Topp effort lifts Bexhill

Bexhill have won one, drawn one and lost one of their first three Division Two matches with a much-changed, young team following their relegation from the Premier Division last season.

He said: “We could quite easily have won all three matches, but realistically a win, a draw and a loss is probably about right. When you look at the teams we’re putting out, apart from Malcolm (Johnson), Steve Phillimore and Toppy (Chris Topp), the rest of the guys are new into the team.

“If we can finish somewhere near the top, around the fourth position, I will count that as a success. As long as we win our fair share of the games, that’s what I think we will be happy with at the end of the year. We know we can do a lot better than we have done, we’ve got to find that killer instinct.”

Bexhill are sixth in the early table with the top four teams separated by just four points. Their captain Chris Topp is the joint fourth leading wicket-taker in the division with 11 victims at an incredible average of 8.36.

“Toppy’s bowling fantastically well,” continued Russell. “Everybody’s making a contribution and I can’t be disappointed with the way it’s going. We’ve got people passing 50, young guys taking wickets and there’s a fantastic team spirit. We’re certainly not out of our depth from what we’ve seen so far, far from it.”

Next up tomorrow (Saturday) is a third home game out of four against a Lewes Priory team which sits second-from-bottom having drawn one and lost two so far.

Russell went on: “Lewes are a bit of a bogey side for us. They’re a good little club, they don’t have any standout performers or superstar players, but they always play very, very well as a unit. If we could beat those guys it would give us a lift and just give us that belief that we can finish around the third or fourth position.”