Cox surprise at record haul

The 23-year-old seamer produced Bexhill’s best ever first team league bowling performance with outstanding figures of 8-35 in the victory at home to Three Bridges.

He said: “To be honest I had no idea that I had the record at the time. I didn’t have a clue. People just came up to me after and told me about it. It was a fantastic feeling, but really I was oblivious. It went towards the victory, though, which is exactly what we needed.”

Despite the performance of a lifetime, Cox was keen to praise his team-mates for their efforts that contributed to a crucial win.

“It wasn’t just the bowling that made the difference,” he continued. “There were some fantastic catches behind the stumps - Jack Richardson caught some blinders.

“John Haffenden and Cameron Burgon were also fantastic with the bat. Overall, we bowled well, batted well and fielded well, and it was a much more solid performance from everyone.

“I didn’t really do anything differently, everything just seemed to come together. I’ll definitely be taking that confidence into this weekend’s fixture with East Grinstead.”

Having moved off the bottom of the Sussex Premier League courtesy of the win over Three Bridges, Cox hopes that Bexhill can now start to climb towards safety.

“This performance and this win put our heads up,” added Cox. “Now we’ve started winning, hopefully that will change our fortunes and really slingshot us.”

Cox is the nephew of Bexhill first team coach Ian Cox, who took the catch for one of the eight wickets. He said: “It was unbelievable really. He bowled just outside the off stump with a little bit of movement away and they kept nicking it. One was caught at cover and one at point, and the rest were caught behind the wicket. He bowled the right lines and stayed really patient.”

Joe Cox, who had to shoot off to a wedding after the game, is in his third season with Bexhill, who he helped clinch promotion from Division Two last summer following relegation from the Premier Division in 2012.

“He lives in Horsham, but me and my brother (Joe’s father) both played at Bexhill, and he wanted to improve his cricket,” added Ian Cox. “It was a brave move because he didn’t know any of the players.”

Former Horsham Trinity player Joe Cox took 10 league wickets in 2012 and 25 last summer, including five-wicket hauls against Crowhurst Park and Pulborough.