Rye slump to ‘embarrassing’ loss

The bowling of Craig Pierce was one of the few redeeming features in Rye's defeat to Wisborough Green

Upon winning the toss, Rye elected to field first with the wicket looking very green and damp, possibly suggesting that early movement may be possible.

However, the only movement that ensued in the first 10 overs was the running between the wickets of visiting openers Martin Hopkins (31) and Jonny Farmer (28). They took advantage of poor field placing and lacklustre anticipation from the Rye fielders to steal singles and turn ones into twos.

It looked as though the decision to field first was not paying off, but man of the match Craig Pierce (4-39) bowled well to remove Farmer and soon after dismissed Australian overseas pro Ben Tracy with a delivery that jagged back off the seam.

From here wickets started to fall as Harry Smeed (2-30) trapped Hopkins LBW and Neil Browne (1-22) got rid of James Self for nine. However, a lack of experience and concentration cost Rye as at 90-5, David Pleasants slogged a quick 28 and took the score up to 143 after Gary Willis (3-31) cleaned up the tail.

At tea the prevailing thought was that 143 was certainly gettable on a wicket that had started to dry out.

As such, this season, Rye’s batting talent has failed to deliver the scores it is capable of. Poor weather and a lack of match practice hasn’t helped, but so far the top six as a unit have yet to amass a score of over 100 this term.

A mixture of poor shot selection and technique resulted in a humiliating loss for the Rye side which subsided to 61 all out.

The pick of the Wisborough attack was former Middlesex and Hampshire slow left arm bowler Raj Maru, who has more than 500 first class scalps to his name. He picked up 3-14 off 11 overs, but some very poor batting gifted him his wickets.

The only Rye players to amass any sort of score were James Hamilton, who batted the majority of the innings for 22, and Browne (18).

The remaining nine players only managed 13 runs between them in what was an embarrassing performance. Rye were unable to provide any answers to the steady seam bowling of Farmer (2-34) and James Rainsford (4-2).

The Gandhi Tandoori man of the match was awarded to scorer Janet Seabrook, who had to put together an emergency tea after skipper Willis forgot to arrange for it to be provided. A shambolic start to what was a fairly shambolic day for Rye’s first XI.

At present Rye sit mid-table in Sussex Cricket League Division Four and travel to Steyning on Saturday. Steyning have yet to drop a point so far this season.