CRICKET
Old and New at Horntye
Grassroots sport was effectively halted in the first months of this year, wiping out the season’s schedules for football, rugby and other winter games. But the easing of outdoor restrictions under Prime Minister Johnson’s ‘roadmap’ has come in time to promise a full fixture list for the cricket season in Sussex, as elsewhere across the country.
Prime local club Hastings and St Leonards Priory were promoted back to the Sussex Premier League in 2019. The 2020 league season was suspended without a ball bowled. In substitution, a brief and forgettable series of county cup matches was held in August, which Priory contested with a depleted squad. Now they are eager to resume the challenge of a full competitive season at Horntye Park in the top flight. It’s likely to be the club’s last summer of cricket at this ground before developers move in to build a housing estate on it. So can they make 2021 a year to remember for other more positive reasons too?
The nucleus of the side which won the Division Two championship of 2019 has been retained. Ian Gillespie remains first team coach, and his son Tom retains the captaincy.
In the middle at Horntye, August 2020
PICTURE: Dave Young
Batting – old and new
The batting line-up will again feature Jake Woolley, Ryan Hoadley and Tom Gillespie, plus Joe Billings to the extent that his university commitments allow. Billings was in action for Leeds/Bradford UCCE in a match against a Yorkshire county team last week, dismissed for 12 but taking two catches as wicket-keeper of the student team. He should be well in the groove by the time he can make himself available for Priory. In the meantime, Harry Scowen, who was away at Bath University in 2019, has returned, and will don the gloves early season.
Elliott Hooper, top run-scorer in 2019, has moved to London and will not play for Priory this summer, perhaps never again. His always elegant and often swashbuckling innings will be missed. However, two incoming batsmen – one old, one new – will, it is hoped, more than compensate.
Old hand is Harry Finch, who returns to his original club after scoring more than 3,000 runs over eight years and 112 matches (in all formats) for the Sussex county team. At only 26, his contract at Hove ended last September and was not renewed. County coach Jason Gillespie (no relation to the Priory father and son, Ian and Tom – though Finch is their cousin) commented then: “Harry is obviously disappointed not to be offered a new deal. He is fantastic around the group, he is a conscientious trainer, and he is a very good fielder. Ultimately, though, he’s in the squad to bat and probably didn’t quite get the runs that he would have liked.”
Net practice, April 2021
Finch will be hoping to find another county to offer him a fresh chance as full-time professional, and Jason Gillespie made encouraging noises despite his release: “We hope Harry can continue his career and genuinely wish him all the very, very best in his career going forward. I look forward to seeing him doing well in the future.” So this summer it will be a case of looking to the circuit of second XI county fixtures in midweek (no longer representing Sussex but hoping to be enrolled into another squad), then appearing for Priory on Saturdays.
All cricket fans, players and followers alike, look forward with optimism to (let’s hope) a dry and Covid-free summer
New to Priory and indeed to England altogether, is another 26-year-old right-handed batsman with plenty of experience of first-class cricket, played, in his case, in Sri Lanka. Dilshan de Zoysa made his debut for the Sri Lankan Army team in 2016, who play in the top tier of tournaments there. Priory have signed him for the season as their sponsored ‘overseas pro’. He is currently self-isolating under Covid rules, having just flown in from the sub-continent, but is expected to be released from quarantine and fit to play in time for Priory’s opening league game against East Grinstead on 8th May.
Bowling attack
On the bowling front, evergreen chairman of the club John Morgan, left-armer Adam Barton and Finch will form an experienced seam trio. One half of the left-arm spin double act – Hooper and the wily Jed O’Brien – which has won Priory so many games in recent seasons, won’t be there. But de Zoysa brings a fresh weapon in the form of right-arm leg spin, and it’s hoped that he and O’Brien will prove another formidable pairing. Adam Page, Jack Coleman and Josh Beesley should all be available as back-up.
As in the previous league season of 2019, there are 18 rounds of matches to be played over the summer. The first five rounds, from early May to mid-June, will be played under a standard limited over format: 50 overs per innings, maximum 10 per individual bowler, with restrictions on field placements. The next nine rounds, through the middle of the season, are under a more traditional format: a maximum of 110 overs bowled over both innings; the team batting first can bat for a maximum of 58 overs; if the team batting second fails to overhaul the first score but is not bowled out, the points are shared. The final four matches in August and September revert to limited overs, winner-takes-all.
In recent seasons Priory have generally been less successful at limited overs, perhaps because under this format their potent spin duo could be seen off more quickly. This time around they will be hoping that their batsmen can build big enough scores to complement a more balanced bowling attack. And in a first pre-season outing on 17th April they did just that. Kent League side Holmesdale came to Horntye and notched up 221 for six in 45 overs, but Priory knocked off the runs with three overs and seven wickets to spare, Hoadley scoring 94, Gillespie 33 and Scowen 50 not out.
This Saturday the team will be playing in a T20 county cup competition against either Bexhill or Buxted Park. Then it’s the serious stuff. All cricket fans, players and followers alike, look forward with optimism to (let’s hope) a dry and Covid-free summer.
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