Opening day defeat a reality check for Smith and Eastbourne

Eastbourne Cricket Club captain Jacob Smith admitted losing Saturday's opening day defeat against Ifield will be a reality check for his team saying 'Obviously, it would have been nice to start with a win but if anything, it can serve as a bit of a reality check. We made mistakes and were made to pay for them quite simply.'

Jordan Turner hits out. Picture by Jon Rigby

Eastbourne chose to back first and were bowled all out for a lowly 148, a target that Ifield reached surpassed with ease, only losing four wickets in the process.

The club’s captain was disappointed with his sides all-round showing on the field. He said: “There was some very poor decision making with the bat and dropped some tough chances in the field. If those catches had stuck then it could have been a very different result.”

Although the performance on the pitch wasn’t what Smith wanted, he praised the debut performance of two of the club’s newcomers. “Charlie Hobden and our new overseas recruit Tom Martyn both had steady debuts which they can hopefully build on.”

Mark Tomsett defends. Picture by Jon Rigby

With the team looking to improve on last season’s sixth place finish in the Sussex Division 2 League, he expects the team that played on Saturday to stay the same for the bulk of the season “The team isn’t decided yet but I wouldn’t have thought they’ll be too many changes. Jordy Watts, our regular wicket keeper is back from Uni though and will be playing.”

Despite getting the better of next week’s opponents Lindfield last season, Smith said the team are going into the game with caution, when they meet for the first time this season on Saturday.

“We probably edged Lindfield last year in the two games we had against them but they had a good win on Saturday so it would be very foolish to take them lightly.”