Cuckfield Over 40s

Having won this limited-overs fixture comfortably last season it was unfortunate that the Martlets could not raise a full side to play against a Cuckfield team that was sprinkled with good batsmen.

With eight Martlets and one borrowed Cuckfield player press-ganged into the side, the Martlets lost the toss and were put into the field on a glorious summer’s day.

Andrew Cantrell took the new ball and dismissed the opener with his first ball with a spectacular catch. His seven overs returned figures of 30 for two with the one wicket maiden. Fantastic considering who he was bowling to.

Tim Dodd ably supported him from the other end, the batsmen having no answer to the Botham-esque consistent line and variable length.

A run out took care of danger-man Geoff Longfield for just seven but Crampton and Page then put the Martlets bowlers to the sword before Evette Burton, playing her first match for the Martlets, stemmed the run flow with spin, ably supported by Jeremy McGahan. Burton finished with five for 28 in her six overs.

In keeping the score below 200 we thought that we were in with a good shout of winning this match and we were well on track after the opening partnership of Rob Walker (38) and Richard Seagar put 51 on the board off eight overs before Rob was superbly caught by Longfield at extra cover.

Seagar went on to 45 before having to retire. The next three batsmen only added a further 20 runs between them. The Martlets then fell well behind the required run-rate. Despite requiring only 83 to win off 15 overs the Cuckfield bowling proving difficult to put away with fielders spread out. Burton was not out on 35. Despite McGahan’s a flurry of runs following the dismissal of Bill Collins, this still left us woefully short in a match that we really should have won, even with just nine players.