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Sackville v Brighton College
This final was held over from the Summer term. Sackville still had to play their semi final against Steyning Grammar School which proved to be a walkover. As Sackville won by 10 wickets after bowling out Steyning for 17!
The final proved to be a close affair. Playing at Poynings Cricket Club set in the picturesque Downs on a sunny but cool September day. Sackville won the toss and put Brighton into bat. The Brighton openers had a slow start with some excellent bowling by Ben Vale and Morris Kane this led to a couple of run out chances which unfortunately Sackville were unable to capitalise on. The Brighton openers accelerated the run rate until the introduction of Harry Hughes who bowled with accuracy and picked up a wicket in his first spell. Brighton continued to pick up runs due to some inconsistent bowling and their second wicket partnership took them to 90 just before the start of the 15th over. Harry Hughes again broke the partnership bowling the Brighton opener. Harry finished his excellent spell of bowling with figures of 2 wickets for 11 runs in his 4 overs. In the last few overs Brighton tried to accelerate but Ben Vale and Charlie Anderson bowled tightly reducing their innings to 122 for 6 off 20 overs.
In reply Sackville started slowly with some excellent bowling by the Brighton opening bowlers.
As Sackville tried to accelerate they began to lose wickets with both Ben Cherry and Fewlix Scott-Davies both falling cheaply as the pressure mounted to score at 9 an over. This brought Charlie Anderson to the crease with Ben Vale. These two started to put a partnership together with some great pull shots from Ben with a big 6 over mid wicket off a free hit being the pick of his shots. Charlie off drove each of the Brighton bowlers with ease and power. They kept pace with the run rate, leaving 43 required off the last 5 overs. This then brought back the opening Brighton bowlers who managed to put a squeeze on their runs with some excellent line and length bowling. Unfortunately Ben was run out for 46 followed quickly by Charlie for 25 having put together a fantastic partnership of 72 for the third wicket which took Sackville close to the target set by Brighton. It was an impossible task for the incoming batsman to score at over 15 an over in the last 2 overs and Sackville fell short by 21 runs, finishing on 100 for 4.
The boys have had a fantastic season as they had already secured the Mid Sussex Schools Area Cup beating The Weald by 9 wickets. They came very close to winning the County Cup and going forward to represent Sussex in the Nationals.
Team
Ben Vale (captain), Ben Cherry, Felix Scott-Davies, Charlie Anderson, Morris Kane, Harry Hughes, Woody Rogers, Thomas Hill, Ethan Jones, Eddie Lawrence, Stefan Gallagher, Subomi Odenyide and Jacob Meads.
