1st XI
Hailsham travelled to St Peters on a bright day looking to get back to winning ways. Hailsham were put into bat after losing the toss. Captain Tom Hicks (24) and Scott Pearce (4) opened. Hailsham did not get an ideal start with Pearce edging behind with Hailsham only on 7, quickly followed by Aaron Norwood the very next ball. This brought James McDonald (6) to the crease. Hicks and McDonald put on 25 before McDonald fell, edging behind with the score at 32-3. Varun Khullar (82) came in at five and he and Hicks began to try and build a partnership some good strokes from both improved the situation for Hailsham before Hicks was bowled with Hailsham on 69-4. Ollie McDonald (12) replaced Hicks and contributed 3 boundaries before being bowled. Paul McDonald suffered the same fate shortly after leaving Hailsham at a precarious position of 103-6. Tom McDonald (15) joined Khullar and supported well allowing Varun to attack the bowling and playing some nice shots himself, building an innings high partnership of 55 before McDonald edged faintly behind bringing Andrew Anthony (5) to the crease. Eight runs were added before Anthony was bowled. Matt Anthony (18) came in at ten before Khullar was caught behind bringing an end to a great innings with Hailsham on 173-9. Shankar Bala (9*) and Anthony batted well finding the boundary on occasion and running well before Anthony was caught with Hailsham ending on 203.
Hailsham’s defence of their total got off to a good start, Andrew Anthony (1-49) finding the edge of St Peter’s opener in the first over, Tom Hicks taking the catch at wicketkeeper. Tom McDonald (0-41) opened from the other end and despite some good bowling neither could find a second wicket, with St Peter’s opener and captain Toby Pearce looking assured in bat. Varun Khullar (1-54) replaced Anthony as Hailsham searched for a second. McDonald was replaced by Shankar Bala (1-34) and Hailsham managed a breakthrough as Bala bowled St Peter’s number three with the chase at 94-2. Matt Anthony (0-21) replaced Khullar but could not find a wicket. As St Peter’s continued their chase at a fair rate Andrew Anthony and Khullar returned looking for a wicket that Khullar eventually found leaving St Peter’s on 143-3. Hailsham’s bowlers were unable to make anymore headway into the St Peter’s batting order and opener Toby Pearce (103*) closed in on his hundred and led his team to the total from only 25.5 overs.
The Freedom Leisure Hailsham man of the match goes to Varun Khullar for his 82 from 64 balls.
2nd XI
Hailsham welcomed local rivals Hellingly on a grey and muggy afternoon. After losing the toss Hailsham were put into bat. Captain James Bellett quickly dulled the visitors spirits with an emphatic 41. Whilst fellow opener Rob Wilkinson(74) offered much needed stability throughout the innings, a performance laced with control, discipline and fear of attack from another 12 year old. Steve Bowdens contribution of 29 added to the mounting total. Shibin Abraham (18) and prodigy Sam Mills (5) were both showing promise but didn’t have luck on their side. A 60 run partnership closed out the innings with an earthshaking 54* from Ansil Jose and determined assistance from Gareth Morgan’s 6*. Hellingly were left with a total of 252 to chase after tea.
Hailsham’s bowling attack maintained the ferocity of its batsmen. An merciless Clint Mooiman (2-2) took first blood with assistance from a diving Will Parans and proceeded to keep vice like pressure on Hellinglys top order with 5 maidens in his 7 over spell. Ed Garbett’s (1-7) opened up the growing cracks in the visitors batting order. Sam Mills (1-9) got involved in the chaos. A stand out performance from James Bellett (6-6) who tore through Hellingly’s lineup like a chlamydia outbreak in Ibiza. Thus brought to an end a game to remember that was full of aggression and intent from beginning to end.
The D Grant Finance Man of the Match goes to James Bellett for his figures of 6-6 and 41 with the bat.
3rd XI
On a fine day in deepest Sussex Hailsham 3rd XI skipper won the toss and asked Herstmonceux to bat first. Wicket protection was their first instinct – 8 without loss after 8 overs! Omar Pathan was bowling beautifully, we’ll backed up by young Ed Brook. Omar claimed a well deserved 3 wickets for 17 off 9 overs; a superb spell. Jon Brettany came on to bowl and also took 3 wickets, also with excellent control. All the bowlers did well, Tom Mills taking a great return catch.
120 off 40 overs was never going to be enough! Hailsham started brightly with a sublime cut in the first over but opener Harry Gent was out for 5 to the first ball of the 2nd! 5-1, would Hailsham wobble? Not a bit of it, Jon Brettany joined Tim Mullins and they put on 95 with barely a scare! Hailsham scored the required runs with many overs to spare.
Jon Brettany was the The Roots Gardening & Grounds Maintenance Ltd Manof the Match for 3 wickets and 52 runs, but this was a proper team performance. A humbling day for the league leaders before the game!
4th XI
The 4s confidently set out for Tunbridge Wells to play Linden Park CC 5th XI, knowing that being top of the league virtually guaranteed another win. Even a late change of venue by the home team couldn’t knock our confidence (Hawkenbury, lovely venue by the way, stunning views back across of the lush greenery of Sussex).
To cut a long story short, I think we spent the rest of the afternoon admiring said view. Anyway, here’s the long story.
Warren won the toss, and elected to field to take advantage of our strong bowling attack. Last week our bowling and fielding had been good. So Brad Aldridge and Ethan Deane opened the bowling, and started steadily enough against the experienced Richard Prescot and Gary Stevenson. However, Prescot and Stevenson steadily built up an opening partnership, scoring 28 and 38 respectively. Nothing spectacular from either, but just enough to put Hailsham under pressure.
After Warren Downs came on and quickly dispatched both the openers our hopes increased that maybe we could rein in the score. And that looked likely as Warren fairly literally blew away 5 batsmen- the man takes on an illegal amount of paracetamol to get through a game, has a 3 step run up, and before you know it we’re busy retrieving the middle stump from any spot around the field that he has launched it to. All 5 bowled, no need for catches, possibly all 5 middle stump.
With a run out (Bobby Williams and the effervescent wicket keeping Nigel Anthony combining) and then a wicket too from Kayleigh Pavitt (caught Peter Mills, fast becoming a catching genius, and must get on the leader board this week for 2 season catches?) we were back in the game until Paul White (31) and Harry Le Page (37) took the innings away from us again. Linden Park finished the 40 overs on 196 for 8. Bowling and fielding was all decent without really being at last week’s standard, it felt like ‘one of those days’ and the runs required to win felt like it might be a challenge.
Teas and rain. Back out to bat. Nigel Anthony and Peter opened up, both needing to put their poor display from last week behind them. Like a jedi master the Director of Cricket had said to Peter in the morning ‘you need to get some runs today’, proving the DOC is no jedi master and Peter is not his jedi apprentice. Nigel was out for 9, Peter for 0 (despite the regularity it isn’t actually his favourite score). Gavin Muller and Bobby came in and bashed it about a bit, but only a bit, out for 8 and 8. We had a problem, but we had a solution- Ethan and Warren. That didn’t work either, as they were out for 0 and 3. I won’t go into further details, needless to say our total of 65 all out after 19.4 overs wasn’t great. Ben Swinson took 7 for 19 off 9 overs.
Our bowling and fielding was OK, our batting was shocking, and we’re not top of the league anymore. Good teams bounce back, so let’s see what we do next week.
The C Brook Fencing Man of the match goes to debutant Ollie Brett who fielded superbly, we look forward to seeing Ollie more this season.
Girls Team
Bede’s Girls hosted Hailsham Girls on Saturday in a 12-over friendly match.
Bede’s batted steadily and consistently throughout their innings, posting 81 for 2 in the face of some tight bowling. In reply, Hailsham got off to a quick start and at the halfway stage, were cruising at 63 for the loss of one wicket. They were pegged back over the next few overs but managed to reach 84 for 4 at the end of their 12 overs.
A very enjoyable match, giving even more experience to the girls as they continue to progress and improve.
