On Sunday 22nd August 2010, former players and their families gathered in the Pavilion to greet John Sennitt, another former player, and his wife Val who were visiting UK from Australia where they have been living since 1974.
Despite the weather being somewhat damp, an added attraction was a game of cricket that afternoon, which Storrington eventually won as light was fading fast.
John, like other prominent Storrington players in his era, had been educated at Steyning Grammar School. He did his National Service with the Royal Artillery, becoming a Physical Training Instructor. He then attended Loughborough College and qualified as a PE teacher. He taught PE at a number of schools in Sussex, and for seven years he was the PE teacher on the British naval base at Episkopi in Cyprus.
John was a top order batsman. His scoring zenith was surely in the four seasons 1961-1964 when he topped one thousand runs in each season, amassing a total of 5,172 runs in 159 innings. He scored centuries in each of those seasons, his highest score being 150 not out in 1961. The following year he and Alan Backshall had a record opening partnership of 235 runs. John still remembers being run out on 99 in a Cricket Week game – by Tony Rapley who did so much for the Club over many years.
The reunion was attended by Keith and Sheila Miller (they had travelled from Wrexham); and Keith’s cousin, Jill Carrell. Keith and Jill are the grandchildren of Alfred Crowhurst, the village blacksmith who had played cricket for Storrington in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s. There was a full house of Carters: Ron, who began his long playing career at about the same time as John Sennitt; his three sons Geoff, John, and Malcolm, accompanied by Helen, whose son Stuart was playing in the game that afternoon. Peter Johnson, a bowling contemporary of John Sennitt was there with his daughter Louise and grand-daughter India. Other players included Roger and Trevor Willmott, John Harrison (cousin of “H” who was also playing), and Ian Cotton.
A magnificent tea was provided by Janet Haggart; and some of the Club’s many scorebooks and other memorabilia were brought out of storage to help stir everybody’s memories and keep conversations flowing.
Report by Chris Winter
Storrington drew with Ram
Storrington's batsmen fought back from 63 for 5 to secure the draw that kept daylight between themselves and Ram whilst also moving them above Eastergate courtesy of the points that they picked up in the draw. With captains Rob Norris and Adam Smith again hampered by widespread lack of availability, Norris called up Matt Pickard, Steve Watkins, Colin Harrison and Graham Humphries to the 1st XI. With Storrington in the field first, Pickard opened the bowling with his brother Dan and immediately settled into a tidy line and length. Not a speed merchant at the best of times, Matt Pickard was a little down on pace due to a niggling injury but his great control and the angle created by his left arm over action caused the Ram batsmen no end of problems. After 10 overs he had hugely impressive figures of 3 for 21 and it was only an assault by Sachin in his final two overs that made him slightly more expensive at a still impressive 3 for 41 from 12. From the other end Dan Pickard bowled a shorter spell as it became apparent that the Ram batsmen preferred pace on the ball. Mike Groves came into the attack and bowled a marathon spell through to the end of the innings to finish with 3 for 72 from 18 overs. There were also two wickets for Paul Woolley and one for Dan Pickard. Of the Ram batsmen only Sachin showed any real quality and it was his 88 that drove the home side's score up to and beyond 200. That he was dropped on single figures was a huge source of frustration to Storrington and had the chance - albeit a sharp one low down at second slip - been taken, the Swans would have been looking at a lot easier chase than the 225 that they were set to win the match.
The first over of the Swans reply was bizarre. Ricky bowled a 10 ball over which included a boundary from Steve Watkins who then ran himself out going for a suicidal second run off a no ball, and 3 byes when the ball evaded the keeper and ran down to fine leg whose return throw was missed by the wicket keeper and the fielders backing up and ran down to long off. With Watkins gone Norris and Dan Pickard looked to get the chase up and running and initially looked comfortable before Norris played a terrible cut shot to an appalling delivery with the catch ballooning up to extra cover. Pickard played his best innings of the season before being dismissed for 28 and when Humphries and Chris Hurst made 0 and 1 respectively Storrington were in huge trouble at 63 for 5 with 30 overs remaining. The partnership of 106 that followed between Mike Groves and Matt Talbot was crucial in ensuring that defeat was a avoided but was also important in that it gave both players time at the crease and was easily the most impressive innings either man has played this season. Groves was eventually dismissed for 53 and Talbot unluckily for 49 but they'd dragged their team bag into the match and before Groves was dismissed there was still a chance of victory. In the end the priority was to prevent Ram from closing the gap rather than risking defeat by going all our for victory, and Harrison and Jamie Webber saw out the remaining overs to secure the draw.
With Eastergate losing heavily and bottom side Scaynes Hill also being beaten, the 12 points obtained from the draw with Ram made it a good day for Storrington who moved up one place in the league. The top five are starting to open up a gap between themselves and the bottom four but victory at Selsey on Saturday - still the only team that the Swans have beaten this season - with Selsey just one place above the Swans.
Horsham Trinity won by 55 runs
Rob Norris's insistence on batting second whenever he wins the toss might be tested if his opponent calls incorrectly again next Saturday. For the fourth time out of four complete matches so far this season the Swans opponents had first use of the track and after an impressive opening day win against Selsey where a very modest total was knocked off for the loss of just two wickets, it is now three failed pursuits on the spin. Whilst the Swans were comfortably able to shut up shop and secure draws against Eastergate and Scaynes Hill it was a different story at Horsham Trinity as they surrendered for a disappointing 132 all out.
The afternoon started well with Norris winning the toss and taking to the field with his side. Alex Barritt and Dan Pickard both bowled extended opening spells with Norris reluctant to let loose the grip that his two openers had on the Trinity batsmen. The more experienced of the home sides two opening batsmen never looked comfortable and having been lucky to evade the cover fielders with a couple of shovels through the off side he skied a full toss from Pickard with Norris running around from behind the stumps to take the catch. Barritt removed Kidd and Hemptstead cheaply and when captain Steve Cox ran out young opener Chappels for 10 his side were in a spot of bother. Cox was fresh from an unbeaten 102 the previous week and immediately looked to carry on from where he'd left off. Whilst it wouldn't be fair to call Trinity's batting a one man effort the innings was built very much around the captain's knock. The Swans bowlers continued to make regular inrodes but Cox played a chanceless knock - apart from one blistering drive that Colin Harrison miraculously got a hand to low down at mid off but to call it a chance would be harsh on the fielder - and ended unbeaten on 92. Pickard finished with 3 for 61 from 17 and Barritt an outstanding 2 for 31 from 16. Jamie Webber also bowled an excellent spell of off spin at the death and it was only two sixes and a four in his final over that prevented him from returning outstanding figures. A couple of dropped catches were the only blemish on an otherwise impressive effort in the field.
In previous run chases against Eastergate and Scaynes Hill it was the second half of the innings where the pursuit went off track. This time, with just 188 required only one major partnership was required. Not for the first time this season Norris was short of obvious candidates at the top of the order. The result was that Webber partnered the captain at the start of the innings with middle order power house Luke Talbot slightly out of his comfort zone at number three. It wasn't an experiment that the captain necessarily had much choice about but it back fired. Webber was clearly going to throw the bat at the ball and scored a quick fire ten before he skied a catch that could have been taken by any of the fielders on the ground. Norris got an outswinger from Joe Cox that he was shaping to play through mid wicket only for it to evade his bat and swing back to bowl him. Rob Haggart got almost exactly the same delivery from Cox and it was only his pad that prevented him from being bowled, leaving the umpire with a straight forward decision and when Talbot was bowled for a duck by Max Lee, Storrington were 16 for 4.
Even after such a desperate start to the innings, victory was still only one big partnership away. With Chris Hurst and Graham Humphries in at five and six there were two men at the crease capable of building the required stand and when Hurst stated to tuck into Chappells' inviting leg spin, Storringtons hopes were raised. Hurst dispatched a couple of trademark maximums before perhaps looking for one big hit too many and perishing at long on. When Humphries had to retire hurt with a combination of back trouble and severe cramp the writing was on the wall and despite a combination of lusty tail end blows from Ian Homewood and Barritt and some solid defiance from Harrison Storrington were dismissed with over 9 overs to spare to condemn them to their first defeat of the season.
Norris has his strongest squad of the season to pick from for the next fixture at home to Brighton Insurance and only the continued absence of Dan Le Roux will deprive the team of their full strength batting line up.
The 2nd XI also went down heavily to Chichester Priory but not without an outstanding all round performance from Matt Pickard. The vice-captain stepped up to take charge in the absence of Adam Smith and took 5 for 60. Perhaps more surprising was the fact that he followed it up with a half century, his first in league cricket for the club.
Storrington drew with Scaynes Hill
Storrington threw away the chance of what would have been an outstanding win over Scaynes Hill as they collapsed from 173 for 1 to 230 for 7 and had to settle for a draw. Scaynes Hill's 253 for 7 was built mainly around 86 from Chris Markham as Storrington's shortage of front line bowlers was exposed. On the hottest day of the season so far the workload was split between just four bowlers. The seamers in particular took on more work than would have been ideal with Dan Pickard bowling 12 overs, James Groves 14 overs and Mike Groves 15. Iain Watkins leant support with 8 overs of off spin. The wickets were shared around with two apiece for James and Mike Groves, one for Pickard and one for Watkins who bowled a useful spell of off spin. James Groves was impressive on his 1st XI debut and bowled with aggression and enthusiasm on his first outing. Markham was denied the opportunity to push on for a ton when he was run out by another debutant, Rob Haggart. The youngest of the four Haggarts currently playing for the club chased down a bowl into the vacant third man area before executing an excellent direct hit to leave Markham short.
The Swans have had some high scoring contests with Scaynes Hill in recent years and successfully chased a total of over 200 to beat them in the away fixture last season so this was by no means an unachievable target. Dan Le Roux was back in the side for his first appearance of the season and is likely to become Rob Norris's opening partner for the rest of the season but on this occasion Norris chose Matt Talbot to start the innings with him. The experiment didn't pay off as Talbot gloved to first slip for a duck. Norris then flashed one through the slips himself and was dropped at third slip but that was the last chance offered as he embarked on a partnership with Martin Fisher that put the Swans into a position from where they should have strolled to victory. Fisher made 61 in the partnership of 163 and Norris eventually went for 92 which including 15 fours and 3 sixes. The pair appeared to have created the platform for victory with less than 5 an over required from the last 20 overs and only three wickets down but with two new batsmen at the crease, the chase got bogged down for a number of overs and the rate crept up. Le Roux and Pickard were dismissed cheaply and before the Swans knew it the required run rate was up to ten an over. Chris Hurst smashed two maximums and a four in one over to give the Swans some hope but when he was dismissed in the same over the last of the sides big hitters was gone. Iain Haggart selflessly sacrificed his wicket having one last dart at victory and with 7 wickets down and a bastman short, Norris gave the order to call off the chase. James Groves and Rob Haggart had no problem in seeing out the remaining overs and there was even time for Haggart to give a sign of things to come with a number of impressive strokes combined with impeccable judgement of when to play and when to leave in his unbeaten 14.
Storrington drew with Eastergate
A century partnership between Luke Talbot and Rob Norris dug the Swans out of trouble and briefly put them in with a shot of victory before they had to settle for a draw at home to Eastergate. Chasing a total in excess of 200 for victory the reply could hardly have got off to a worse start. Dan Pickard was out first ball, leg before wicket to Pete Smith. Smith's inswingers also accounted for Martin Fisher and Iain Haggart without scoring to leave the hosts in desperate trouble at 2 for 3. Step up Luke Talbot for his first league knock for the Swans in a number of years. Skipper Norris initially appeared intent on just preventing loss of further wickets but Talbot was far more aggressive and moved into the thirties at close to a run a ball with his only scoring shots being boundaries and a maximum. He moved swiftly to a half century and Norris gradually became a little more expansive to also bring up his first fifty of the season. With fifteen overs to go and just over six an over required with seven wickets in hand thoughts started to move from saving the match to pushing for victory. The Eastergate skipper dropped fielders to the boundary and brought both of his opening bowlers back on and it did the trick as Talbot and Norris were both caught in successive overs, looking to get on with the job.
With two new batsman at the crease the pendulum swung back in Eastergate's favour but although Matt Talbot made it four ducks in the innings, Mike Groves and Mark Haggart were untroubled in seeing the home side to a draw that they would have definitely settled for after the first three overs.
Earlier on Storrington had won the toss for the third time out of three this season and invited their opponents to have a bat. Some sloppy catching earlier in the innings didn't help as three catches went down and whilst Eastergate were never rampant they accumulated nicely throughout the innings. The wickets were shared amongst the bowlers with Alex Barrit, Pickard, Jamie Webber, Fisher and Groves all getting in on the act as Eastergate finished with 8 down, somewhat wasting the final ten overs as Groves bowled an excellent spell at the death to finish with 2 for 18 from eight overs.
The Swans have a week off league duty next weekend but will be back in action at promoted West Blatchington on 29th May in a fixture that is likely to see last seasons player of the year Chris Hurst make his first appearance of the season.
Storrington beat Selsey by 8 wickets (30 points)
Storrington got off to a terrific start to the league season with an emphatic 8 wicket victory over a Selsey side who many will be expecting to push for promotion again this season. With a number of key players unavailable the team took on a slightly unfamiliar look to the regular line up of last season. Russ Harding, Dan Le Roux, Chris Hurst and Matt Talbot were all missing - and only Talbot has any prospect of returning in the immediate short term - so in came Iain and Mark Haggart, Luke Talbot and Andy Cunningham, all of whom featured only occasionally last season for various reasons. With key men unavailable this fixture looked like a tough start to the season as Selsey were one of the stronger sides in the division last season and surprised many, including themselves, by missing out on promotion. With rain having fallen over night and a light shower a couple of hours before the toss it appeared inevitable that the preference for both sides would be to field first and sure enough, when the coin came down right for Rob Norris he invited Selsey to have first use despite the fact that it would mean taking to the field with nine players for the first couple of overs. With wicket-keeper Mark Haggart arriving late due to work commitments, Norris put the gloves on for the first couple of overs and he was soon in action as Dan Pickard's excellent rising delivery brushed Andy Horner's glove to give the home side an early break through. Whilst not being the most expansive stroke maker, Horner has proven himself something of an immovable object in recent matches against the Swans so removing him without scoring was just the start Storrington were looking for. When Horner's opening partner got caught in two minds between playing or leaving a short wide one in Alex Barritt's first over and gave Luke Talbot some catching practise at first slip, Selsey were two down with less than ten on the board and Storrington still only had nine men on the field. When back up to full strength the Swans were able to set some attacking fields and the wickets kept falling as the away side's batsmen failed to knuckle down and seemed intent on playing shots from the outset. Whilst Storrington's bowlers had the best of the conditions the mode of dismissals didn't lend itself to the view that Selsey were undone by the pitch. Three of the top order were caught behind or in the cordon, Talbot adding to his earlier catch with a sharper effort falling away to his right, but three more of the top six were caught trying to hit over the top early in their innings. With seven wickets down and a little over fifty runs on the board Pete Horner lead a brief rearguard, making his teams top score and edging them towards a hundred. Norris replaced Pickard with Andy Cunningham and then crucially gave Barritt a break after he'd taken 3 wickets in his opening spell. Paul Wooley replaced Barritt and the innings was swiftly brought to a conclusion as Woolley's slower but highly accurate bowling wrapped up the tail to leave him with 3 for 5 from 2.4 overs.
With 103 required for victory and still a slight threat of rain around, the Swans were keen to get straight back out to begin their pursuit. Dan Pickard joined Norris to open the batting but made only seven before he drove straight into the hands of the cover fieldsman. Martin Fisher came to the crease and immediately picked up where he left off last season dispatching his second ball through the covers for four. Opening bowlers Adam Davis and Pete Horner were soon out of the attack, perhaps wanting to keep their powder dry for another day as they realised the writing was on the wall. Fisher dominated the partnership with his captain as Norris was content to play the anchor role and by tea, victory was in site. After a sandwich and a cup of tea Fisher quickly moved to his half century before being bowled for 54 to bring to an end a match winning partnership of 77. Norris then allowed himself to become a little more expansive with a four and a six to the square leg boundary in the same over which just left Iain Haggart to get off the mark with the winning boundary which he sumptuously lofted over mid on to win the match for the Swans.
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