Hythe Fight Back 'Again' To Stun Hamble

Hythe & Dibden 1st XI Vs HAMBLE A.S.S.C

11.08.07 @ Follands Park

Another day of ups and down for Hythe & Dibden, but ultimately key performances by Froggie, Whits, Nardus & Wrighty saw Hythe to a superb and important victory over promotion rivals Hamble by 4 wickets.   

Batting first on home soil in hot and sunny conditions and with a short cut fast outfield, a rarity this season, Hamble were after a quick start and unfortunately Hythe obliged with some slightly wayward bowling and sloppy fielding, as Hitansnu & Mottola thumped 45 from the first seven overs and were 58 from 10 before Nardus Grobler bowled Mottola for 19. Paul Whitlock was introduced into the attack and immediately set about bringing control back to Hythe with some accurate and challenging bowling and at 72 Whits had Cummins lbw for 5, Aussie G. Power joined Hitansnu at the wicket but with the Simon Wright now bowling in partnership with Whits and also making life difficult for Hamble frustration was clearly setting in, Whits bowled Power for 5, before Wrighty got in on the act removing Clayton 5, then Hitansnu for a well made 59 caught by Rich Last having a slog, Khartkik 0 was next to go and when Allen 2 was brilliantly stumped by Kev James for 2, Hamble had slipped 117-8 from 35 overs as Whits 2-13 from 12 overs and Wrighty 4-30 from 11 overs had turned the game Hythe's way. Grobler and Froggett returned and Nardus soon had Lahiru caught behind for 10, Froggie bowled Newsome for 0 and although Sequiera 9 and Horne 6* got Hamble to 135, Nardus finished off their innings, a fine recovery by the visitors as early on there were fears of facing a 200 plus score.  

Hythe's joy though was short lived as their top order got blitzed by Sequiera and Lahiru, Kev James unluckily went for 0 lbw to Sequiera and Rob James went for 5 caught behind to the same bowler, then Lahiru removed Si Dixon caught behind for 5, and then bowled Wrighty for 0.

Hythe were 15-4 from 6 overs and in dire need of yet another mid order fight back, Nardus Grobler and Dave Guymer set about the repair job, Nardus in the form of his life with the bat took up the challenge hammering four consecutive boundaries from one Lahiru over, and Guymer playing sensibly kept Hythe ticking over nicely, at 65 with things looking better for the visitors, Lahiru bowled Guymer for a gutsy 15, then at 76 he removed Grobler for a very fine 40, and Hythe were again looking down the barrel, but enter Rich Froggett and Paul Whitlock, with overs no problem as Hythe's run rate was healthy, their task was to see off Lahiru and wait for the change bowlers, Richie took up the challenge straight away scoring runs freely and Whits kept feeding him the strike as much as possible, Whits saw off Lahiru's last two overs with no real problem and Rich continued to drill anything lose to the boundary at the other end, as the change bowling were fed on, the pair went past 100, then quickly to 126 from 28 overs, Froggie past 50 with another boundary and two balls later it was all over as Hythe made their target of 136 for a superb 4 wicket win, Froggett a brilliant 56 not out and Whitlock 10 not out had put on an unbeaten 60 from just 13 overs for the Hythe victory.  

Innings of : HAMBLE 135 All Out (37.3 Overs)

Hythe Bowling

Innings of : HYTHE 136 For 6 (29.3Overs)