RNVR Cricket Club

Scorecard

RNVR Cricket Club v Ditchling CC on Sun 03 Aug 2025 at 11.30am
RNVR Cricket Club Lost by 1 wicket

Match report Ditchling CC v RNVR CC 2025 - The Annual North Star Plate. DCC win by 1 wicket.
It is said that cricket, at its best, is a mirror held up to the soul of a nation. If that’s true, then the annual North Star Plate -contested on the uncovered square at the mighty Ditchling Recreation Ground, where the wicket has the texture and feel of a hedgehog, recently deceased on the A23 - tells you everything you need to know about village cricket.
The toss was won, naturally, by DCC, whose captain Johnny ‘Setters’ Setterfield, insisted on bowling first, not because the conditions demanded it, but because his team demanded it. Each 3 pints in, batting is no place for the slightly inebriated. This is a regular occurence here and a bit like the Indians loosing 15 tosses in a row, substantive probability has no place in deepest Sussex either. Most people bowled and Coppard hit several fours. Batsman came and went rather like late middle aged couples at a speed dating event, full of expectation but with the realisation that age, ultimately, is in the eye of the beholder. Warnes Senior bucked the trend and his 97 meant RNVR reached 239, as they nearly always do.
RNVR’s opening bowler, Alex ‘Wonder’ Warnes, charged in from the Pavilion End - a journey that, given his build, resembled a panther chasing an antelope down a fairly steep hill. Conversely, James ‘Bammy’ Bamford ambled up the hill from the archery end, his pace somewhere between a gentle breeze and a passive-aggressive sigh. Balls were crunched, Crichton junior caught shells but at 138-3 the game looked afoot. Enter Ed ‘the reflectionist’ Hewens. A leg spinner of such guile that he seemed to be bowling into the batsman’s conscience and forcing them to come to terms with their own inadequacy. He should have had 5. Suddenly DCC were 185-9 and all they had left was Pepler on one leg. I won’t repeat any parrot jokes here but via an awful lot of hopping, missing and swishing DCC got there. Just. Binsey having being dropped with 3 still needed….
Ahhh. To win by one wicket or one run. 3 would have done it then but where would be the tales of daring do, a 50 partnership for the final wicket and odds of 10/1 taken in the pavilion? England lost by 6. Woakes, with one arm and Pepler, on one leg. A perfect symmetry of asymmetry.
It was cricket as it should be: shambolic, unnecessary, slightly absurd - and utterly glorious.


James Turnbull, Ditchling pro guested for RNVR vs Cuckfield.

RNVR Cricket Club RNVR CC Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
8w 15b 2lb 
for 10 wickets
25
239		        
Tim Hardman ct Ledsom b JT 2
Paul Coppard (BCC) ct D Porter b JT 34 8
Ed Hewens b Setterfield 22 2
Edward Crichton ct Ledsom b JT 0 2
Ben Dale ct Ledsom b Pepler 10 2
Bertie Miskin ct Coburn b Pepler 0
Tex Warnes b Porter 97 12 6
Alex Warnes ct Card b Porter 13 4 3
James Bamford ct Setterfield b Westgate 13 4
Thomas Hillman ct JT b Colbourne 0
Paul Ford Not Out  11 4

Ditchling CC Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
P Binsey8.051400.001.75
R Coburn3.002900.009.67
James Turnbull4.011334.333.25
M Pepler5.011226.002.40
R Ledsom4.001100.002.75
T Carr3.011700.005.67
J Setterfield5.0026126.005.20
H Porter3.001200.004.00
D Porter4.0035217.508.75
A Westgate7.0222122.003.14
F Colbourne6.0014114.002.33

Ditchling CC Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
3w 5b  
for 9 wickets
8
240 (40.5 overs)		     
James Turnbull ct Hewens b Dale 45
T Carr ct E Crichton b Bamford 6
R Ledsom ct E Crichton b A Warnes 33
R Coburn ct A Warnes b Hewens 81
D Porter ct Hewens b Dale 11
J Setterfield ct A Warnes b Hewens 0
W Westgate lbw Hewens 0
P Binsey Not Out  42
F Coburn ct A Warnes b T Warnes 5
H Porter b T Warnes 0
M Pepler Not Out  5

RNVR Cricket Club RNVR CC Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Alex Warnes7.0137137.005.29
James Bamford4.0041141.0010.25
Ed Hewens14.0285242.506.07
Ben Dale9.0054227.006.00
Tex Warnes5.011527.503.00
Paul Coppard (BCC)1.501000.005.45