CRICKET
Victories Prove Elusive for Priory
26th June: Match Drawn
Hastings & St Leonards Priory 195-9;
Cuckfield 167-6
3rd July: Lost by 5 wickets
Hastings & St Leonards Priory 142-6;
Eastbourne 145-5
On two successive Saturdays the cricketers of Hastings & St Leonards Priory have looked odds-on to win crucial victories in their Sussex Premier League campaign but on each occasion failed to press home their advantage.
On 26th June, hosting Cuckfield on a Horntye pitch which played low and slow, Priory relied upon another masterly innings from Harry Finch, who carried his bat through the full 58 overs to post a score of 114 not out. Of the other batsmen, only Harry Scowen (46) reached double figures, but the total of 195 proved in the circumstances more than enough. When it was their turn to bowl, Priory appeared to be well on their way to victory when Cuckfield’s fifth wicket went down in the 33rd over with only 78 on the board, spinners Jed O’Brien and Dishan De Zoysa taking a stranglehold over the middle order. But the visitors’ sixth wicket partnership dug in, and in the end achieved a comfortable draw with only one more wicket falling in the remaining 20 overs.
Last Saturday, after heavy morning rain delayed the start at Eastbourne’s ground, the Saffrons, and with the threat of further showers to come, the two teams opted by mutual agreement for the match to be contested under a T20 format. The league rules provide that each team is then awarded the ten-point minimum as if for an abandoned game but the winners gain a further ten points from their victory.
Priory, losing the toss and invited to bat first, lost their talisman Finch early, but maintained a good rate of scoring over their 20 overs. De Zoysa (34) and Scowen (39) shared a third wicket partnership of 78; Tom Gillespie (17) and John Morgan (17) kept momentum; the total of 142 for six was certainly competitive. In the field Gillespie led by example with an early catch and then a run-out, and after 14 overs Eastbourne were 80 for five, requiring another 63 runs from six.
Enter Eastbourne’s number seven, Ben Remfry, who clubbed 39 not out off just 16 deliveries, including three sixes and four fours. Five different Priory bowlers were given brutal treatment in successive overs, and he and Scott Lenham (52 not out) reached the target with eight balls to spare.
Priory cannot afford to stay disappointed for long. A tough trip to East Grinstead tomorrow (Saturday) will be followed by a home match entertaining Middleton on 17th July. A glance at the league table, now at the halfway point of the summer, suggests that Priory will be fighting with Middleton, Cuckfield and Haywards Heath to avoid relegation at the season’s end. The side from the West Sussex coast are the only eleven that Priory have managed to beat so far this season, and anything less than a victory double will leave the latter’s position in the league truly precarious.
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