Bilesh Blazes Boundary Blitz

On a glorious blazing hot summers day at the idyllic venue of Stonegate, Seaford took on Mayfield 3s, surprisingly Seaford skipper Karlos Wootten upset the form book and won the toss. With a strong looking batting line up it was no surprise that he elected to have first use of the wicket with a fast looking outfield. This looked to be slightly ill advised early doors as Seaford lost two early wickets with only 22 on the board, Gravett (10) and Robards (4) the early victims of father and son new ball pairing Holt and Horsham. This bought in the prolific Bilesh Jayamenne to join the consistent Jonty Reynolds, a boundary filled partnership of 61 followed before  Rob Gravett got in the game as umpire raising the dreaded finger for a strong LBW shout against Reynolds. Off he trudged for 44 looking gutted as he had missed out on a bigger score. This got the middle order in the game, Tim Page with 19 and an elegant looking 30 from Oscar Weisz batted alongside Bilesh, who was now losing balls for fun on his way to 130 off of 86 balls which included 17fours and 7 sixes, a fine example of power hitting and elegant stroke play to continue his fine form with the bat this season, last season’s injury looking long behind him now.

The innings was finished off with some master blasting from Ben “Hand Grenade “Page with 44* from 22 deliveries and the late arriving Jon “Where’s The Ground'' Pitts 16* off 7 deliveries, the score ending on 326-6. Seaford’s batting unit really hitting form now at the right time of the season with big games coming up.

Seaford opened up looking for early wickets knowing Mayfield had low score the week before early wickets would have huge impact, the pacemen were eager to get into the batting order whilst getting through the overs in good time, the game after the boundary fest first innings of the game was looking like a late finish. Openers Mick “Team Bus” Spragg and Jon “Where’s The Ground” Pitts duly obliged grabbing five wickets between them to reduce Mayfield to a sorry looking 32 for 5. After Pitts early blast Billy Wootten got in on the act finding the right length for the shooting delivery to find the bottom of Holt's stumps 34 for 6. After some fine catches early in the innings Seaford then strangely started  dropping them allowing a middle order recovery from skipper McDonald 22 and Horsham 26. Bilesh the main culprit today after fine early catch at first slip two were grassed, the unlucky bowlers being Tim “Boom Boom” Page and Billy Wootten. As a popular choice in fantasy league plenty of points flying out the window, skipper wasn’t happy about that. Ben Page then came on with his mix of full swinging deliveries and cunningly disguised grenades to grab two wickets, one a fine bit of deception with the aid of a fine catch from Spragg at mid-on. A first bowl of the season for skipper Karlos Wootten, who by now was thoroughly bored entertained briefly with his f and g, alas no wickets. Back to gully for the skipper. Team Bus Spragg came on to finish the innings in style uprooting the skipper's middle peg, to finish with 4 for 21, a fine spell once he found his lines.

Special mention for keeper Oscar Weisz, a fine display behind the stumps with two catches and many extras stopped as a few to many wides and leg side deliveries kept the scorebook moving.

An impressive winning margin of 230 runs means that Seaford remain top and unbeaten. Onto match day 9 at home to Tunbridge Wells 3s who are 2nd. The Seaford boys can’t wait  to get white and play some more cricket, always up for the next challenge.

Scorecard

Author: Karl Wootten