A Nailbiting Win, That Should Never Have Been

On a hot sunny day at the Salts, Seaford hosted Hailsham looking to push on from last weeks win. Once again losing the toss, Seaford were asked to bat on what is usually a runscoring dream of a pitch.

Opening with Owen Edmonds (61) and Martin Edmonds (43), Seaford got off to a great start, steadily scoring and at drinks stood at 91-0. The hundred partnership soon followed, as did Owen Edmonds deserved half century. The partnership flourished in the hot sun with some well struck boundaries mixed with well taken singles including an interesting variation on the word "yes" when calling a single. When Martin finally fell the score was 109-1 in the 25th over. Gavin Wright (32) and Justin Squires (12) batted well and took the score onto 169-3 with 5 overs to go. However the usual Salts power hitting last few overs never materialised and with some great death bowling from Sam Mills (3-30) Seaford ended their innings on 188-6. It was a good score but possibly below par going on the much higher scores recently at home.

In reply Hailsham got off to a slow start with Steve Hearsey (1-16) and Sam Mullett (1-29) keeping it really tight and it took Hailsham 8 overs to get the score into double figures. An inspired fielding change from the skipper (taking credit for that, as later errors cancelled it out) brought the first wicket for Steve, with Hailshams Skipper popping one up straight to close in fielder Gavin Wright to take with a look of complete shock on his face. Change bowlers Justin Squires (2-31) and Jonny Brown (1-21) continued keeping it tight and at drinks Hailsham were 56-3 and falling behind the run rate. When the 100 finally came up in the 31st over it left Hailsham needing over 8 runs per over and by then were 6 wickets down. From there all the good work of the day was almost wasted as Seaford seemed to take the foot off the gas. A couple of bad decisions from the Skipper (needs to learn that two tight overs is great, but don't risk a third!) gave Hailsham a glint of a chance, and suddenly they only needed 26 off the last 3 overs, then 16 off the last 2. An excellent over of just 2 from the 39th over bowled by Steve Hearsey who scandalously didn't bowl his full compliment (refer back to the bad decisions comment!). This left 14 required off the final over to be bowled by Sam Mullett who once again bowled really well today. The first ball wasn't the best though as it went for two wides leaving 12 off 6 balls. However bowling under pressure, Sam then went for just 5 in the over and just 2 off the bat. Hailsham ending on 182-7 and Seaford running out winners by 6 runs.

A very nervous and exciting game in the end. Seaford know they almost lost a game that was all but in the bag for a lot of the afternoon. However the win still was achieved and a much needed 30 pts. We will need to be right on the ball all day next Saturday when we visit our friends at Blackboys.

Seaford 30pts - Hailsham 11pts

Scorecard

Author: Jon Milham