SNCC leave Crawley Down rattled!

On the back of a comfortable win the week prior, South Nutfield, lead by Billy ‘sounds like a cockney but looks like a Mexican’ Saunders, went into this game with full confidence. The sun was shining, birds chirping, the crowd could simply not contain their excitement for what punters had predicted to be quite a tasty game! In true South Nutfield fashion, we went for the toss and won, South Nutfield to bat first!

To open the batting was Matt ‘Bruce Willis’ Lewis and Billy ‘Guacamole’ Saunders who started with real intent, well one of them did. The first three overs saw some textbook cricket shots and sublime running between the wickets. This was unfortunately short-lived as South Nutfield lost their first wicket for 24 as Billy ‘Lozano’ Saunders was bowled out for 1 run. Matt ‘Patrick Stewart’ Lewis continued to impress making his way comfortably through to his century, alongside Rob Wigley putting on a partnership together of 151! Crawley Down’s bowlers were trying to all they could to disrupt this, even throwing out a bit of sledging by saying “where’s your chat?”. The following three bowls went for 6,4 and 6, showing the bowler exactly where it was. Matt ‘Dana White’ Lewis was forced to retire after a sublime batting performance, leaving room for the man himself, Michael ‘Birthday Boy’ Gibbens! Unfortunately Rob ‘Superior’ Wigley had to watch the remainder of the performance on the sidelines after being caught on the boundary, shock. Michael ‘one knee’ Gibbens put on a fantastic batting display, putting together an impressive and personal best, 42. The tail end of the innings saw Shuby the tank and Mark the turtle both out for two whilst special mentions must go to both Dylan ‘loves a catch’ Campbell for an unbeaten 21 and BDB for 0, points are points! A fantastic batting performance from all saw South Nutfield end on a respectable 255-5 from 40 overs.

Let the bowling commence! South Nutfield were all fuelled up from lunch and ready to get the game done and dusted! Our opening pair, consisting of Kyle ‘Superstar’ Campbell and Merrill ‘needs to be drug tested’ Mathias. Kyle made easy work of their loud mouth opener who claimed he had to go in 10 minutes so decided to try and smash every ball. This was to no avail against our openers as he ended up falling to the excellent bowling of Kyle and what can only be described as a beauty of a catch from Dave ‘this one wasn’t with my boob’ Bowen, clutching the ball from the air. This was quickly followed by the disappointment of Billy ‘enchilada’ Saunders who secretly hoped he would drop it. The next two wickets went to Merrill ‘high as a kite’ Mathias, who was dangerous all day, who saw their no.3 hit the ball directly into the safe hands of Matt ‘Stone Cold Steve Austin’ Lewis’ for an easy catch, followed by bowling out their no.2 batsmen with ease. It was Kyle’s turn to strike next who suckered the batsmen into a controversial shot which saw Michael ‘Usain Bolt who’ Gibbens sprint across the pitch to secure South Nutfield with their fourth wicket with a catch and the win in their sights. Fantastic bowling and deserved wickets from our opening pair left Crawley Down 56-4 after 8 overs. With big boots to fill, up stepped two gentlemen who were up for the task, making an impact right from the off! Giving the batsmen no rest, BDB and Stevie G added relentless pressure with a variety of different deliveries to keep the batsmen sharp and on their toes, ruthless tactics. The pressure paid off when Dave ‘the gazelle’ Bowen saw the batsman hit it straight into the safe hands of Dylan ‘I could catch that in my sleep’ Campbell, a sign of things to come! Bowen was not finished their as he dispatched the next two batsmen in consecutive balls, leaving himself on a hat-trick! This, unfortunately, wasn’t meant to be which brought a smile to most players who promised to drop it if it went in their direction. The wickets were taken by two excellent catches, again by Matt ‘Jason Statham’ Lewis and Dylan ‘fantasy points’ Campbell. On his return to Sunday cricket, Shub-dog bowled with finesse and confidence, as if he never left the place! Shubs saw his hard work pay off with a well-deserve wicket, bamboozling the batsmen and getting him out LBW. Dylan must of got bored of catching everything so joined the bowling attack, seeing just 6 runs go past in 2 overs, including a maiden. The crowed erupted when the skipper, Billy ‘ burrito’ Saunders entered the attack. With a glint in his eye and some salsa in his hand, he was ready to go! Saunders easily picked apart their no.10 batsmen with a juicy delivery and could have had a second in the same over but Wigley decided not to throw the ball for a potential run out due to a turtle right in front of the wicket in the foetal position. Billy ‘quesadilla’ Saunders persevered and roped the batsmen into pulling a shot right into the safe and secure hands of the man seemed to be everywhere, Dylan, yet again!

A well-deserved win for South Nutfield, seeing off the opponent and winning comfortably by 48 runs. This week’s MOM went to Matt ‘Jonjo Shelvey’ Lewis for his sublime batting performance and the helmet of the week goes to none other than Billy ‘may as well engrave my name on this’ Saunders. Roll on next week!