Keymer win the battle of the unbeaten sides

Keymer 1st XI took the short trip to Balcombe on Saturday for a top of the table clash with both teams unbeaten so far this season.
Ronan picks up a 20 voucher for use in Wisdom Sports and was presented with his prize by club President Christopher Wilson.Ronan picks up a 20 voucher for use in Wisdom Sports and was presented with his prize by club President Christopher Wilson.
Ronan picks up a 20 voucher for use in Wisdom Sports and was presented with his prize by club President Christopher Wilson.

Keymer won the toss and chose to have a bat. Keymer got off to a good start passing the 50 mark without loss, a good start from Harvey Box (42) was cut short with a couple of quick wickets falling leaving the visitors 69-2.

A fluent 42 from number three Ed Farifax helped build a platform for some late order hitting by Jamie Purtell who accelerated the innings with an impressing 58* off 32 helping the visitors to a total of 209-6 from their 40 overs.

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In reply, some wayward bowling and assertive batting put hosts Balcombe in the driving seat with opener Andrew Stillwell guiding the hosts to 130-2 with his 49. The introduction of Box to the bowling attack changed the tempo and the left arm spinner caused problems for the middle order, picking up 4-36. A late flourish from keeper Gavin Elliott (27) looked to swing the momentum back in the favour of Balcombe but some tidy Keymer bowling dismissed the hosts for a nail-biting 194 with just 17 runs the difference in a well fought contest.

Keymer 2nd XI produced a dominant performance in a top of the table clash at home to Streat & Westmeston. Despite a faltering start which saw the hosts at 43-4, Keymer were able to post 255-7 from their 40 overs. Sid Barnes in his first outing of the season notched 58 whilst Conall Bartlett hit a career high 84. The total was boosted by 60 runs in the last 4 overs with some brutal hitting from 15 year Josh Cridland (31*) and Alex Bates (29*).

Streat started their reply strongly and after 10 overs were well placed but the introduction of Justin Toussaint into the attack slowed the run rate and forced the Streat batsmen into rash shots. Toussaint finished with 3-25 from his 9 overs, well supported by Bartlett (2-9) and Tom Andrews- Faulkner (2-19). Occasional bowler Simon McNiff finished off the innings at 131 with 2 wickets in his solitary over.

Keymer 3rd XI travelled to Palmers with their youngest side of the season. After being inserted the openers made a steady start seeing off the new ball putting on 31 for the first wicket. Nick Kitchen carried on this time in partnership with Kevin McGeough before falling for a well made 57. This brought Jon McGeough to the crease who accelerated the run rate with a quick fire 31 to take the total up to 169-6 from their 40 overs.

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This was a good effort from the side but was always going to be difficult to defend on a quick scoring ground and so it proved as Palmers reached their target with 10 overs to spare with loss of just 2 wickets. This was despite some decent bowling and on another day more wickets could of been taken. The 2 wickets were both taken by u13 Salvy Ganpatsingh in his first senior league game a good sign for the future.

Performance of the month

New to Keymer and Hassocks Cricket Club in 2018 is the Performance of the Month award, sponsored by Wisdom Sports. For the month of May the candidates for the award were -

1st xi - Ronan Pithie - 4-20 vs RAM

2nd xi - Howard Collins - 60 vs Rottingdean

3rd xi - Hayden Peak - 3-11 vs Rottingdean.

All three members were deserving nominations, but it was Ronan Pithie who picked up the award. His 4-20 vs RAM blew away the top order who were chasing a low total and was a match changing moment. Ronan picks up a £20 voucher for use in Wisdom Sports and was presented with his prize by club President Christopher Wilson.