An absolute scorcher of a day greeted the 1s at Saffrons in Eastbourne on Saturday. I won the toss and chose to bat. Pitch turned out to be very slow and tough to score on. Credit to the Eastbourne attack who bowled excellently in their home conditions with a straight wicket to wicket line of attack.
Ollie Gatting batted with great positive intent and was unlucky to be dismissed for 29 where he was freakishly caught and bowled. Dan Phillips batted hard for 26. Mani Khan however was on a different planet and played an absolutely amazing innings. It looks like he was playing on a different pitch to everyone else. He soaked up pressure but also struck boundaries at will. He ended scoring a marvelous 89…without that we wouldn’t have got anywhere near our eventual 184. We felt this was a par score as we knew we had the skills in our attack to bowl wicket to wicket and create pressure.
That’s exactly what we did and at the first drinks break had Eastbourne 56-6.
However a few loose overs and tough dropped chances/midfields allowed a steady partnership to develop and arrest the momentum back with Eastbourne.
I bought myself back on for one last burst and managed to pick up 2 further wickets but unfortunately Eastbourne crept over the line 8 down with 4 balls left in the day.

A great game of cricket I guess but extremely disappointed to be on the losing side.
Attention now turns to our important T20 Cup quarterfinal against Haywards Heath. This will be a tough match but one the lads are thoroughly looking forward to

Nav Patel 1st Team Skipper