VI Sharks Break Records to Maintain Strong Start to Season

VI Sharks Break Records to Maintain Strong Start to Season!

Records tumbled in the Lancashire sunshine as Sussex VI Sharks made the long journey to Lancashire for the Semi-Final of the BCEW Primary Club - Heindrich Swanepoel Memorial Cup.

Sussex won the toss and asked Lancashire to have a bat. The usually miserly Sussex opening bowlers were taken apart by former Pakistan international Shazab Heyder. His innings of 167 off just 79 balls was a masterclass in power hitting with 20 x 4s and 6 maximums, at the other end Zaheer Mahmood chipped in with 23 at a strike rate of over 200 and Shah blasted 59 not out off 31 balls to bring the Lions innings home on a massive 305-5 from their 30 overs.

For the Sussex attack it was a day to forget, Mark Bond with 2 run outs and a catch, captain Dan Field holding a caught & bowled to dismiss Shazab and another good catch in the deep, were the only contributions to look like highlights on the scorecard but the Sussex fielders toiled until the final ball to try and restrict the scoring.

The Sussex innings couldn’t have got off to a worse start losing a wicket off the second ball with no score on the board. Opener Mark Bond steadied the ship with a very smart 62 at a run a ball to kick-start the Sharks’ Chase. He was joined by Dan Field and together they added 225, before Bond nicked behind to be caught at slip. Field was offering a hitting masterclass of his own blasting 169 off 94 balls which included 18 x 4s and 4 maximums before exhaustion saw him bowled with the score on 270 with 4 overs remaining.

With two new batters at the crease the power hitting game was replaced by nudging, nurdling and scrambled byes to try and get as close as possible, going into the final couple of overs. Marcus Kipling made 12 and Phil Daniels came to the crease with the Sharks still needing 22 from the final 2 overs, a couple of powerful boundaries meant it was down to 8 to win from the final over. Vice-captain Ian ‘Tiny’ Morris faced the first ball but couldn’t make contact, luckily it was ruled a no-ball, and a bye was scampered.

With 2 runs needed off 2 balls, Daniels made contact and ran the first quickly only to be run out coming back for the second and the scores were tied. Paul Littlefield strode to the crease to make his Sharks debut having been drafted in at the very last minute to help out due to unavailability.

He calmly cut the final ball through backward point for 2 and the game was all over, the Sharks finishing on 307-6 and progressing to the Final. It was an incredible match and was the highest run chase ever achieved in Visually Impaired Cricket. Lancashire can consider themselves very unlucky as it was such fine margins that determined the result.

This impressive win cements a very positive start to the season for the Sussex VI Sharks, who are still very much in the hunt for all three competitions. In the BCEW National League Division 1, they are top of the table after 4 games with 3 wins and 1 draw, 30 points clear of their nearest rivals.

Should they win one of their remaining 2 games or draw them both they are certain to retain the title they won last season by just a single point. In the BCEW T20 competition they have a quarter-final away to second division Yorkshire, oddly these two teams have drawn each other for the third year in a row, Sussex winning the last two games comfortably.

As mentioned earlier, in the prestigious Primary Club Heindrich Swanepoel Memorial Cup, Sussex have already reached the final for the fourth year in a row and will now progress to play either Northants, Somerset or London Metro in the Final later in the season.

Whilst things look very promising, the Sharks are not getting ahead of themselves. From a similar position last season injuries and unavailability saw them lose out in the Cup Final and lose their Semi-Final at T20 Finals Day.

Captain Dan Field said "I am delighted with how we are playing at the moment, it was an incredibly tough day in Lancashire and I am not sure any other side would have been able to grind out that win. I am just hoping everyone stays fit and we can keep playing great cricket.”

As the season reaches the business end, you can follow the Sussex VI Sharks’ results on the Blind Cricket England & Wales website.

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