Bexhill let victory slip from their grasp

BEXHILL'S five-match unbeaten start to the Sussex Division Two season came to a halt in a low-scoring, yet fascinating contest at the Polegrove.

Bexhill, outright leaders for the first time this decade going into the match, squandered a terrific chance to consolidate their position at the head of affairs after a sterling performance in the field had restricted St James' Montefiore to 155 all out.

Jesse Lewis (63) was again outstanding with the bat and there were 38 extras, but the other 10 batsmen were unable to muster the remaining 55 runs needed for victory with none of them reaching double figures. Bexhill were eventually skittled out for 135

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"The disappointment," said captain Steve Phillimore, who was dismissed for the first time this season, "was that we put ourselves in a position to take 30 points and we didn't take it. All it wanted was for someone to stay with Jesse. The wicket was bowler-friendly and their overseas bowler (Kris Johnson, who took 5-39) was useful, but we didn't deal with it as we should have done.

"But we did well. They are a useful side: they've just come down from the Premier League and most of that side played in the Premier League last year. We bowled them out for 155 and we only just lost."

The bowling was certainly the positive aspect for Bexhill as Simon Bulteel (5-46) picked up his first five wicket haul for the club and the in-form Ian Ellis, again bowling off his short run, claimed 4-50 to take his tally of victims to nine in two weeks.

St James' innings followed a similar pattern to that of Bexhill with one player scoring the bulk of the runs. That man was opener Sam Chettlebrough, who struck a crucial 89 before being caught by Jeremy Wassell off Bulteel.

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But the first of two game-defining moments came when last man Steven Green notched 18 in a stand of 26 for the final wicket, although at 155 all out, the Bexhill skipper admitted "we still felt we had done a good job".

The second was the dismissal of Lewis for the first time in three matches, during which time he has scored 161 runs.

The Aussie was seventh man out to, in Phillimore's words, a "stunning" catch by Ed Hart with the score on 125 and, from that point, the end was nigh.

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