Park settle for a draw against title contenders

Heathfield Park: 210-5

Barcombe: 267-5

Match drawn

THIS was an interesting contest between two of the strongest sides in Division 1 of the East Sussex League with neither side looking to give much away and perhaps inevitably ending in a draw.

Barcombe elected to bat as Heathfield would have chosen on what looked to be another perfect batting track at the Park.

The outfield on a hot afternoon was very fast, any stroke between fielders being rewarded with a boundary.

Barcombe started well with the openers putting on 77 for the first wicket with hard-hitting overseas player Jaswinder Singh scoring 59 before being brilliantly caught by Simon Briggs off the bowling of Simon Mallard.

Sadly, Briggs broke his finger, although he battled on bravely to complete the match.

Keith Savage added a solid 54, Josh Wheatley 47 and Joe Wheatley 36, enabling the visitors to declare on 267-5 after 49 overs.

Wickets were shared, with Simon Gayton taking 2-53 off eight overs, James Briggs 2-66 off 12 overs and Simon Briggs with 1-64 off 13.

Barcombe scored heavily late on and Heathfield were not helped by a couple of dropped catches.

The total was a gettable one on a good wicket, but needed a couple of Heathfield batsmen to stay in and score big. Opener Terry Penfold again outscored skipper Ian Cox, with Penfold adding 59 and Cox 36. Chris Hart (56) continued his good form and Andy Samuel made 26.

With wickets falling regularly, the target was slipping away with the home side only having 44 overs and the revised target was maximum batting points, which they achieved in the last over.

Jaswinder Singh took 3-52 off 11 overs and A Trower 2-46 off 10 overs.

The game ended in an honourable draw with each side receiving 15 points.

It would not be a surprise to see either side topping the table at the end of the season.

Barcombe II: 243-9

Heathfield Park II: 214-5

Match drawn

PARK's seconds again put the home side in on a track offering help to the seamers.

However, their depleted bowling attack could not capitalise, and the home side rattled up 60 in 11 overs before losing their first wicket.

Seven batsmen reached double figures with Roger Osmond 47, Monty Clarke 44 and Eddie Thomas the leading run getters. Dave Rayment 3-68 and Chris Tyler 3-66 including six successive maidens dragged the visitors into the match.

It was, however, strange to see Barcombe play the last four overs of their allotted 50 for just 10 runs when a declaration would have created a more interesting match.

In reply, the Park got off to a horrendous start with Kane Black bowling superbly and found themselves at 20-3 off 13 overs.

Dave Rayment smashed 44 as Park tried to attack the large target before being unluckily run out backing up.

It was left to Dave Robertshaw (109no) and 15-year-old Liam Matthews (31no), who is improving in every game, to add 106 in the final 15 overs to ensure at least maximum batting points for Heathfield.

Black ended up with 2-68 off 18 overs as the home side used only four bowlers.

Centurion Robertshaw said: "The loss of early wickets really hit us, but when we needed nine an over, they had seven fielders on the boundary with the opening bowler in action, leaving us little chance of victory".