Hastings Priory skipper jubilant after a great cricket escape

A few weeks ago, Tom Gillespie’s side looked doomed as they were marooned in the Premier Division’s bottom two.

But they found form and momentum at the right time and finished things in style on Saturday with a home win over their rivals from up the road.

Delighted skipper Gillespie said: “We are very happy to be staying up.

“I’m really proud of the way we stuck with it through what was a very tough season and delighted we could get over the line on Saturday to secure another year in the Premier.

“To achieve what we have from where we were is incredible – a month ago we were pretty resigned to our fate but some extraordinary results got us back in with a glimmer of hope, which we managed to convert.

“I think we’ve shown we can be a pretty awful team and a pretty decent team in the same season – so hopefully next year we can show more of the decent team and perhaps not leave it so late to compete!”

After winning the toss and batting Hastings totalled 214-7 with Harry Scowen (69) and Jake Woolley (50) the main contributors.

Eastbourne were bowled out for 168 in their reply to give Priory a 46-run win.

Adam Barton took 3-26 and Dilshan De Zoysa 3-40 while John Morgan, Adam Page and Harvey Faulkner took the other four between them. Priory finished seventh, 16 points clear of the drop.