TONY WOODHOUSE TROPHY

SWAY vs HYTHE SUNDAY 2nd XI

Sunday 24th May

Hythe hold on for draw

A very young and inexperienced Hythe side scraped a draw against tournament favourites Sway on Sunday with a positive performance in the field. Poor batting left Hythe hanging on in the last over.

Hythe travelled to Sway for the first fixture of the TW trophy with a very youthful side, many of whom have only just played senior cricket this season. After winning the toss Hythe bowled first and began positively with both Jonjo Stovell and Rich Last putting the ball on the spot and keeping the opening batsmen in check. Once they were replaced Tom Richards struck with his first ball in senior cricket with an excellent caught and bowled to remove Clarke for 13. A couple of overs later it was Tom Huxley who struck when Sean Tongs took a low catch at cover. Hythe continued to pick up wickets as Skipper Moore bowled Charlton and then Bramwell with a ball that bounced no higher than an inch off the ground. This however brought in Terry Steadman and he and the opener Hall began pushing the score along with some ease against Hythe’s youthful attack. Hall was finally dismissed for 46 by Harry Smith after hitting only one boundary and running 9 threes (5 were his) in the heat. Smith took another wicket before Steadman (42*) and Bennett (35*) accelerated to take Sway’s total to 194-6. The best figures returned for Hythe were Moore and Smith who both had 4-0-17-2. Tom Richards was also very impressive on debut.

Hythe came out to bat knowing the score would be hard to chase and it proved so with the quick loss of Harry Smith, Russell Moore and Jonjo Stovell. Josh Mead (4) was then joined by Matt Young (12) and the two batted with a lot of determination through 15 overs in a 28 run partnership.

The game appeared to be petering out to a tame draw but once again the tide was quickly turned when Clarke (4-22) took three wickets in one over and the score suddenly slumped to a paltry 46-6. Once James Carse also departed it was left to Sean Tongs and Gareth Mead to bring some respectability to the Hythe total and they shared a strong partnership before Mead was dismissed for a positive 17.

Looking for extra batting points Tongs was stumped in the last over for 35 which left Tom Huxley and Tom Richards to keep out the last 5 balls and hold onto a draw. They did so with Richards finishing scoreless and Huxley on 6* as Hythe stumbled over the line on 108-9.

Not a defeat but Sway already look strong favourites for the title with a sound performance that Hythe in truth had no match for. However, with lots of our young players gaining valuable experience the green caps can take a lot out of the game and feel confident about the clubs future.

Innings of : SWAY 194 For 6 (43 Overs)

Hythe Bowling

Innings of : HYTHE 108 For 9