Lewes Saint Michaels CC secure low-scoring win

Lewes St Michaels scored 131 all out in 37 overs then bowled out Rotherfield for just 45 in 20 overs for an 86-run win.

Saints were put in to bat on a challenging wicket. The home side lost three batsmen early doors, with Clint Mooiman (3-20) causing problems for the upper order.

Richard Arnold batted sublimely, providing stability to the Lewes side's innings, hitting 30 and navigating the variable bounce with aplomb. The unpredictable track resulted in Naimat Zafary taking a nasty blow to his thumb but, unperturbed, he struck some lovely shots to make 18.

Stewart Dickens hung around nicely to support Arnold (who hit three 4s and a 6), but Wayne Mackay (3-17) and Richard Dent (2-28) took the remaining St Michaels' scalps to leave the hosts on 131 all out.

Chris Buck (17) and last week's centurion Paul Matthews (3) saw off some challenging opening overs from Matt Piller (1-24) and Shrey Nilvarna (0-7 from 4 overs) but were unable to deal with skipper Pratik Patel's probing line; the captain taking 2-7.

Rob Harrison (9) and Wayne Mackay (8) added runs but no-one else in the Rotherfield line-up registered anything to trouble the scorers, with the golden arm of Naimat Zafary striking once again.

Zafary bowled 6 overs, taking 6 wickets for just 4 runs in a superb spell, which skittled the visitors, leaving them 86 runs short of the total.

It was an excellent team performance by LSM, with some brilliantly taken catches by Brian Field and Stewart Dickens. In truth it was a top fielding performance by the whole team.

Richard Arnold was again dependable with the gloves, conceding only two byes (compared with Rotherfield's 26). The win sees Saints move up a place in the league standings and they face bottom side Westfield in their next outing on Saturday.

MoM, sponsored by Chaula's Indian Restaurant: Naimat Zafary- a fantastic spell of six wickets, in spite of a strapped-up sore thumb, rattled through the visitors' lineup and his 18 runs were very useful in the context of the game.

A special mention also to Richard Arnold, who showed everyone how to bat on a tricky deck and helped Saints bat the majority of their overs and post a defendable total. Very good again behind the sticks too.