In-form Rye close in on leaders

The emphatic seven-wicket win away to a Glynde & Beddingham side which began the day second in Sussex Cricket League Division Four has moved Rye up to fourth in the table.

Rye skipper Gary Willis won the toss and decided to bowl. Initially this decision looked to have perhaps been the wrong one as the wicket showed little pace and bounce, although Willis did have Alex Thornhill dropped at second slip.

Rye opted to try and stem the flow of runs in the absence of assistance from the wicket and this strategy appeared to pay dividends as Craig Pierce dismissed opposing skipper Robert Mouland (24) with an excellent yorker.

Pierce and George Wathen then started to turn the screw on the Glynde batting line-up as the run rate dropped to just over two-per-over. Pierce (3-33) then removed Archie Burrows for a duck to leave Glynde 51-2.

Glynde’s batting proceeded to collapse to 99 all out from 44 overs as the pressure mounted by the Rye bowling attack took its toll. Wathen was the main architect of the carnage as he bowled with excellent control to finish with outstanding figures of 4-19 from 16 miserly overs.

He was ably supported by Harry Smeed, who also bowled nicely to finish with 3-20 from his 10 overs. Rye also maintained excellent standards in the field to support the bowlers in a splendid team effort.

It was unlikely that 99 was ever going to be a challenge for the strong Rye batting card and this looked to be the case as James Hamilton raced to 15 inside the first two overs of the reply.

After Hamilton fell to a poor shot with the score 18, Dan Seabrook (12) and Hugo Nel took the total to 41 before Seabrook fell to George Hobden (1-22). Fin Thomson then compiled a well-made 17 until being undone by Charlie Hobden (1-23).

Nel remained a constant in the run chase and showed his class to finish with 51 not out, striking the winning runs in the 29th over.

Rye have picked up 104 points from a possible 120 in their last four games and are now just nine points off the top of the table. They will hope to achieve their fourth league win of the season against bottom-of-the-table Hellingly at The Salts tomorrow (Saturday).

Rye’s second team played just nine overs on Saturday before two thunderstorms left The Salts awash and their 2nd XI Division Three (East) match at home to Glynde was abandoned. The only activity of note was that Rye lost the toss for the seventh time out of eight.

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