Burgess Hill bounce back with quick win at Chichester
This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission on items purchased through this article, but that does not affect our editorial judgement.
Chichester won the toss and chose to bat . Captain Dan Strange and George Willett took the new ball for Hill and were accurate and miserly in the opening overs . The pressure built and Willett removed Simon Hasted for 9 caught behind by Luke Vick .
Strange, in the next over then accounted for both Sam Harvey snaffled again by Vick and then Peter Lamb to a fine diving catch by Vick .
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdAt 20-3 and Strange bowling his left-armers with swing and accuracy , Chichester were in trouble , knowing also that they were one man short following an injury in the warm-up. Their plight worsened as Strange trapped George Perry LBW for 2 and then clean bowled Johnny Heaven for a duck .
Charlie Futcher (27) and Rob Carver (12) promised to rally and played some aggressive strokes before both fell LBW to that man Strange .
Peter Billinghay (1-6) and Zain Patel (1-1) accounted for the last two batsmen and Chichester were all out for 76 in the 23rd over . Dan Strange finished with an impressive 6-25 .
If Hill thought it was to be an easy cruise to victory they were soon disillusioned as opener Tom Trowbridge was bowled first ball by Heaven and Phil Marshall (2) off the sixth ball .
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdIt was time for the Simpsons as brothers Jack and Ian calmly and positively put together a 46 run partnership. Sensible singles and well-placed shots put Hill in sight of victory but not before a slight wobble as Carver trapped Ian LBW for 15 and Richard Hancocks had Patel caught off a long-hop which should have been dispatched to the boundary as were the previous 3 balls. Carver then bowled Jack Simpson for a well-made 28 .
There was to be no twist in the tail though as Joe Maskell and Kirk Proto guided Hill to a five-wicket victory.
T20 Cup
Sunday saw Hill take on Crawley Eagles in the T20 cup.
Eagles elected to bowl and opener Tom Trowbridge welcomed the opportunity to get his first runs of the season as Hill got off to a brisk start.
Zain Patel was snared LBW off Imran Mehboob which brought in Jack Simpson who was soon into his stride with Trowbridge busy at the other end.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdMehboob produced a good ball to remove Simpson for 18 but a useful platform was building.
Brother Ian joined Trowbridge as the two put on a 78 run partnership before Trowbridge departed for a run-a-ball 47. Ian continued to slay the Eagles bowlers and when he was caught off Bashar for an excellent 59 in the 17th over Hill looked on course for a competitive 170 total . However, something of a procession then followed and they finished on 158 all out off their 20 overs.
Eagles started their reply calmly and positively with Jibran Khan (33) in good form . This was something of ‘lull before the storm’ though in a controversial fifth over bowled by Dan Strange . With Khan advancing almost halfway down the wicket as Strange started his run up there was a stalemate as Strange stopped and restarted three times as Khan continued to advance before throwing the ball to the keeper who whipped the bails off.
The umpires rightly called a no-ball and Strange was not allowed to bowl another ball in the match
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdAt 48 for no wicket in the eighth over , Eagles were well placed to win the game .
However Jack Simpson (1-16)removed Khan LBW and the Hill bowlers then applied good pressure with slow and medium pace causing Eagles problems . No fewer than four batsmen fell to the safe hands of Ian Simpson at long-on and Eagles were tumbled out of the competition for 117, failing to last the 20 overs.
Hill’s fifth and sixth bowlers, Zain Patel and Joe Maskell both finished w