Hailsham made the short trip to Hellingly for a final pre season game before the league season kicks off.
Captain James Bellett won the toss and decided to have a bat first, with Himself (21) and Ollie McDonald (29) making a positive start in challenging conditions. McDonald looked in fine form however once he fell to a comfortable catch, wickets fell in quick succession with Paul Mcdonald, Anil Jose, and Gareth Morgans all falling within the space of a few overs. Once Morgans fell, Shibin Abraham (80) arrived at the crease and not long after was joined by debutant Wayne Mackay (21) who ensured Hailsham passed 100 good time without losing anymore wickets. When joined by the lower order, Shibin went through the gears and with some powerful hitting and good support from the lower order Hailsham managed to reach a relatively competitive total of 171 all out.
Hailsham went out for the second innings where conditions were still challenging and opened with Clint Mooiman and Ed Garbett. Mooiman (0-10) was his typical reliable self troubling the batsmen regularly. It was Garbett (1-20) who made the early breakthrough however the momentum really switched to Hailshams bowlers when Sam Mills (3-30) and James Bellett (3-22) were introduced to the attack. Both bowled tight lines and countered attacking batting well to have Hellingly in trouble at 49-4. This brought Greg Devlin (65*) to the crease who played confidently to give Hellingly hope. Although Bellett and Mills were removing his partners without them settling in, Devlin received the help he needed from the lower order to reach the target. Other bowlers such as McDonald (0-50), Jose (0-19), and Mackay (0-12) bowled well and were unlucky to not take wickets.
The Dan Grant Finance Planning Man of the Match goes to Shibin Abraham for a quality innings of 80.
3rd XI vs 4th XI Inter-Club Match
On a windy afternoon, Warren XI won the toss and elected to field first. Brad Aldridge (2-32) took the first over with some tight lines to put pressure on the batsmen. At the other end, Nick Brady (1-21) bowled some delicious deliveries towards openers Jon Croft and Bobby Williams. Young Ethan Deane and elongated A Renals replaced with some aggressive bowling, attempting to slow the run rate, successfully. Cameron Ballard (19) tried to increase the run rate with some ambitious leg side shots, but fell victim to some well placed bowling. After this, Pete Mills tried his luck against the tight bowling. During this Jon Croft was adding many runs to the total alongside captain Lewis Williams with 45 and 26 runs each. Wayne Pettigrew and Tom Mills managed to bring the total of 194 after 40 overs with some well placed shots against some accurate bowling from young Sam Gillman.
After teas, it was Warren XI’s turn to try and reach the total. Openers Brad Aldridge and Nick Brady(32) started strong against some aggressive first overs from James Renals and Ed Brook. With no early wickets, Jon Croft was needed to slow the run rate and take a wicket. This brought Ken Dawber (16) to the crease with some calculated shots. Next in was Rob Wilkinson (52) who stroked the ball around the ground, but Harry Ball(1-32) showed him what he can do. Next was S Gillman and Ethan Deane (17), and his father Matt Dawber. The middle Dawber couldn’t get it away with just 4 runs before being bowled by James Renals, while the youngest Dawber was slowing racking up his runs. From here it was getting close to the required total, with 13 needed off the last over, Andy Swansborough was under pressure, but cracked leaving Warren XI with 182.
The Roots Gardening and Grounds Man of the Match was awarded to Ethan Deane for a controlled spell of bowling and a classy 17 with the bat.
