Brighton and Hove 5th XI – Match Report 2018 Season

Sat 19 May – Rottingdean CC (Away – Patcham Place)

After a frustrating day watching the rain last weekend in Hassocks, the 5th team season finally got underway beneath clear blue skies against Rottingdean 4s. Taking the very short trip down Mill Lane the team arrived nice and early for a good warm up session. Winning the toss on a green strip covered in plenty of grass, skipper Mick Brazil decided to let Rottingdean have the honour of batting first. Opening bowlers Dan Mouland and Brazil bowled well (sometimes too well!) backed up by some very tidy fielding. Rottingdean were finding runs hard to come by and wickets were falling. Approaching drinks the skipper tossed the ball to Connor Atherton who bowled a lovely line and length and took a wicket with his 4th delivery, thanks to a fabulous one hand diving catch from a thick edge by wicketkeeper Ben Hemmings. With 4 back in the pavilion after 20 overs, Brighton kept the squeeze on with tight bowling and wickets kept being taken without Rottingdean ever really able to accelerate. A good spell from David Harland who deservedly took 3 for 7, combined with some outstanding work in the field leading to 3 run outs (the highlight of which was a direct hit from backward point by Mouland), left Rottingdean 78 all out.

An early wicket gave Rottingdean some hope but young opener Joey Vance was technically very correct and put away the bad balls well. Ben Hemmings played straight with some lovely shots through extra cover and runs were coming at a good rate. Although they stuck manfully to the task, in the end Rottingdean were well beaten, Ben hitting the winning runs appropriately with another cover drive to be 36 not out. Joey remained 25 not out and the victory came in the 16th over with just one wicket down. 30 points and job done with good performances in all 3 areas, batting bowling and fielding.

Next week we entertain St Andrews at Falmer and skipper Brazil will be hoping for more of the same.

Report by Brian Mercer.