Adkin inspires Grinstead to national cup semi-final

With a good crowd at Saint Hill, EG won the toss and elected to bat. Openers Adkin (86) and Hatchett (49) got the team off to the perfect start putting on 106 for the first wicket.

This was before Hatchett was LBW to the impressive T Hankins (2-39).

Hudson-Prentice came and went in the same fashion leaving EG on 119-2.

Graham (35) then joined Adkin and the two of them put on a valuable 63-run partnership for the third wicket.

Graham was the next batsman to go, LBW to Green (3-25).

Sturmer (23) came to the crease and increased the scoring rate with some well-timed fours before Adkin was caught by the keeper off a top edge for a well-made (86).

EG lost a quick flurry of wickets at the end but ended on a competitive 221-7 off their 45 overs.

In reply EG were looking for early wickets and that’s exactly what they got.

Lewis Hatchett (2-15) removed both openers, Campbell (9) and Ackland (2) both caught behind by keeper Heppell. Sturmer (2-31) then removed Hankins caught and bowled for (6).

At 21-3 it was the best possible start for EG and Bath needed to rebuild.

Thankfully for them that’s exactly what Muchall (32) and Benton (27) did.

Once again the spin pairing of Hatchett (2-34) and Graham (2-30) provided some tight overs in the middle of the innings and were rewarded with wickets.

Hatchett broke the partnership having Muchall LBW before Graham had Mount (8) out in the same fashion.

Graham also then picked up Benton caught at cover and Bath once again needed to rebuild at 99-6.

Padgett (38) gave some late-order resistance and alongside Davies (12) took Bath up to 136-7.

Brad Hatchett then came back into the attack and struck, taking the wicket of Davies bowled. Lee Granger then bowled an inspired one over to remove the set Padgett and EG were on the home stretch. Returning seam bowlers Hudson-Prentice (1-26) and Sturmer returned to bowl the late overs and both picked up a wicket each.

Bath finished all out for 177 giving EG a winning victory of 44 runs.

EG move onto the semi-final on Sunday, August 27, when they will host Wanstead and Snaresbrook CC.

East Grinstead 1st XI hosted Bexhill on Saturday hoping to get a full day’s play in after having two washouts in their previous two fixtures.

EG won the toss and stuck Bexhill into bat and got off to the best possible start.

Brad Evans (3-26) removed opener Johnson (0) caught behind by Heppell. Evans then removed Bexhill’s number 3 for 0 caught well in the slips and fellow opening bowler Sturmer (3-22) removed Bryant clean bowled for (0). Bexhill found themselves 4-3 with no runs coming off the bat.

That soon became 6-4 when Ian Sturmer removed Naish (0) LBW, things then went from bad to worse for Bexhill as they fell to 19-6 in quick time as Fynn Hudson-Prentice (1-4) removed Nicj Peters and Brad Evans picked up his third wicket.

The spin pairing of Hatchett (1-19) and Graham (2-19) then picked up the remaining wickets, with overseas player Jake Lewis being the only batsman to reach double figures, scoring 76 out of a total of 95 all out.

With a short total to chase EG got off to a solid start with openers Adkin (21) and Hatchett (41) putting on 46 for the first wicket. This was before Adkin was bowled off an inside edge of Lewis.

Hudson-Prentice (9) came and went quickly with EG’s score on 64-2.

Hatchett was then joined by Graham (17*) and these two took the score up to 94 before Hatchett was LBW to Beeslee.

EG knocked off the final runs just in time before the rain set in. Due to weather in other games EG now find themselves top by 19 points with four games remaining.

Brad Evans picked up the Wisdom Sports Man of the Match for his early spell of bowling.

EG will take on Preston Nomads at Home on Saturday.