Two in a row for the 2's
Littlehampton 3rd XI awaited the 2's at Goring, the pitch looking dry and dusty Littlehampton won the toss and elected to field. Eastergate opening again with the youth of Thom Radford (16) and the evergreen John Etherington (29), the partnership reached a respectable 42 with some good looking shots again from Radford before he gloved one behind. Etherington was joined by Tom Jaggar (0) who was beaten by Raj (9-1-24-4) who was the pick of the Littlehampton bowlers.
Matthew Bentley (4) started well but again was undone by clever bowling from Raj.
Rew Reed (66no) came in to assist Etherington shore up a rocky boat, the partnership garnering 30 runs before Etherington was trapped lbw by Kitchen (9-0-74-2).
Mark Bentley (29) started his innings in fine style hitting the boundary on numerous occasions with a glorious six topping it off. The pair putting on 64 before Bentley was out foxed by Kitchen lbw.
Kevin Ursell (1) made his return for the 2's but his usual attacking style fell foul of an edge to the keeper. Josh Reed (2) was in with his Dad and looked confident, until flicking one to square leg and was unable to make the ground after a direct hit from the fielder.
Chris Radford (0) came to join Rew Reed and was swiftly caught and bowled by Stoneham (9-1-32-1).
With only a couple of overs left Harvey Reed (1no) joined his Dad and with some nice shots and quick running between the wickets they finished the innings off. Eastergate 177 for 8 off their 40 overs.
In reply the Littlehampton openers were pinned down by Josh Reed (9-4-24-2) and Kevin Ursell (9-4-23-1) and had only made 11 when Heberlein snicked onto his stumps. Cole fell shortly after with a fine ball from Josh Reed that had him bowled.
Harvey Reed (1-0-10-0) took over from his brother but only lasted one over before injuring his foot.
Mark Bentley (6-0-32-0) replaced Ursell, bowling a tidy line and length from the bottom end. Good fielding at square leg from 'crowd favourite' Neil Knapp kept Littlehampton honest.
Matthew Bentley (4-1-21-1) was introduced from the top end, rekindelling the father-son partnership of last week and a steady spell culminated in a wicket maiden to finish off.
With Littlehampton creeping up to the score, Ursell was recalled to finish off his overs, picking up a wicket and keeping the scoring down.
Chris Radford (6-0-30-1) added to his wicket tally with some tight bowling and snaffled a dangerous looking Raj (1) with Rew Reed taking the catch at mid-off.
The last 6 overs saw father-son team Josh Reed and Rew Reed (5-0-17-1) try and prevent the Littlehampton big hitters from scoring, Rew Reed bowling Birbeck (33) leaving Stoneham (30no) to try and get them home. good balls from the Reeds, and great fielding all round prevented them and Eastergate saw out the 40 overs to win by 7 runs.
A great game with a little bit of sunshine!!!
Many thanks to the Littlehampton umpire who stood for the whole game.
#greatcricket #littlehampton #sussex #eastergate
