Blind & Visually Impaired Cricket

Broadhalfpenny Down has hosted Blind & Viusally Impaired cricket for many years. The Primary Club Memorial Cup Final was played in 2017 on an excellent day. The match day programme had a tribute to Charles Ronayne of Metro, Northants and Essex Tigers.

The cricket started with Justin Hollingsworth of Warwickshire, cup winners in 5 of the past 6 seasons, winning the toss and asking Sussex to bat first.

The openers only managed one boundary before both falling victim to Asif Ali in his first spell, with a bowled and an lbw. His brother then chipped in, shortly afterwards, with a run out to dismiss Dave Daniels and leave Sussex wobbling a little on 41 for 3.

Dan Field had come to the crease at two down and had now had time to settle and so bring his excellent form from the season into the middle. He kept the strike carefully during a partnership of 58 for the fifth wicket; ended only when Luke Sugg ran out Ian Morris, but Dan’s domination continued to the end as Matt Greenhough sacrificed his wicket with a run out to allow Dan to score 2 off the last ball and finish on 121 having struck a six and fourteen fours. This places him fourth on the all time list of top scorers in the cup final; the last three finals having now produced four big hundreds, when only one had been managed before that.

The second innings started in exactly the opposite way to the Sussex innings as the Bears captain, Justin Hollingsworth, looked to score quickly from the first ball, he raced to 28, with a six and three boundaries, before being bowled in Dave Daniels’ opening spell. This was 46 for 1 with the Bears well ahead of the rate and the scoring did not slow when Nathan Foy joined Luke Sugg in the middle as he sped to 20 from just eight balls before trying to repeat the shot that had earned him a six over square leg only to be caught by the well placed Joe Harrison just inside the rope. So 77 for 2, but with two big hitters gone the game seemed well balanced as Luke Sugg looked to try and repeat Dan’s feat of controlling the innings.

At the half way stage the Bears were on 97/3 well ahead of the 64/3 Sussex had posted at the same stage but soon after the break lost two wickets with the score on 100, Luke caught by Dave Daniels on the full and then Hassan Ali bowled by Dave Daniels; at 100 for 5 their chance of winning had gone it seemed. Chris Styles scored a few including two good boundaries and the reliable Mark Turnham also reached double figures but no one else was able to score and the innings finished in less than 21 overs with the difference in scores being 61.

The day ended in front of the excellent pavilion, with Peter Tuke, the chairman of the Broadhalfpenny Down Preservation Trust, assisted by Pete Sugg from the BCEW cricket committee handing the cup to the winning captain, trophies to all the players & officials, and the man of the match awards to the two worthy winners, Dan Field (Partially Sighted) & David Daniels (Total).

Blind & Visually Impaired Cricket in Hambledon, Photo Credits Paul Jacobs and David Henderson