Bexhill young guns look the part

Hamish Russell hailed the wealth of young talent at Bexhill Cricket Club after a magnificent victory last weekend.

A very youthful Bexhill side stunned a far more experienced and higher level Hartley Country Club outfit in round one of the ECB National Club Championship on Sunday.

Bexhill first team manager Hamish Russell said: “Shawn (Johnson), Vaughany (James Vaughan) and Guesty (Callum Guest) are going to set records at the club. They’ve got so much potential, they really have.

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“They can go as far as they want to. Guesty bowled well throughout his spell and James Vaughan was sensational with the gloves. His stumping standing up off Malcolm (Johnson) won us the game.”

But the standout performer was Shawn Johnson, who sealed victory with an unbeaten 28 after taking 1-27 with the ball. The schoolboy also top-scored with 34 in the Sussex Division Two defeat to Haywards Heath on Saturday.

“Shawn Johnson was our star of the weekend and I think he’s going to be the find of the year,” continued Russell. “He batted well on Saturday and he looked in full control, but Sunday he was something else.”

Russell believes that Shawn can go on to be as good as older brother Malcolm, who has played for the Sussex second team and scored more than 700 runs with three centuries in the Sussex Premier Division last summer.

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He went on: “Malcolm’s that little bit older and that little bit stronger, but Shawn’s got the world at his feet. If he keeps playing like that, someone’s going to come knocking on his door and maybe he’ll play some county stuff.”

Sunday’s result means that Bexhill go into the league game away to Glynde & Beddingham tomorrow (Saturday) that much more buoyant than they were after the five-wicket loss to Heath.

Captain Chris Topp will come back in, but Guest has a school game and will probably be replaced at no.3 by Alex Nichols.