v Roffey

The first away game of the campaign took the Seconds to the ever popular Roffey for a game against their 2nd XI. Another toss won by the new skipper meant that the 2nd XI again decided to bowl first The new ball pairing of Matt Smith (1-41) and Mo Brazil started nicely with Mo picking up the first wicket with 12 on the board before their number three looking like he couldn’t hit the ball of the square. However, the same problem as the previous week started to develop with too many lose deliveries being dispatched across the “sharp grass” for boundaries. The introduction of Shiv on his Bensons debut provided instant results picking up a wicket with his first delivery for the club, ending up with figures of 2 for 41. The skipper was amongst the wickets again ending up with 3 to back up his 4 from the previous week, as Roffey could only add 50 in the last 10 overs.

After the famous Roffey tea, the Bensons reply got off to the worst possible start where Martyn Ford jammed down on the second ball of the innings which was taken at slip. Despite looking like both a bump ball and that the catch might not have carried Martyn was dismissed. This lead to what can only be described as “hari-kari” as the combination of some decent in-swing bowling and some interesting batting lead to a collapse to 8-5. A mini-revival between Shiv and Ferg led to a partnership of 18 before Shiv was caught at second slip trying to counter attack. A useful 17 from number 10 Gab Martin, and 23* from the skipper meant being bundled out for only 65 in 15.5 overs. The less said about this the better, and although a 193 run loss was confirmed, 18 bowling points out of 20 makes a decent return.

Roffey CC 2nd XI 258-8
Brighton & Hove CC 2nd XI 65 all out
Fergus Guppy 3-65
Shiv Singh 2-41
Fergus Guppy 23*
Gab Martin 17