Crowhurst Park open Sussex League Division 2 account, Buxted Park lose at Brighton

Crowhurst Park 1st X1 192-10 (30pts) v Montefiore 1st X1 120-10 (11pts)

In this Sussex League Div. 2 fixture chasing a modest target of 192 set by the visitors, St James encountered a determined Park in the field. Jamie Bristow Diamond (4-32) dominated the early exchanges removing the home sides top 4 batsmen. Park kept up the pressure with 2 run-outs. At 110-6 St James all but surrendered, losing the last 4 wickets for just 10 Runs.

Earlier Crowhurst Park set a gettable target of 192. Skipper Nick Peters (41) top scored with support from Jordan Shaw (31) and Matt Constable (29). For St James the wickets were shared by five bowlers, James O’Orsano (3-26) returning he best figures.

Crowhurst Park 2nd X1 216-7 (30pts) V Bells Yew Green 1st X1 213-9 (13pts)

Electing to bat first BYG middle order made the bulk of their runs. James Heath (67) top scored with Fred Evans (42) in support. Finishing on 213 the visitors set a challenging total, on a good pitch. Park bowlers Charlie Furgason (2-25) Vikas Kumar (2-22) and Josh Baraclough (2-32) did most of the damage.

In reply the home side knocked off the runs with overs to spare. Matt Peters (53) and Martin Barry (67) kept the score board moving, and a late flourish by James Bunday (25*) took Park to victory. Three BYG bowlers shared 2 wickets each. Dominic Bowen (2-28) the best figures.

Crowhurst Park 3rd X1 168-9 (30pts) v Pett 2nd X1 160-10 (12pts)

A close encounter by two local rivals saw Park gain maximum points. Batting first the Park skipper Mick Flanagan (41) and Sachin Gopinath (42) top scored. Liam Quinlan-Stamp (4-44) was Pett’s top bowler.

In replay chasing 168 the home worked hard with 7 batsmen getting double figures. Andy Murray (19) top scored. Park used 9 bowlers Seb Cobbold (3-16) having the best figures. Pett closed just 9 runs short.

Crowhurst Park 4th X1 66-10 (10pts) v Rye 3rd Xi 113-10 (30pts)

This low scoring game finished on defeat for Parks 4th X1 on debut Parks Albin Kuriakose to 6-20 as Rye totalled 113 However Park batters could not master the conditions as they were skittles for 66, Rye’s bowler Anthony Bradnum (5-14) doing the damage.

Crowhurst Park also played 2-T20 matches on Sunday. A last over defeat by Hastings Priory in the League T20 Cup and a resounding U15 T20 victory at Eastbourne

Buxted Park 1st XI travelled down to the coast to face the newly relegated Brighton & Hove. After a week of heavy showers, both teams were extremely grateful to get a game in, with many clubs up and down the pyramid not being so lucky.Winning the toss, captain Clift elected to bowl first on what looked like a sticky deck with a good amount in it for the bowler. Unfortunately, Park’s opening bowlers were unable to find a breakthrough, with openers Hounsome (25) and Hetherton (49) moving the score along to 64, before Dom Heater (2/48) removed the former with thanks to a good low catch by Sheffield at first slip.

His partner added 40 to the total alongside no.3 Whippey (46) before he was bowled by D.Heater just after drinks. Park’s Overseas Arslan Khan came into the attack and bowled 9 tight overs of off spin (3/25). Opener Will Sheffield (4/38) then returned to the attack to clean up the tail, meaning that the hosts ended 183 all out at the break.The visitors’ chase got off to a good start with Khan (35) and Read (24) finding the boundary regularly in the first 10 overs before Khan departed for 35. This sparked a collapse in the Buxted Park top order, with Smit, Hetherton and a 5-fer from Chris Atherton doing the bulk of the damage. Buxted were left reeling at 85-5, with a lot of work to do to get back in to the game in challenging conditions. The lower middle order were unable to cough up the required runs, with regular wickets continuing to fall at both ends. When the final wicket was taken, Buxted Park found themselves on a total of 123, 50 runs short of their opposition.Elsewhere, the 2nd XI were also subject to a shocking batting collapse in a chase against Newhaven. Ending all out on 59, 120 runs short of their target. The 3rd XI were 33 runs short in their chase, despite a fantastic 6-fer by Colin Coddington in the first innings.

It’s been something of a false start to the season for Glynde & Beddingham CC.

For the second week running their Sussex League Division 3 game – this one a clash with Lindfield – was cancelled because of a waterlogged pitch.

Glynde twos batted first at home to Hellingly and lost their first two wickets for 45 runs, with Darren Howard scoring 14.

Charlie Silvester struck 73 and along with Ben Bignall (41) added 85 for the third wicket.

Glynde youngster Elliott Churton came to the crease and he scored a rapid maiden league century for the team as he struck a magnificent 101 not out from just 62 balls including 10 fours and seven sixes.

He was given good support from Zak Barber (29 not out) as they enjoyed an unbroken sixth wicket partnership of 119 as Glynde II reached 296-5 at the end of their 40 overs.

Luke Boorer with 2-32 and Aiden Miller 2-56 were the only bowlers to make much impression in the Glynde innings.

The task of chasing 297 for victory proved well beyond Hellingly as they were bowled out for 115, although Michael Williams (34) and Andrew Rose put up some resistance to the bowling of Darren Howard, who took 5-15, and Gavin Sutherland with 3-21.

Glynde thirds were well beaten by Mayfield IV, who batted first at Glynde and rattled up 251-8.

Andries Vosloo top scored with 62 not out with young Wyatt Watson (2-46) being the pick of the Glynde bowlers.

Glynde thirds were then bowled out for 103 with Patrick Hole (29) and Alistair Randall (20) top scoring for the home side.

This coming weekend Glynde’s first XI will attempt to get their league campain under way.

They have a home fixture against Bexhill on Saturday and on Sunday are at home to Buxted Park in the third round of the National Village Cup.

Hailsham v Lewes Priory – Division 4 East

Hailsham arrived at the Rec for the second (first) game of the season. Glorious weather greeted both Hailsham and their opposition Lewes Priory, and it was the latter who won the toss, and elected to field.

Hailsham openers Ciaran Peacock and Ollie McDonald got their team off to a flyer; a combination of strong shots and positive running saw the pair reaching a 100 opening stand. Peacock brought up his 50 just before the first drinks break, but that was were things took a turn. McDonald and Peacock fell for 43 and 51 respectively, and a middle order collapse saw Hailsham slump to 135-6. Tom McDonald and skipper Andrew Anthony combined smartly to drag out the Hailsham innings and propelled Hailsham up to a respectable score of 223 all out.

Knowing they were under par, Hailsham set out for a fast side, and this came in the shape of James Bellett, who pinned Cruickshank LBW for 8. It was the introduction of Diesel Hallett that began to swing the pendulum towards Hailsham, however. Some excellent areas and seam movement saw him pick up superb figures of 4-31 from 8 overs, which kept Hailsham in the running throughout. It was however in vain, as Hailsham’s under par total caught up with them, and Lewes got over the line to secure a 2 wicket victory.

Special mentions go to Ciaran and Ollie for their 105 run opening partnership, but the Choice Medics Man of the Match goes to Diesel Hallett, for his exceptional bowling display that continued to give Hailsham hope.

Hailsham 2s travelled to St Peter’s to get their season up and running. After a mixed bag of success finding parking that wouldn’t get them fined the lads got changed and after a bit of rusty fielding drills Lewis won the toss and inserted the hosts on a slow low wicket hoping to make some early inroads. They did just that with Michael Tutt nicking off the opening bat with about 10 on the board.

Tutt and Matt Anthony kept it tight in the opening spell and their pressure was unfortunate to not accumulate any further scalps. The second wicket wasn’t far off though with their other opener who’d had a couple of lives finally succumbed to a Shibin delivery which was well held by Will the Womble Royal! Shib nabbed a second soon after nicking off for another Sully Hallett catch behind the stumps.

At this point the opposition started to take the sting out of the game and clip the ball about for one’s and twos on a tricky deck to navigate. Chances came and went but the pair batted sensibly and got the score to 126 before the Womble got his first league wicket of the season after a brilliant spell of bowling that deserved more, another catch from the one legged wicket keeper who did a lovely job of juggling as his took the ball diving to his right.

More sloppy fielding and sensible batting enabled the hosts to up the rate in the final 10 and get the score to 191-5 from their 40 overs with the ever vocal Tutt cleaning up their number 3 for a well made and patient 58. All bowlers put a shift in and on another day chances would have been taken to give their efforts more reward.

Sham went into the half way point confident that if we batted the overs we would chase down the score but also wary that it was not an easy place to score runs freely. Rob Wilkinson and Shaun Kevern strode out to the crease to get their reply underway and nudged the ball about in between some playing and missing during the tricky new ball overs to see off the opening bowlers well.

Rob fell in the 10th over to a beauty of a delivery leaving Sham at 25-1 which brought the one legged wicket keeper hopping to the crease asking anyone who’d listen if they’d be his runner.

Once all in attendance had refused he got his head down and with Kevern kept the run rate ticking along with the score at 60-1 at the 20 over drinks break. Some good running (and hopping) and lusty blows from Hallett the partnership of 73 was finally broken in the 26th over with the score at 98-2 after Kevern attempted a cross batted swipe and was cleaned up for 39. In came Fingers at 4 and he and the ever moaning and hobbling youngster Hallett kept the runs ticking along with the required rate sticking between 7-8 an over.

Hallett eventually was bowled for a cracking 43, made even more spectacular by his accumulation of injuries with every over that passed. Fingers followed shortly afterwards for a breezy 36 which had helped Sham get into a solid position of 8 an over required in the final7/8 overs. By this time Shib was at the crease and had found a couple of boundaries which kept us up with the rate.

Nick was bowled by a good ball but this brought the Womble to the crease and he joined Shib and the two of them had some fun, with Shib hitting a massive 6 followed by a 4 and Kenny Cunningham would have been proud of the Wombles effortless 6 over mid wicket which took Sham to 10 required with 3 overs remaining.

Will was well caught soon after but Tutt joined Shib and they got the score to 190-6 with 2 overs to go before Tutt got a good ball and was bowled. 2 to win, 10 balls left and a man for a crisis Warren Headland waddled out to the middle before batting back a full toss and leaving the next, he knew what he was doing though and the next ball played a lovely cover drive to bring the scores level and bring that man Shib on strike. Only one result of the next ball, 6 runs and the win was secured.

This result was a huge win as you can tell the step up in levels from previous divisions and a real team effort with fight and grit was needed to dig in and time the chase to perfection.

In a game where there were plenty of notable performances it was Sully who was just pipped to the Education First MOM by Shibin Abraham for a great spell of bowling followed by a monstrous innings ending 31 not out in absolutely no time. Sully will feel that he may have got it though had someone done his running for him…..up the Sham

After a month of poor weather, new skipper Callum Lainchbury got his first chance to captain Hailsham 3s in a meaningful game of cricket at Roebuck Park, where they hosted newly promoted Robertsbridge 2’s.

The game got off to a terrible start for Hailsham, with the captain losing the toss and being put into bat. 7 balls in, they had lost 2 wickets and both openers were out.

Although not ideal, this brought debutant Will Bolton and keeper Christy Walder in to bat, who steadied the ship and then looked to build an innings. They did exactly this, both batting intelligently and playing nice shots, sadly falling short of a 100 run partnership as Christy was out for 45 runs.

Andrew Swansborough played a part, hitting some nice shots for his 22 runs, but besides him no one else stuck around for long. While Will had to shoulder more responsibility, he did it with ease, resulting in Hailsham Cricket Club’s first 100 of the season, an excellent knock that deserved the applause of both teams and spectators. Hailsham ended their innings on 195, a respectable score considering the short list of contributors.

James Renals and Jack shared the new ball and knew they would have to bowl well to get Hailsham into an advantageous position. After a couple of balls were dispatched to the boundary off both bowlers, they quickly found their rhythm and showed their excellent abilities, bowling fast and accurate.

They were supported well in the field by the rest of the team, which resulted in an eye-catching scoreboard of 5 wickets inside the first 10 overs - 2 bowled wickets for James, 1 bowled for Jack and 2 catches, courtesy of the captain and the pick of the fielders Ethan. While Hailsham took their foot off the gas after this in the field, they still had too many runs on the board and too many capable bowlers for Robertsbridge to get back into the game.

Tom came on to get 2 wickets from smart catches courtesy of wicket keeper Christy, Callum took one on an LBW and Alex And Jack came back on for a bowled wicket each, resulting in Hailsham winning by 71 runs.

The Sell Your Car Sussex Player of the Match could only be Will Bolton, for his excellent and technical 104 runs.

Barcombe v Newick – Sussex League Div 5 EastNewick 164-9 in 40 overs; Allan Trower 4-29, Nick Beck 2-28, Harry Stewart 2-35; Barcombe 165-3 in 23.3 overs; Harry Stewart 87no, Callum Coppard 45. Barcombe won by 7 wickets.

Robertsbridge I v Bexhill II – Sussex League Div 6 East

At 67-5 after 20 overs chasing Robertsbridge’s 213 Bexhill looked in trouble. However, Sahil Khan’s unbeaten 56, a quick 53 from Taylor Wickenden and an even quicker 38 from Dom Carey saw Bexhill to victory with 15 balls to spare.

For the first three-quarters of the game Robertsbridge looked in control, but ultimately paid the price for no-one going on to make a big score, despite all but two of their batsmen making double figures. Indeed it was only Extras that made 50, (57 to be exact, 48 of them wides) next best being Lewis Chapman with 30.

For Bexhill Jake Beale took 2-19; Wickenden 2-28 and Rowan Crouch 3-70. Rob Goodsell was the pick of the Robertsbridge bowlers with 3-45, his figures spoiled during Bexhill’s late onslaught. An excellent victory for a youthful looking Bexhill side who this week entertain Crowhurst Park II.

Battle 2nd XI 225-8; Hastings 3rd XI 116 all out (25 overs). Battle won by 109 runs

On a beautiful day at George Meadow, Battle’s second string took to a field which was still damp underfoot.

There was a bold start with the bat from the home side: Phil Bourn repeatedly thumped the ball over long-off, long-on and the pavilion for a brisk 51 as part of an opening stand of 92.

Sanjay Sharma made a measured 43but Hastings stuck to their task and with Battle’s middle order struggling to time any big blows, four wickets fell for seven runs and it was 137-6.

Aruna Fernando (2-24) and Haydn Nolan (2-16) were the most effective in the seasiders’ attack. Battle responded with runs from Josh Bourn (24) and Syeed Ansari (34) and a score of 225-8 looked a difficult total to chase.

Hastings started positively in reply with 43 for the first wicket before Callum Brand removed Freddie Hensher for 20.

With Sujith Perera (18) departing shortly afterwards to an excellent run-out by Josh Bourn, wickets began to fall regularly.

Battle’s catching was secure, with six taken, and once Fernando fell for 18 the rest toppled without too much delay. Josh Bourn’s 3-25 was noteworthy, and Ansari took 4-12 to complete Battle’s win.

Sidley 138-9 (30pts); Willingdon 2nds 88 (9pts)

Sidley were victorious after getting out in the middle for the first time this season in Division 11 East (South).

Sidley recovered from 7-2 to post 138-9 from their 40 overs after losing the toss and being asked to bat at Sandhurst Rec.

Steve Ramsden blasted 37 while Chris Hunnisett batted for much of the innings for a valuable 32. Dan Reason (15), Craig Ramsden (10) and Cavan O'Connor (10 not out) chipped in.

Alan Bettesworth made 44 in reply, but no other visiting batter reached double figures as they were all out for 88.

Mark Gransden polished off the innings with 3-14. O'Connor took 2-17 from nine, and there was a wicket each for both Ramsdens and Harry Little, plus a Ryan Polton run-out.

Winchelsea 110-6; Beckley 107

Visitors Beckley elected to bat first.

James Archer opened the bowling with a tight spell, Anthony Bradnum (2-25) took two wickets including Peter Smulders (21) as Beckley were reduced to 34-2. Ewan Fricker became the first victim of Mike Stoneham for 21.

Beckley were dismissed for 107. Mike Stoneham (3-20) and James Bateman (4-47) were the pick of the Winchelsea bowlers.

After tea Beckley George Channon and Johnny Broad reduced the home side to 29-4. A partnership of 45 put Winchelsea back in control and Phil Wheeler (30), Dan Flanagan (38no) and James Archer (15no) helped Winchelsea to victory.