Withyham Cricket Club

19/02/2023

As there are no junior nets due to half term, senior nets will be a longer session tonight - from 5.30pm til 7pm at Holmewood House. Great to see such a big turn out last week!

15/05/2022

First league win of the season!

Stand in skipper Pearce won the toss and elected to bat on a beautiful sunny Saturday down at the Buckhurst Oval. We knew our bowling attack wasn't our strongest so a big total needed. Whitehead (23) and Berry (31) got us off to a solid start, despite the former being dropped off the first ball of the innings. New signing A Hancock (56) got his Withyham career off to a flier with some classy strokes as we reacher 87-1 from the first 15. Hodges (41) continued his good form in a tough middle period against some tight bowling. Second new signing D Hancock (13) added valuable runs, with Marjoram (18*) hitting his highest score for the club at the end as we made 234-7 at the close. Massive effort all round and a score that gave us a huge chance of victory.

In reply, Pearce (2-26) and A Hancock (1-21) bowled tightly from the start and picked up key wickets. Ball (2-34) hit his areas over after over and made it very difficult for the Bidborough batsmen to score. A couple of loose overs in the middle and some good hitting turned the tables a little, so the skipper turned to the unlikely bowling of Berry (2-47) for a few overs. This turned out to be a master stroke as the game soon became out of reach for Bidborough. Excellent fielding from Taylor and Hancock saw two run outs and Bidborough fell 54 runs short at the close. A brilliant all round performance and first league win of the season recorded!

MoM - Mike Berry

Full scorecard details here:

Play-Cricket, Withyham CC,

08/05/2022

Defeat in the opening game of the season.

After Underriver won the toss and elected to bat, openers Buckle (0-49) and Pearce (1-30) set about repeating their marvellous opening spells from last week. However, the opposing batsmen settled nicely into their rhythm and punished anything wayward as they quickly reached an opening stand of 50. The breakthrough eventually game with a glove behind to Hodges off returning skipper Bowen. With the score 107-2 from the first 20, a huge chase looked on the cards. However in very unlike Withyham fashion, a series of stunning catches brought us back into the game. First, the skipper produced a piece of magic, sprinting 20 yards backwards before diving to pluck the ball from the air from behind his head at long off. This was shortly followed by a superb diving catch from Hodges from an edge behind off the bowling of Watson (2-31). Arguably the pick of the bunch though, came from debutant Marjoram - leaping like a salmon at extra cover to take an unbelievable one handed catch. Wickets then fell regularly as Underriver reached 195-9 at the close. Bowen the pick of the bowlers with 4 wickets.

Our reply started in typical fashion. AJ was bowled for a golden duck in the second over. Berry and Taylor scratched to double figures before departing. Peerless followed shortly to leave us 28-4. Hodges and Hobden dug deep to see off the rest of some excellent opening spells. 37-4 from 18 overs - not the start we were after, but knowing weaker bowling was to follow, it was a platform to build on. A flurry of boundaries then followed as the run rate was upped and the pair put on a quickfire 70 in just 7 overs. Hobden (12) was then caught after a rare loose shot. Marjoram (6) fell cheaply leaving the run chase to Hodges and Bowen. Good running between the wickets and regular boundaries brought us to 162-7 before Bowen was bowed for 19. The valiant Hodges fell just shy of his century on 96 with the score at 174-8. With Watson absent, it fell to our bowling marvels Pearce (3*) and Buckle to grab the final 20 runs with 5 overs to go. It wasn't to be on this occasion as Buckle was struck LBW for 1. Defeat by 19 runs, but a tremendous recovery leaves us in a positive mindset going into next week.

Full scorecard details here:

Play-Cricket, Withyham CC,

02/05/2021

Withyham Wilt in Final Stages

On another cold day down the 'ham, Withyham took on Underriver in the final pre-season friendly before the league starts next week.

Underriver won the toss and elected to field, stating their batting was' flimsy' - a word that can also be used to regularly describe the home side's batsmen too.

Usual openers Berry and Whitehead started the batting for the Hammers, who faced some tight line and length bowling from both ends - Underriver opener Carpenter in particular causing problems with his late in-swingers. This proved fateful for Whitehead (6) who was cleaned up. Taylor (4) faced the same dismissal from another excellent delivery - 22-2.

Stand in skipper Hodges came in to steady the ship; picking up on anything short and quickly upping the run rate. Berry battled on steadily at the other end to help see off the remaining opening overs. Hodges then holed out and was caught at long on (35). The returning Fred Ball (16) continued the fight, but the run rate dropped in the middle overs and both were dismissed by Underriver's young spinner in quick succession; the battling Berry eventually dismissed for a fine 42.

Munro (4) came and went, leaving the late-arriving Willsdon (17*) and debutant Deverill (30*) to see the innings to a close on 171-6 - 30 runs or so short of an ideal target.

Tea - still BYO - 10/10 for effort from all - particularly those who brought a pork pie to squeeze some severe jealousy from Max Buckle.

Lavercombe and Buckle took the new cherry to hand, both bowling consistently and getting good bite and seam from the pitch. Lavercombe had the young, talented opener caught behind by Hodges for a 🦆, but Underriver dug deep against some tight lines and batsmen 2 and 3 both rode their luck to a stand of over 100. Deverill (5-1-7-0) bowled superbly before pulling up with a calf injury. Buckle dropped a catch in the deep off the bowling of Ball, and Hodges missed a sharp chance behind the stumps standing up to Deverill. Taylor replaced Deverill and cleaned up opener Sorrell (63), and got his second 2 overs later in the same fashion. Ralph returned at the Pavilion end and also picked up a wicket - clean bowled (121-4). At this point, Withyham sensed victory with the two new batsmen looking ropey.

This overconfidence proved to be their downfall. Willsdon dived off early leaving only 10 fielders, and the Underriver batsman ceased on any opportunity and rode their luck with several deliveries from Lavercombe missing the stumps by mms. A few pieces of slack fielding and loose bowling enabled Underriver to reach their target with 3 overs remaining.

Special mentions for the rejuvenated Max Buckle for bowling arguably his best ever spell in a Withyham shirt. Onto the first league game next week!

Full scorecard details available here:

Play-Cricket, Withyham CC,

27/04/2021

A match report written by Eridge CC from our game on Sunday:

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/eridge/teams/38303/match-centre/0-5017199/report

Scorecard available here: http://withyham.play-cricket.com/website/results/4767829

Opener rides his luck on way to 4th century

15/04/2021

And we're back!! First net session done ✅

12/04/2021

Our Senior Nets and training is due to start this Wednesday (14th April) at 6pm. Our first friendly game is the following weekend (24th and 25th April).

Attendance rules for training are the same as last year (as per ECB guidelines).

1) A club committee member must be present at the session.
2) Those intending to attend must notify the club before hand so we can keep track of numbers.
3) Whilst the pavillion will be open, it will only be used to get out any equipment required for nets. The use of changing facilities is currently forbidden.

If you'd like to dust off your gear and come along, please get in touch!

Many thanks and hope to see you there!

01/01/2021

*Club Awards*
A very Happy New Year to everyone associated with Withyham Cricket Club. Let's hope for a much more normal year with plenty of cricket once the 2021 season arrives.

Unfortunately, as things stand we are unable to have indoor nets for the senior Club members this year. This is not possible because of current covid restrictions and with the nets at Holmewood House unavailable.

We had hoped to be having a social event where we could announce and present the awards for the 2020 season but obviously this doesn't look possible in the near future. Shortly after the end of last season members of the Club Committee voted for their choices in the various categories and I am pleased to announce the winners below.

Congratulations to these winners and we hope that they can receive their trophies before too long!

Batsman of the Year - Michael Hodges
Bowler of the Year – Matthew Taylor
Young Player of the Year – David Hudson
Clubman of the Year – Peter Hamerton

07/09/2020

Stats update with one game to go! Bowler of the year is there for the taking!

Full details here: http://withyham.play-cricket.com/Statistics

06/09/2020

Our last competitive game of the Covid-season saw a win and secured a 3rd place finish in this year's 'Tier' system. Pleased to finish on a high and a big well done and thank you to everyone who has represented our club this year 👏🏼🙌🏼🏏

Full scorecard details here: http://withyham.play-cricket.com/website/results/4514243

Stats update will be available after today's game!

30/08/2020

Morning all,

For all you football fans out there, we run a Withyham CC Fantasy League.

Joining the league couldn't be easier. Simply use the link below and you'll be added automatically after you've entered the game.

https://fantasy.premierleague.com/leagues/auto-join/8hqpji

League Code: 8hqpji

Looking forward to playing against you this season!