Eastbourne CC Men's 2nd X1 make it an historical double

It was a brilliant final day of the 2026 cricket season for Eastbourne Mens 2nd X1 when they secured their second trophy of the season by adding the Paul Baker T20 Cup to their Sussex League Div 5 East Championship at Hove on Saturday.

Winning the toss on a well worn Hove wicket, Eastbourne elected to bat first, and they got off to a promising start when openers David Twine and Ben Barter put on a first wicket stand of 35 before Barter fell for 8. It was then the time for big hitting Jack Meacher to come in at 3, and he looked in fine form, smashing a blistering 39 off just 15 balls, including 4 huge sixes, before David Twine fell for 17 and Eastbourne were soon in a bit of trouble on 93-4. It was then up to Captain Jamie Hamilton and Isaac Bashir to steady the ship, and the pair put on an important stand of 53 runs before Bashir fell for a well made 34, and the captain with an important 37, with the score on 148-6. Johnnie Meardon hit a useful 19 at the end, and Eastbourne finished their 20 overs on a challenging 183-3, setting Three Bridges 184 to win.

Three Bridges got off to a great start, taking the score quickly to 61 before the openers were dismissed in quick succession, with Jack Meacher and David Twine picking up the wickets with Three Bridges on 65-2. They then put on a potential match winning 3rd wicket stand of 60 when Charlie Trunkfield was introduced to the attack, and he soon took the wicket of the dangerous C Dennis on 44 which helped turn the tide in Eastbourne's favour. Three Bridges must have felt they were in the game on 148-5 with plenty of overs to go until the Man Of The Match David Twine came back for his second spell, and destroyed the middle order and tail end with a match winning spell of 5-20 off just 3.4 overs, bowling the oppostion out for just 155, and Eastbourne securing a 28 run victory and giving them their second trophy of the season.

It's been a great year for the club with the 1st team narrowly missing promotion to the Premier League by coming joint second in Sussex Div 2, and the 2nd team winning two trophies, and they can look forward to next year with plenty of confidence.