HYTHE SUNDAY XI vs LOCKSHEATH

Sunday 10th May

Debut victory for twin towers in clash of youth.

Hythe Sunday XI finally kicked off their season with a tough looking fixture against County 1 Club Locksheath. A solid Hythe performance led by tight fielding, top bowling from Greg woods and controlled batting from Sean Tongs and Matt Howe ensured a comfortable 4 wicket win for the new Sunday captaincy partnership.

At a very hot Jones’ Lane a youthful Locksheath won the toss and elected to bat. At the time looking at the hot weather and good track this looked like the right idea as conditions suited batting. Hythe meanwhile opened with young bowlers Pete Stevens Jnr and Greg Woods. Early on the Locksheath batsmen started brightly, hitting the ball confidently, especially off the wayward bowling of Pete Stevens.

Greg Woods however added to his three wickets on Saturday with another quick treble on Sunday. He first had the opener LBW before removing both batsmen 2 and 3 through catches by Russell Moore at mid off – the same position Chalkey took two catches for him on Saturday. Woods finally ended his spell with fine figures of 6-2-17-3 and a weekend haul of 8.1-2-21-6. Lee Powell came on to replace Stevens and had an immediate impact taking two wickets for just 11 runs. At this stage an early finish looked likely but a rear guard action from Locksheath ensured a reasonable target was set. S. Reed making 41 not out as the visitors finished with 138ao. Tight bowling from all of the Hythe team and a solid fielding display ensured that the green caps were always in control of the match with skipper Moore returning 4 maidens in 5 overs for 1 run whilst Stevens returned to claim the final two Locksheath wickets for figures of 6-0-18-2. There were also catches for Page and Howe and a run out for Moore.

In reply Hythe opened with the unlikely figure of Pete Stevens Jnr to join James Page but it was Stevens who started the brightest hitting a number of confident shots. At 13 runs Hythe lost their first wicket as Page was LBW for 1. Soon after Stevens departed for a confident 19 which included four 4’s and this started a slow Hythe slide. Luke Mills, Russell Moore and Ewan Bell all played some nice shots but fell before they could make any real impact on the score. At this stage the game was relatively even with the green caps needing just over four an over from the last twenty overs but already five wickets down. Sean Tongs came in to join Matt Young and followed on from Saturdays form playing several confident shots as he set out to win the game. Young also batted confidently alongside him with a couple of good shots in his innings.

Once Young fell Tongs was joined by Matt Howe and the two began seeing out the game. After a short time and some aggressive strokes Tongs sealed the win with two successive fours in 26 not out whilst Howe, fortunate to survive two dropped catches took advantage and finished on 29 not out to complete a weekend of Hythe success.

Great credit should be taken by both sides with youthful teams providing strong performances but on the day Hythe’s enthusiastic performance in the field tilted the game the green caps way. Captains Russell Moore and Ewan Bell are unsurprisingly delighted with 7 matches unbeaten, despite the small matter of five being rained off.

Innings of : LOCKSHEATH 138 All Out (42 Overs)

(S.Read 41*)

Hythe Bowling

Innings of : HYTHE 141 For 6