Cuckfield Seniors | Sussex Martlets

Match Report

Lost the toss again which was disappointing as we would definitely have batted on a decent track with the sun shining.

Ollie Bell opened up for us and promptly Jimmy Andersoned himself second ball with a side strain. Not to be deterred he switched to spin and were it not for the dodgy wide his second over would have been a double wicket maiden. His quicker ball was so much quicker that he was genuinely intimidating their No 2 off 3 paces. Paul Walker improved every over from the other end and by the end of their 7 overs each the life was starting to leave the Cuckfield innings.We knew from previous years that their 3, 4 and 5 were handy and Ollie and Paul had done for one each for 0 and 6.When Paul Lack did for the other on 29 with a very smart caught and bowled that left number 1 Hennock as the only real threat but with him having to retire on 35 Damo Cashinella picked up where he left off last week with 2-9. He later attributed his bowling form to a video tutorial he had watched on youtube by the Aussie pantomime villain Nathan Lyon. Each to their own I guess.Lackie put in an impressive stint for his 2-26 swapping ends in the middle so that Dave Christmas could be allowed to bowl down the hill. By this time the sanitised ball looked like the dog had had it but somehow Xmas managed to get it swinging like a banana, giving the poor keeper a proper workout down the leg side. His 2 wickets for 13 were both bowled with the batsman having no idea what line to play.In the end only one of their best batsmen got going and when he came back in it was all over even if he hadn’t been cleaned up in the 33^rd by Peter Fielding.

After the break McGahan and Loveday cruised confidently to their retirements on 38 and 35 essentially ensuring the win. We lost Peter and Bush along the way but by the time the keeper arrived at 6 to join Malik all I had to do was knock it around a bit and give him the strike and we cruised to 130 off 28 overs.