CRICKET: Priory Dominate With Bat And Ball
24 May: Buxted Park 61; Hastings & St Leonards Priory 64 for 2
31 May: Priory 245 for 5; Mayfield 190
HUGH SULLIVAN
Two comfortable wins over the past fortnight have elevated the Hastings & Priory team to second place in Division 2 of the Sussex Cricket League. There’s a long way to go, and Priory have yet to play against any of the better teams in the division, but the form of both batters and bowlers augurs well for the immediate future.
On 24 May, they travelled to Buxted Park. That’s not always a happy hunting-ground for visiting bowlers, but Harry Scowen won the toss for the Hastings team, invited the home side to bat first and saw his seam attack – Freddie Hulbert, Adam Barton and Shawn Johnson – skittle them for 61 all out in 24 overs. Barton (2 for 14) took the opening two wickets, Hulbert (3 for 29) the next two, then Johnson blazed through the tail with five wickets for just nine runs in seven overs.
When Priory batted, Scowen and Caleb Laloo were dismissed within the first seven balls of the innings and, at one run scored for two wickets lost, it seemed that the match might not be as one-sided as it had hitherto appeared. Iden MCleave had other ideas, hitting 39 not out off 41 balls, and with Johnson (18 not out) giving good support at the other end, the pair strolled to an eight-wicket victory.
A week later, back at Horntye, visitors Mayfield sent Priory in to bat, but on a warm, sunny afternoon, Priory’s batsmen enjoyed themselves. Ryan Hoadley opened with Scowen, and scored 91 off 112 balls, including eight fours and a six. He and McCleave (37) shared a second wicket partnership of 112, then Shawn Johnson came in to yank up the scoring rate with 50 in 49 balls. The eventual score of 245 for five off 45 overs would take some overhauling.
Mayfield made a go of it despite losing early wickets as Adam Page and Hulbert took two apiece. The Priory bowling was occasionally ragged, both in the number of wides conceded and in off-length deliveries. Visiting captain Tristan Killops, batting at six, showed a range of aggressive shots and kept going for them; the score mounted at a competitive pace. But Jed O’Brien, bowling his left-arm spin unchanged through his allotted nine overs, prised out a succession of his partners (one lbw, two bowled and one well held in the deep by Page) to end up with four wickets for 37. Johnson was brought back to remove numbers 10 and 11, leaving Killops high and dry with 65 not out, and Priory the victors by 55 runs.
Next fixture for the Hastings team (tomorrow, Saturday) is a long trip to West Chiltington near Pulborough. The following Saturday, 14 June, they’ll entertain Worthing at Horntye.
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