Priory up to second after first away win

Action from Hastings Priory's victory away to Ifield on Saturday. Picture by Jon Rigby (SUS-150615-154809008)

Priory won by 72 runs away to Ifield in Sussex Cricket League Division Two on Saturday thanks largely to a half-century from Elliot Hooper, and five wickets each for Adam Barton and Jed O’Brien.

Having lost the toss and been asked to bat on their first ever trip to Ifield Green, Priory battled their way to 196-8 from their 53 overs.

Hooper and Joe Lamb (27) again got them off to a decent start with an opening partnership of 77, but after Hooper was trapped LBW by Jigar Parekh for 50 off 57 balls (with seven fours), Priory slid to 107-5.

John Morgan (12) and Jake Woolley, who played another handy innings in the middle order, steadied the ship by adding 37 for the sixth wicket, but Priory were 159-8 when Woolley fell for 38, which contained two fours and three sixes.

Henry Smith (20 not out off 14 balls) and Barton (14 not out off 14 balls) pieced together a valuable unbroken ninth wicket stand of 37 to get Priory within a boundary of the 200 mark at the end of their innings.

Second-bottom Ifield used just four bowlers, with Guru Kedarnath and Parekh sending down 43 overs between them, and picking up four wickets apiece.

The hosts began steadily enough in reply only to collapse from 28-0 to 51-7 as paceman Barton and spinner O’Brien tore the heart out of the Ifield batting.

Daniel Groves blasted 56 off 42 balls and dominated an eighth wicket partnership of 58 with Simon Hickey, but Priory weren’t to be denied and wrapped the game up with three wickets for 15 runs as Ifield were all out for 124 in 30.5 overs.

Barton followed up his six-wicket haul against St James’s Montefiore the previous weekend with 5-26 from 10.5 overs, while O’Brien bagged 5-43 off 12.

Standings (all played six matches): 1 Pagham 140pts, 2 HASTINGS PRIORY 139, 3 Worthing 135, 4 Lindfield 130, 5 Findon 129, 6 Three Bridges 116, 7 St James’s Montefiore 106, 8 Ansty 79, 9 Ifield 71, 10 CROWHURST PARK 23.

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