The 2026 season kicked off in earnest at the Heath, with the visit of Bentworth to start league proceedings – as well as Bentworth, however, the Heath was visited by a torrential downpour of biblical proportions that ended proceedings at Tea… Let’s a have a look at what action the sides did get in…

With players assembled (almost all on time!), basking in sunshine that could have lulled you into a false sense of security around how the day would pan out, Petersfield captain Tom Horwood and his opposite number Dave Mitten wandered out to the middle for the toss. A confident and correct call of “Tails” from the visiting leader was then contrasted against a very uncertain decision making process… “What would like to do?” he asked, with Horwood responding “Watch the football, it’s going to rain later!”. Eventually, Mitten settled on: “We’ll have a bat, I think”, much to the delight of Horwood who absolutely wanted to bowl…

Before play began, both sides paid their respects to a Bentworth player who sadly passed between seasons – with the moment’s silence impeccably conducted, the play was ready to get underway… Or was it? Horwood hadn’t brought a match ball out, live scoring was not working and a pen could not be found for manual scoring… After a ten minute delay to resolve the match ball and missing pen situations, proceedings got underway…

Bentworth openers Robert Lanyon (33) and Jack Boorman (9) set themselves up to face off against the regular Petersfield spearheads of Steve Gibson (0-47) and Adam Kidd (“Kidd the Junior”, 2-36). Kidd the Junior in particular started very positively, beating the bat on numerous occasions before eventually getting his reward, removing Boorman who nicked behind to the safe hands of James Longland who gleefully gobbled up the chance. Gibson had some misfortune, with various inside edges missing the stumps and fielders, allowing Lanyon to gradually build the score… After 10 overs, Alex Morrison (1-29) and young 2nd XI debutant Zach Holgado (1-35) took the ball at either end. Both had mixed fortunes, Morrison starting with a couple of loose deliveries before settling into a rhythm, and Holgado starting well before tiring a little… Although leaking a few runs, both were rewarded with their first 2nd XI wickets – Holgado removing the dangerous-looking Sam Foskett (40), who was well caught off a cut shot by a diving Chris Driver at point, with Morrison making an important breakthrough at the end to bowl the set Lanyon (albeit with a hint of “early season spongy bounce” helping to deceive the opener).

With Holgado and Morrison doing a good job filling overs 11-18, it was time for Tom Horwood (2-45) and Stuart Kidd (“Kidd the Senior”, 2-28) to enter the fray. Both started with a couple of loose deliveries, but they settled into a rhythm, kept things tidy and threateningly went about the task of running through the visitors’ Middle Order. First Kidd the Senior got in on the act, removing Nicholas Gay (35) by trapping him plumb in front of all three stumps, before Horwood stepped in to remove the other set batter, Matt Mitchell (25), with a classic off-spinners ‘through the gate’ dismissal to bowl him. Horwood struck again soon after, removing David Hicks (0) without troubling the scores with a carbon copy of his previous wicket. Kidd the Senior then rounded out an excellent 16 over spell for the hosts, removing Timothy Gay (9), sneaking one through his defenses to bowl him.

With Horwood and Kidd the Senior bowled through, the remaining six overs were left for the baton to passed back to the returning Gibson and Kidd the Junior to finish the innings with ominous looking clouds beginning to gather overhead, and spits of rain beginning to fall… Gibson mixed his paced up, deceiving batters on a few occasions, with Kidd the Junior keeping it simple and getting his reward with a second wicket, the prized scalp of the opposition captain Dave Mitten (38), who had looked dangerous with a couple of impressive strikes over extra cover…
Tom Davies (12*) and Rupert Hicks (1*) added a couple of handy runs towards the end, bringing the Bentworth total to 227-8 from their allotted 40 overs. Bentworth probably the happier, but Petersfield can be happy to have only let 90 runs go through in the second half of the innings, having been staring down a big total at the Drinks break.
Horwood pointlessly told his batters the order whilst watching the outfield get an absolute deluge as the players duly tucked into a first home Tea of the season, prepared by Mr Gibson, that included a range of sandwiches, treats, and enough sausage rolls to feed a small army! Good work, Gibbo! During the interval, watching puddles form and a ropey-looking forecast, Horwood and Mitten shook hands to end the game as an Abandonment – a large cry of “Bar’s open boys!” enough to signify to all involved that no further cricket would be happening today…

Petersfield make the trip to Padnell Road to square up to Waterlooville next week, following on from the end of last season’s wash out that (temporarily) relegated the 2nd XI… With a chance of some rain in the long-distance forecast, a squadron of super-soppers is on standby to get a game on…