HYTHE SUNDAY XI vs GOSPORT BOROUGH

Sunday 29th May

Close Finish Win For Green Caps

Hythe proved to be Gosport Borough’s bogey-team yet again as the Green caps beat the Southern Electric Division 3 side by 11 runs in a close encounter at Jones’ Lane. Half-centuries from Jonjo Stovell and Tom Porter helped Hythe to 188 while Russell Moore and Tom Richards both took three wickets in the chase.

Tom PORTER 50	Jonjo STOVELL 61
121 Run 2nd Wkts Partnership

With all three league fixtures rained off on Saturday the players were fresh for the visit of Southern Electric Premier League Division 3 side Gosport Borough. Captain Paul Quinnell lost the toss and saw his team inserted in a 40 overs per side match.

Opening the batting for Hythe was the young pairing of Harry Smith and Jonjo Stovell but the partnership was broken in the first over when Smith was caught behind off Pennicott. That brought Tom Porter to the crease to join Stovell and the pair would bat sensibly to take the score to 80-1 by the time drinks arrived half-way through the innings.

Although the scoring rate was not electric, the pair took their partnership past the 100 mark as Stovell notched his maiden senior team fifty in comfortable fashion. Porter soon followed his lead as he brought up his fifty soon after with Hythe looking to push the score along.

Unfortunately both Porter and Stovell were dismissed quickly after reaching their half-centuries and that prevented Hythe from piling on the runs. Tom Richards fell cheaply chasing 200 while Adriaan De Jager could also only scratch around for a few runs.

Hythe began to collapse as Sean Tongs and skipper Quinnell both fell in quick succession but luckily Richard Last came in to hit a rapid 28* alongside Matt Young to take the Green caps to their eventual total of 188-7.

However, the total seemed a touch below-par considering Gosport’s batting talent. SEPL Division 3 batsmen M Rees and L Wateridge walked to the crease to face Richard Last and Russell Moore with the old ball.

Fortunately, Hythe got off to the perfect start. Moore had Rees caught top-edging a bouncer in his first over before clean bowling Patton next ball to reduce the visitors to 5-2.

This brought A Machin in to join Wateridge in the middle. After surviving a dropped chance off Moore down the leg-side he showed why he has scored over 500 runs at 72 in SEPL Division 3 this year.

The challenge to break the partnership was difficult for Hythe as De Jager and Tom Barge attempted to keep the pressure on. However, the experienced batsmen negotiated the threat of both the Hythe bowlers as Gosport reached 124-2 off 26 overs.

The game was turned on its head when Machin was run out for 48 by Richard Last off the bowling of Harry Smith and Hythe began to eat into the Gosport tail. With Smith picking up wickets at one end and Tom Richards bowling an excellent spell at the other end, Hythe pulled themselves right back into the game.

However, with Wateridge closing in on a century the game was still in the balance. It wasn’t until Richards had the SEPL batsmen superbly caught by Tom Barge on the boundary for 91 that Hythe had the game in the bag.

With 15 needed off the last over, Russell Moore came back on and picked up another wicket for the loss of just four runs as Hythe sealed a superb comeback to win by 11 runs in an enthralling encounter.

Innings of : HYTHE 188 For 7 (40 Overs)

Gosport Bowling

Innings of : GOSPORT BOROUGH 177 For 9 (40 Overs)

Hythe Bowling

RESULT : HYTHE Beat GOSPORT BOROUGH by 11 Runs