GUERNSEY under-13s might have set an unwanted piece of cricket history on their Sussex tour. Incredibly, chasing 156 to win against East Sussex, the Sarnians contrived to lose, having been 154 for three.
It was a brief period of panic on what was otherwise a promising trip, which saw Guernsey win their other completed match, with the third rained off.
After being put into bat, East Sussex were in a good position at drinks with their score 92 for one after 22 overs. Some much improved bowling and fielding in the second half of their innings saw them reduced to 155 all out.
Matt Stokes, with two for 11 from his eight overs, and Toby Belton, three for 22, led the way with some very accurate bowling in the Guernsey recovery while Jason Martin picked up the final couple of wickets to finish with two for 19 from his five overs.
In reply, Guernsey looked to be coasting to victory thanks to a second wicket stand of 109 between Stokes (33) and his captain Josh Kirk (68).
At 154 for three the Guernsey team obviously thought the job was done, but a combination of poor shots, some good bowling and a never-say-die attitude by East Sussex saw them pull off their incredible win.
‘Not many people believe that “the impossible” will ever happen to them, but this is one of the things that separates winners and losers,’ said coach Tim Belton.
‘The boys have learnt a very harsh lesson in our game with East Sussex.
‘Looking at it objectively, however, Guernsey dominated both of their games against decent teams and five minutes of total madness does not suddenly make them a bad team.
‘As long as the boys learn from this experience, they will come out of it for the better.’
In the first game of the tour, the tourists bowled very tidily in restricting Brighton College to 127 for four in 25 overs.
Guernsey completed an emphatic nine-wicket win with nearly five overs to spare.
An opening partnership of 59 between Nick Rumens (11) and Josh Kirk was followed by the winning stand between the captain, who finished on 68 not out, and Harry Player 20 not out.
Article posted on 4th June, 2008 - 2.29pm
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