Rye entertained top of the table Mayfield in a match sponsored by My Sweet Old Etcetera, last Saturday at the Salts with the hope of bouncing back from the loss to Crawley the previous week. On a hot sunny day, Mayfield skipper Rob Sharma won the toss and elected to bat on a flat Rye wicket.
Mayfield got off to a strong start with Jack Skinner hitting the first three balls of the innings for four off the bowling of overseas player Kshemal Waingankar. Both Skinner and Terry Lucas put on 41 for the first wicket before Gary Willis dismissed Skinner for 30 to a ball that moved away and was comfortably taken by Dan Seabrook. The home side continued to bowl well and apply pressure leading to Willis picking up the wicket of new man Andrew Cornford for 9. However, despite this setback Lucas was still progressing well at the other end, ticking the score over and rotating the strike.
It would be fair to say that Lucas was the linchpin of the innings as other players batted around him. Although Kimber made a breezy 30 he found himself on the way back to the pavilion as a consequence of the bowling of Waingankar, with skipper Sharma soon following for 9 to the bowling of Craig Pierce. The Mayfield innings was characterised by a number of players who made starts but were unable to convert these into significant scores. By the time Lucas had reached 50, he was dismissed by Waingankar almost immediately, to leave the lower order exposed. However, not even the introduction of Harry Smeed (2 for 24) could curtail the scoring as Edward Finch (25 not out) worked with the tail to enable Sharma to declare on 200 for 9 after 45 overs. Gary Willis put in his best bowling performance of the season so far to finish with 2 for 42 from 10 overs while Waingankar finished with 3 for 72 from 20 overs.
In reply Rye got off to a poor start losing Dan Seabrook for 5 to the bowling of Cornford (1 for 31). This brought Mark Cook to the crease to join fellow batsmen James Hamilton. The pair put on just under fifty for the second wicket with Hamilton being especially brutal on overseas player Marno Pistorious, despatching him to the boundary on several occasions during a well compiled 32. However, Pistorious had the last laugh having Hamilton caught at first slip by skipper Sharma leaving Rye in a precarious position at 55 for 2. With the loss of this wicket Mickey Toomey made a bright and breezy 24 including two consecutive straight sixes off the bowling of Jason Finch. However, Finch eventually had the final word trapping Toomey in front of the stumps. At this stage Rye were 87 for 3 and in with a shout of knocking off the total set on a good wicket.
However, the lack of experience with the bat cost Rye as Cook was not able to find a partner to stay with him for any length of time. He fought hard for his 22 runs before he was dismissed by the impressive South African pace man Pistorious who ran through the Rye lower order. He finished with excellent figures of 6 for 47 form 15 overs to leave Rye all out for 139.
This Saturday Rye 1st XI travel to Hellingly, whilst Rye 2nd XI entertain Hellingly 2nds in a match sponsored by The Plough Inn. Rye’s Third XI travel to play Heathfield Park 3rd XI.
The COLTS maintain their good season as the U13 made it 5 wins from 5 as they defeated Great Chart, scoring 190 off just 20 overs. Dismissing Great Chart for 105. The U17s Defeated Mersham bowling them out for 28, and losing one wicket in reply. The U15 slipped up to Ashford Town however. The U11 A played the U11B team in a friendly as both their oppositions have withdrawn from the league, with the B team prevailing.
This week the U11a are away to Tenterden, the U11b are away to Wye on Monday, on Tuesday the U15 are away to Rolvenden, the U17 are away to Kennington on Friday.