Bexhill banking on home comforts

Three of the cricket club’s next four matches will take place at The Polegrove where Bexhill have won all of their last three league games.

Bexhill captain Malcolm Johnson said: “We know how to play at our ground and we do play well at home. We’ll take each game as it comes, but we’re definitely in with a chance.”

Although they continue to occupy the second and final relegation place, Bexhill are only 13 points behind third-bottom Brighton & Hove and 14 adrift of fourth-bottom Worthing.

“It’s going to be tough,” continued Johnson. “We’re just trying to get the most points that we can. If we try to pick up 30 points at home and try to get as many points as we can on the road, we’ll be in with a chance.”

Bexhill’s next two home fixtures, however, are against the top two teams, starting with the visit from second-placed Preston Nomads tomorrow (Saturday). Play is due to get under way from 12.30pm.

Although Bexhill pulled off a tremendous victory away to the Fulking outfit in a Gray-Nicolls Sussex T20 Cup semi-final two weeks ago, they were soundly beaten in the reverse league encounter.

The league format probably favours Nomads because it’s a much longer game and the absence of any bowling restrictions means they can better utilise the skills of prolific Antiguan paceman Carl Simon.

“Twenty20 and the longer format of the game are completely different,” Johnson went on. “They like to play aggressively, but if we just contain Carl Simon, we’ve always got a chance.”

See today’s Bexhill Observer for the full article.