Eastbourne | Sussex Martlets

Match Report

After a particularly wet May that significantly reduced the amount of cricket that was played across the county, a very sunny and warm start to June followed. A youthful Sussex Martlets arrived at Eastbourne CC ready to play, batsman itching to score runs and bowlers ready to get some mid-week overs under their belts. The Saffrons ground was looking in great condition as always!
Martlets won the toss and elected to Bat first on what looked a very nice wicket to bat on….Marcus Campopiano (Campo) and Toby Pullan opening the innings with both players coming into the game in good form. Both players did not disappoint, racing to 57-0 off 10 overs scoring freely with pace on the ball. Toby in particular, was reaping the rewards of a polished cover drive off the Eastbourne opener Bradley, whilst Campo went about his business elegantly at the other end. There was no rest bite for the Eastbourne first change bowlers as both batsman began to put their foot on the accelerator, bringing the next 50 runs up in just 5 overs (100 up in 15.3 overs). By this point Campo had decided he was no longer playing 2nd fiddle to Toby, and promptly reached his 100 first off 75 balls including a switch hit six in the nervous nineties. He very unselfishly retired himself on 100. Oscar Jago Lewis came in at 3 and he too, very quickly found his fluency and subsequently, the boundary with ease, reaching his 50 off 25 balls. At the other end, Toby began to up his strike rate with some very clean striking before reaching his 100 with the Martlets score approaching 275-0 (1 retired). Once he passed the milestone, his captain politely requested that Toby ‘hit out or get out’ at which point, he duly continued to ‘hit out’ before being retired on 123 at the 30 over mark. Jordan Shaw (playing as a batsman) followed Toby to the crease, and wasted no time hitting his 2nd ball for 6 at the beginning of another bruising Martlets knock. Oscar JL was the first batsman to fall with the Martlets score at 328-1, when he was caught off the bowling of J Bradley. Jordan Shaw continued to go on the attack before he too, was caught off the bowling of J Bradley for 53 bringing Tayyab to the crease joining Nick Chaplin with the Martlets CC score 366-2 in the 40th (and final) over. The final score for the Martlets was 372-2 (2 retirees) off 40 overs and certainly one of the most impressive innings the Martlets skipper has seen for a long time….!
After a short BYO tea interval, the Martlets took to the field alongside the two Eastbourne CC openers; Mark Trubshaw and AP Wankhade requiring a run rate of 9.3 RPO. Mark Trubshaw opened his shoulders from ball 1 and was caught at backward point off a top edge whilst, at the other end, AP Wankhade began to find the boundary with relative ease. A risky bowling change by the skipper bringing on spinner George Bryans in the last over of the powerplay was too irresistible for AP, who miss cued one and was caught by Henry Cope at mid-off for a quick fire 40. A steady flurry of wickets fell after this point as the Eastbourne CC Batsman tried to keep up with an ever-increasing run rate. Steve Harmen bowled beautifully with the new ball and got 2 deserved wickets. Subhan who took the new ball at the other end, bowled well and was unlucky not to pick up a wicket. George Bryans , on debut, ended up with 4 wickets in his spell (jug avoidance) and was followed well by Ben Jackman who managed to grab a 3 fer overcoming his early season bowling ‘yips’. Eastbourne CC number 8 put up a valiant fight scoring a fluent 50 before Toby Pullan got the ball in his hand and duly finished the innings.
Overall, it was a fantastic game of cricket, and I would like to thank Eastbourne CC for hosting and Dave Morris and Alison Skinner for their services as umpire and scorer