Eastbourne skipper rues poor batting after loss to Three Bridges

Eastbourne skipper Jacob Smith said poor batting in the first half of their innings cost them their latest Sussex Premier League game at Three Bridges.
Eastbourne CC's Joe PocklingtonEastbourne CC's Joe Pocklington
Eastbourne CC's Joe Pocklington

The Saffrons outfit could total only 193-8 against Bridges and it was only 60 from in-form Joe Pocklington later in the innings that got them to that figure.

There were wickets for Pocklington, Ben Twine and Jamie Goddard in the reply but the hosts won by four wickets with a few overs to spare.

Eastbourne host East Grinstead this weekend.

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Skipper Jacob Smith said: "I was disappointed with how we batted in the first half of the innings. We knew the red ball was always going to do a bit more and we didn’t handle that well enough. We managed to make a reasonable score in the end and 30 or 40 more and we may well have had a winning target.

"We’d obviously love to have our strongest XI every game but at the same time we want our youngsters to make it as far as they can in the game. You can’t really have it both ways I guess.

"East Grinstead are a great side so of course it’s not going to be easy. Everyone seems to be taking points off each other and it’s starting to get pretty congested up at the top of the table. It would be a good game to win to keep us in that chasing group."

Smith was delighted to see Eastbourne 16-year-old Archie Lenham given a chance by Sussex Sharks in the Vitality Blast - and take it with both hands, taking wickets and making life hard for the batsmen in wins over Gloucestershire and Hampshire - taking 3-14 in the latter of those two games.

He said: "Archie did so well and none of us was surprised! There was a group of us watching the game on the TV and cheering him on, everyone was very proud."