Hastings captain facing weeks on sidelines

Hastings Priory Cricket Club captain Tom Gillespie could be out for six to eight weeks after dislocating his shoulder.
Injured Hastings Priory captain Tom Gillespie.Injured Hastings Priory captain Tom Gillespie.
Injured Hastings Priory captain Tom Gillespie.

The opening batsman sustained the injury while diving to stop the ball in the field early on in the Sussex Premier League defeat at home to East Grinstead last weekend.

“The forecast is six to eight weeks,” said Priory coach Ian Gillespie, Tom’s father. “Five to six weeks will be our hope as he’s young and will hopefully recovery quite quickly, but it will be a significant time out that’s for sure.

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“He’s having an MRI scan on Friday (today), which will give an indication as to how well it’s settled down, and as soon as it starts to get some movement, they will start some physio.

“It’s very sore and uncomfortable, and they had to put it back in under sedation. But he’s keen to get back as quickly as possible.”

Former skipper Jason Finch is likely to lead the side in Gillespie’s absence and Priory have suffered a further injury blow with the news that fast bowler Adam Barton has broken a hand while batting for the Sussex second team on Thursday.

They will, nonetheless, be keen to produce a far better performance when they travel to newly-promoted Ansty tomorrow.

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“If we could win on Saturday, and start with a win and a loss, you would probably say that’s par for the course,” added Gillespie, who hopes to welcome back influential all-rounder Elliot Hooper. “Obviously you want to come back from a poor performance and there’s players that will be keen to put a better performance together.

“I think we’ve just got to park that one on the shelf and move on to the next one really. It’s early days and you’re going to have a couple of bad performances over the season.

“You’re going to have some difficult games, but it was a pity it came first up after such a promising start in the cup competitions.”

Speaking of the cups, Priory were due to host Bickley Park in round two of the ECB Royal London Club Championship on Sunday, but that match will now not take place as Bickley have conceded. Priory will be away to East Grinstead or Preston Nomads in round three on Sunday June 4.

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