Burgess Hill travelled to Fulking for their latest limited over match against Preston Nomads seconds.
Having won the toss , captain Tom Trowbridge elected to bat first on a typically hard and true looking Nomads wicket. Trowbridge and partner Tom Penfold began steadily against the Nomads opening attack of Christy Heath and Abdul Shafi . Both took time to adjust to the wicket’s pace and carry but had few alarms until , with the score on 26, left-armer Shafi went round the wicket to Trowbridge (10) who edged behind to young keeper Mason Robinson.This brought Kevin Ramsay to the crease who was soon looking comfortable and punishing any loose deliveries. He was particularly severe on Richard Dexter whose 2 overs went for 23.
The partnership progressed steadily with Nomads’ Michael Bell slowing the run-rate and then trapping Penfold LBW for a patient and well made 34 . Luke Vick joined Ramsay and was tied down by Bell and spinner Adam O’Brien taking 23 deliveries to get off the mark . However he played an important role in supporting the fluent Ramsay until he was caught by Robinson of the returning Shafi for 15 . Ramsay needed support as he looked to increase the tempo but both Karl Boffey and Charlie Punter fell for no score to O’Brien. Ramsay was now scoring at will and got some assistance from Hugh Warmisham and Peter Billinghay as he hit fourteen fours and a six before falling just short of a well-deserved century , holing out for 97 off 83 balls to Christy Heath. Hill finished on 189-8 with O’Brien taking 3-44.
With a relatively low total to defend , Hill needed a good start . They got just that as George Willett and Hugh Warmisham generated pace and accuracy removing the top three in the order ( two for Warmisham and one for Willett ) with just 10 on the board. Hill needed to press home their advantage but the change bowlers of Billinghay and Bobby Barnes struggled to find consistency and Nomads rebuilt confidently with a stand of 90 between Robinson and Shafi . With the score on 100 , Dan Rapson was introduced and bowled Shafi for 41. The experienced Michael Bell joined the increasingly impressive Robinson and a 54 run partnership eased Nomads towards victory . Ramsay tried his best to slow them down with a fine spell in which Robinson survived a confident appeal for caught behind . Willett ( 2-41) returned to remove Bell but Robinson (82 not out ) and Toby Shepperson ( 14 not out ) saw Nomads home with 3.5 overs to spare. Another defeat for Hill which sees them in bottom place after four matches .
