By Hayling Panther
June 23 2012

HAYLING PANTHER REPORTS ON A GOOD DAY ONLY SPOILT BY THE CRICKET.

I have nothing original to say about our second excursion of the week to the south coast and this headline is no doubt trotted out two or three times a season. It was one of those T20 games where they scored at 8 an over and seemingly did so off every over and we decided we’d be different by scoring at sevens…off nearly every over. Is there a mathematician in the house?

 A large crowd of us gathered in the newly refurbished “Sussex Cricketer” just outside the ground. Sadly not all of us were supporting the away team (in fact Les, Terry and I were seriously outnumbered) and the homers were keen on revenge for last season’s unexpected victory by the men in pink. That charge had been led by Scott Newman – the forgotten man. The weather was dull and windy and our entry to the ground was suitably late but we were in time to witness a lost toss. Team changes were announced indicating one change from the previous night – Josh for Buck. No real surprise as we don’t seem to be sure of Buck’s role in this campaign – he did get us off to a good start opening up at The Rose Bowl the other night, though.

 As stated, not a lot to report about their knock or our bowling. Both fairly formulaic. 41 off 5 became 78 off 10 and led to 161 at the end. You see what I mean about 8 an over. Our bowling was Ok – they all went for – you guessed it - about 8 an over and trusty cricinfo tells me that their four sixes all came off different bowlers so nobody took severe tap. Luke Wright was excellent and it will be interesting to see if and how he gets back into the England set-up.

 Have we had a different opening pairing in every game? This time Simmo accompanied Joe and actually got us off to a reasonable start – 60 off 9 being a sound foundation for most teams. But with no Stirlo to capitalise, the wheels didn’t exactly fall off they just didn’t turn very quickly. 87 off 12. 100 off 14. We just couldn’t up the ante against a fairly mundane bowling attack. Looks like another season of under-performing reliant upon Stirlo for any injections of urgency….or last season’s Hove hero??

 Hove is a good old-fashioned cricket ground with a few bits of modernisation going on. I liked the fact that they had a big screen showing replays even though it wasn’t on TV. They seem to attract a friendly and knowledgeable crowd in good numbers despite the cold weather. They did, though boo Olly’s first ball. They have real ale available to the hoi polloi not just to members (Lords/Rose Bowl take note) although it was a bit on-off on-off as was the cider - but sufficient quantities were quaffed leading to IPL style dancing by Les’s daughter and her mate – both Sussex supporters and old enough to know better!

 Another one of those good night’s out spoilt only by the cricket.