient numbers for games, but the future looks bright for both clubs, especially when you think the Ferring side had a number who will be back playing in this tournament next year.
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Festival Week U14s
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We started at home to Lindfield and having lost the toss were put into bat. In truth we didn’t do great, finding ourselves 2 wickets down in the first over. It was a story of quick wickets, but with some resistance, first Caiden Day, but most importantly and impressively a 108 run partnership between Harry Booker and Alex Booker (no not related). Frustratingly Alex was out for 49 and then as wickets fell again Harry was left unbeaten on 44 not out as we were all out for 136. The response started well, Thomas Watkiss getting 2 wickets in the first over to match the start Lindfield made. Another followed for Thomas in his third over, but in truth that was as good as it got really, Alex Booker took one further wicket, but Lindfield in truth strolled to a 6 wicket win with plenty of overs to spare. A disappointing start and at the time we didn’t realise just how good Lindfield were (they ended up topping the table winning all their matches).
Match 2 of the festival week saw us travel to West Chiltington & Thakeham. Having lost the toss again, West Chilts opted to bat first. An early breakthrough by Caiden Day an early bright spot, but in truth the early bowling by Ferring was a little short and proved expensive against some very good bats. However, once the second wicket had fallen (unfortunately at 125 runs) there was improvement and wickets then did continue to be taken, with Caiden (3 for 28) and Finn Mayer (3 for 33) the pick of the bowlers. A large total of 225 all out was set for Ferring to chase with 45 overs to do it (or bat out 45 overs without being all out for the draw). Ferring set out to be a bit more solid with the bat this game and not give easy wickets away and see how the score looked after 10 overs. In truth they did go about this better, there were still wickets that fell cheaply, but more as a result of good bowling than bad shot selection. Harry Booker continued his good form with 18 off 35 balls early on, before Jack Parkinson (19 off 77 balls) and Finn Mayer (24 off 63 balls) put in a really solid performance to bring the draw option very much into play. With both Finn and Jack out the score was 107-7 with over 10 overs to remain. Enter Annabel Chandler and 9 year old Neo Williams who set out determinedly to get the draw and match the record of the U12s the week before of starting loss then draw. Both knew that the score was unachievable and so set about defending their wicket for all their worth, refusing to run anything for risk of a run out or play anything wide of the stumps. This led to Annabel scoring 0 off 41 balls and Neo scoring 0 off 32 balls. With 2 balls left and the draw all but secured (with two wickets remaining) Neo scored a cheeky 3 followed by a single for Annabel on the last ball. Great defensive batting from the two of them, under great (fair) pressure from the fielding side who did what they could to get a wicket but were surprised by the resistance they met from relative youngsters.
Match 3, the final match of the week was at home to St Peters, and again a determination to match the U12s week and win the final game. You guessed it, captain Thijs Geraets lost the toss for the third match running (at least) and Ferring were put into bat first. Fears of another batting collapse were there when Caiden tried to smash the first ball he faced for 4 only to be caught, but Jack Parkinson and Thijs put on a steady second wicket partnership to steady the nerves. With the help of 67 extras and excellent batting from both Alex Booker (41) and Thomas Young (38) the score reached a really respectable 189-5 before wickets started to fall quickly as Ferring looked to add more quick runs. A final cameo from 10 year old JJ Young with 8 off 4 balls allowed Ferring to declare on 214-9 off 38 overs. The reply from St Peters was solid, but just as the opening bowlers were due to finish they lost their first wicket with an excellent catch from Jack Parkinson off Caiden Days bowling. Wickets did then continue to fall on a fairly regular basis, JJ Young continuing a fine match performance picking up a couple of top order wickets as St Peters fell to 70-5. As Ferring rotated the bowling options a 50 run partnership was built, however, when the 11th bowler of the innings Harry Booker came on the fear of a draw was quickly put to bed with a fantastic spell of 4 wickets for 8 runs off 3 overs, which just left Jack Parkinson to pick up the final wicket of their number 3 bat (who scored 29 off 86 balls) to give the U14s team a much deserved win.
Similar to the U12s, a mid table finish, but some really good cricket against what proved excellent opposition (Lindfield finishing top, West Chilts finishing 5th out of 26 teams). Over to the U11s to see how they get on in a couple of weeks.
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Festival Week U12s
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Now for those of you who follow us will know we’ve had quite an eventful week, well on top of that it was the Under 12s festival week this week, and they’ve just played Cuckfield away, Haywards Heath b home, and Burgess Hill away. Now we’ve broadcast how well our U10s and U14s have been doing this year, whilst the U12s have been less headline catching, but for a new team put together this year they’ve done amazingly well, and it continued this week in games that can last for a total of 70 overs.
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Alright, the first game could have gone better, Cuckfield scored 162/7 off 37 overs and we were all out for 82, but even this had it’s highlights – Leo Whyatt opening the bowling took 2 wickets for 16 off 6 overs and Elodie Gibbs took 2 wickets. With the bat, captain on the day (and still an Under 10 player) JJ Young scored 31 not out, unfortunately running out of batting partners and being left stranded.
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The Haywards Heath game proved a different challenge, a team with several Sussex pathway players, including one in the U12 group who got run out on 99, and one in the U11 group who was out lbw for 45 to Archie Creasey-Fumagalli. A massive total of 234 was set by Haywards Heath from 36 overs (credit here to Rayhan Kuruvila who during all this bowled 4 overs for just 7 runs!), but to win Haywards Heath still needed to bowl out Ferring in 34 overs. The batting got off to a rocky start, Neo Williams and Ryley Gibbs digging in to try and see off the opening bowling attack with the new ball, and whilst successfully navigating the side past 10 overs, both fell in quick succession and Ferring found themselves struggling at 17-4 with over 20 overs still to bat. However, Leo Whyatt and Rayhan Kuruvila came in and both batted really solid innings, the U12 pathway player for HH came and went without wicket despite “rapid” speed. They did both get out, Rayhan for 27 off 43 balls and Leo 37 off 52 balls, but by the time Leo was out the score had got to 116-5 and the number of overs significantly lower. JJ Young had come in when Rayhan was out and continued to take the game to Haywards Heath scoring 38 not out off 27 balls, ably supported at the end by Elodie Gibbs. Ferring got a very commendable draw, finishing on 151-6 off 34 overs, Haywards Heath were a really good team, played the game really nicely, but in truth for them had a really good learning from the game, confessing it was a first for them to face a team who fought hard not to get out and battle for the draw.
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And onto the final game, away to Burgess Hill, another big club but with the team wanting to finish on a high with a win. Immediately a new challenge was set for Ferring – bat first and set a total. Neo and Ryley were given a break from opening with Jasper Jones and Leo Whyatt given the opportunity for the final game (partly enforced due to car trouble delaying the arrival of Ryley and Elodie). But a bad start with Jasper being caught off the second ball meant there was not much of a break from opening for Neo who was then in. When Leo and JJ followed the score was 42-3 and with Ryley and Elodie still delayed fears the batting tail would be quickly exposed and a low total set. However, an incredibly mature innings from 9 year old Neo Williams wore Burgess Hill down. Batting for over 20 overs and more than 2 hours he calmly faced bowling change after bowling change playing sensible shots all around the ground not giving Burgess Hill any chances and let the score tick up with extras by just occupying the crease. Ably supported by George Sargent the score ticked up to 69 and gave time for the arrival of the Gibbs family. Neo did eventually fall for only 34 runs with the heat and general fatigue becoming too much for him, having faced 87 balls and scored no boundaries in that (the ball going close a number of times), but the score had ticked up to a very respectable 114-5. A tired bowling attack then had to deal with Ryley being able to up the scoring rate at the end, scoring 30 not out and with the help of 64 extras Ferring set a target for Burgess Hill of 151 using 37 overs to get them and for 7 wickets. In reply Teddy Paice and Leo Whyatt set Ferring off to a great start, both picking up two quick wickets in their 3 over opening spells (Teddy 2 for 7, Leo 2 for 4), and it looked a long way for Burgess Hill to go to get a result out of the game.
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Enter Archie Creasey-Fumagalli for Ferring. Another of the current U10 crop and playing his first season of hard ball cricket, he had his confidence up having got the wicket of a Haywards Heath opening bat (and U11 Sussex pathway player) earlier in the week, but we weren’t quite prepared for this spell of bowling. Wicket after wicket fell, he bowled just 17 balls and in it clean bowled 4 batsmen and had one caught behind by wicketkeeper JJ Young, finishing with incredible figures of 5 wickets for just 7 runs. Elodie Gibbs collected the other wicket and Ferring had bowled out Burgess Hill for just 36. I must also give a shout out to Burgess Hill who took the result very well, and selfishly pleasingly the Ferring kids took what was a huge victory very well too, agreeing to let Burgess Hill players have another couple of overs of batting practice at the end whilst those who hadn’t bowled got a chance for some practice too.
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It's been a fantastic week for the team, they lost together and won together, they showed great energy in the field and supported each other when the going was tough. These were long games but I think all involved have really enjoyed it, and it was amazing to finish with that bowling spell from Archie, hopefully that match ball has pride of place in the Creasey-Fumagalli household! U14s festival week is this coming week and the U11s towards the end of August, for parents of kids of these age groups next year – start planning your holidays around these weeks as they are great fun!