3s Justin'fying Their Selection And Cummin Up With The Win

On a typical windswept and damp day at the salts, Seaford 3s welcomed Kerala Strikers on the visitors debut in Division 10 East.

With injuries and the usual availability issues affecting the club, Seaford had a team mostly full of players usually in the 4s and also handed a 3s debut to two Under 13s.

Seaford won the toss and elected to field on the artificial wicket knowing that would need to keep the score down as it usually wielded very high scoring games. A tight opening spell from Steve Hearsey (1-34) and Justin Squires (2-41) kept the top order in check and after 10 overs had Kerala in bother at 42-3. A stand out performance From Sachin J (53) with Kalesh (40) then got the scoreboard ticking over and more than doubled the score at drinks from 90-4 to end on a respectable 190-8. It was a score that looked tricky due to the long inexperienced tail, but not beyond them.

Good bowling all around from the Seaford team, and a notable mention must be given to young Liam Hornsby (0-8) who bowled many good balls in his short spell and is one to watch in the future.

In reply Seaford lost 4s centurian from last week Fahad Ahmed for a duck, however experienced Skipper Richard Cummins (26) and the ever improving Dom Wiesz (30) played sensibly and saw off the excellent opening spells from Edwin J (0-20) and Jiby KJ (1-32). Although the run rate was slow, it was important to keep the wickets in hand. Drinks at 20 overs saw Seaford at 62-1 still needing 129 off the remaining overs. When Cummins fell to a great caught and bowled and Weisz being run out, and very sportingly walking as the umpire didnt have the best view and wasnt sure, the score was 83-3 with 17 overs left.

This brought Justin "Powerhouse" Squires to the crease and along with Rhys "Run Everything" Cummins took the game beyond Kerala with some excellent cricket. Fast running between the wickets added to the big hitting quickly ended the game. Kerala's bowlers having no reply, and the last 100 runs came off just 9 overs. Squires (55no) ending up with a very well deserved half century backed perfectly by Cummins (42no).

An excellent win and a great start to the season for the 4s.....sorry 3s.

Seaford 28 pts - Kerala Strikers 11 pts

Author: Jon Milham