Ansty one wicket away from first Premier Division victory

Ansty were one wicket away from picking up their first Premier Division on Saturday.
Stephen RuslingStephen Rusling
Stephen Rusling

Having travelled to Hastings Ansty having won the toss decided to bat first.

Hastings took their first wicket in the 4th over with the score on 4 but Ansty showed resolve as the innings went on. Skipper Harry Towler and Tommy Green added a further 22 before Green was run out for 12. Towler went on to be 5th out for 32with the score on 84. An eighty run partnership followed between Sam Palser and Jake Wilson that boosted the total to 164-6 as Palser was caught for 54.

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Wilson went 29 runs later having scored 31. Will Wright (23) and Jack Palser (25no) helped Ansty to a total of 241-9 at the end of their 58 overs.

Hastings innings got off to a similar start to Ansty losing their first wicket with the score on 2. The 2nd and third wickets fell on 62 followed by a 4th 3 runs later. Jake Wilson took two of these with Will Wright running out the other. Despite the best efforts of the visitors a partnership of 43 between Elliot Hooper (73no) and George Campbell proved stubborn to break but Jack Palser eventually dismissed Campbell for 9. Hastings hung on for the draw on 226-9.

2nd XI: Rottingdean were the visitors for this 2nd XI clash and having lost the toss were asked to bat despite the high temperature. Jonny Young proved to be the wicket taker along with Charlie Rutter sharing 7 wickets between them. Young finished with 4-63 from 22 overs and Rutter 3-62 from 12 as the visitors innings closed on 199-9. Sam Shepherd for Rottingdean top scored with 58 with Greg Tyrell striking a quick 57.

The Ansty reply got off to an excellent start with Jonny Young and Stephen Rusling taking the bowling to task. Young was adjudged LBW for 38 but Rusling batted on until he was 6th out for a magnificent 102. With the score on 186-6 an Ansty win seemed highly likely but a succession of wickets falling saw the home side fail by 7 runs. There was just one other batsman in double figures, Charlie Rutter (18).

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3rd XI: The 3rd XI kept up their winning run with a 12 run win over 2nd placed Smallfield Manor. Batting first the Ansty batsmen found the bowling challenging losing wickets at regular intervals.

Top scorer was Megan Janman (31) with George Martin and Alex Bates each scoring 20 that saw Ansty reach 149 all out.

Smallfield’s reply fell short despite 47 from Balasubramanian and 25 from Dan Alp. Megan Janman and Adam Butler took 4 wickets each.

4th XI: The 4th XI’s visit to East Grinstead ended in a loss by 2 wickets having set the home side a target of 191 to win. Derek Mundy lost his fellow opener with just one run on the board and along with Jack Bilbruck added a further 34 before Bilbruck was bowled for 16. Mundy was stumped for 32 with the score on 74 followed by another two without further score to leave Ansty 74-7. A partnership of 72 between Chris Layton and Phil Herbert recued the innings with Layton eventually being caught for 65 and Herbert also caught for 35. The innings closed on 190.

The reply saw Barry Crouch take 6-50 and Rob Targett 2-60 but despite this the home side went on to win. Avinash Ashok (60) and Ryan Trotter (40) were Grinstead’s top scorers.