First XI Match Report
Barcombe 1st XI - 173-10
Brighton and Hove 3rd XI - 266-8
Barcombe lose by 93 runs.
For the first time this season skies were filled with clouds and the threat of rain as the team gathered at the BRG to welcome Brighton and Hove. It was a much changed Barcombe squad with regular skipper Harry Stewart opting to marry on a Saturday in the summer and deciding to take most of the top order with him. Vice captain Allan Trower (who's Saturday lie-in had already been disturbed with a classic WhatsApp scramble for a number 11 - Josh Burgess coming to the rescue again...) took over the tossing duties and after being fed top level information that the wicket would do a bit early opted to field first.
Trower and youngster Harry Austin, making his first XI debut, got things underway and it immediately become apparent that someone had gone full Operation Mincemeat and fed Trower false information as the wicket was flatter than a tone-deaf squashed frog. The Brighton openers immediately put Barcombe to the sword and Trower and Austin - despite bowling nicely - were bashed all over the place. Finally, Austin got the wicket he deserved, the hard-hitting left hander striking the ball into the waiting hands of Barcombe's international representative David Christmas. Trower struck soon after, finding the edge to nestle into the safe hands of Ollie Allsobrook behind the stumps and it looked like there was a way back in.
Brighton and Hove continued to attack - Nick Beck and Josh Wheatley were called upon to try and stem the flow, with some success, Beck picking up a couple of wickets thanks to the safe hands of Austin and a delicious inswinger to knock back the off stump but still runs were coming easily on the drying outfield.
Christmas entered the fray and took two more wickets to take his tally for the season to eight, currently putting him top of the league wicket takers. Ade Broadway, after looking superb at nets and being promised a bowl all season was tried and was unfortunate not to see the ball land in Allsobrook's gloves after he decided it was a little too hard to dive to his right.
Barcombe's fielding remained stoic in the face of some belligerent hitting - Dan Weisner in particular was flinging himself around and looking to stop everything - one hit causing damage to a finger that would later hamper his batting.
Another of Barcombe's debutants, Ted Burke, came in to the attack with his ragging off-spinners and picked up his first wicket, this time Allsobrook deciding he did want to catch the ball.
The innings closed with Brighton and Hove scoring a competitive but not unobtainable 266. It had been a solid performance from an experimental team and they went off buoyed at the thought of batting on another BRG road.
Beck was promoted to open and Ollie Levett took up the mantle alongside him. They raced out of the blocks and put on a superb 81 for the first wicket - Levett the first to fall for a well made 8. He had done his job, holding an end as Beck took the attack to Brighton and Hove, dispatching the ball to all parts of the BRG and beyond - scoring a superb 50 to continue his fine start to the season. He had taken himself to 70 and had his sights on a maiden hundred when he sadly fell after fitness levels began to tell - but he had given Barcombe an excellent platform from which to attack.
As is often the way, that never materialised with the rest of the order failing to take advantage and falling at regular intervals - the highlight being Trower bashing a quick 50 before he too became tired due to being old and overweight.
Barcombe battled their way to 173 - and a respectable 12 points - before Burke and Burgess were removed by the only two balls that did anything all day. The winning streak was over but plenty of positives to take forward for the rest of the season. Special mention to Harry Austin and Ted Burke for picking up their first wickets for the First XI - many more to come! Next week the team travel to the depths of Crawley to face Ifield 2s.
Player of the match - Nick Beck - 70 runs, 2 wickets and one angry outburst about running on the wicket.