Bexhill captain: We messed up massively

Ethan Guest made 56 for Bexhill in their defeat to Portslade. Picture by Liz Pearce

Haffenden’s side was bowled out for 193, having been 159-4 at one stage, chasing a victory target of 209 in 1st Central Sussex Cricket League Division Three East.

Haffenden said: “I think we should’ve won to be fair. We messed up massively. A couple of decisions went against us, which were tough, but we should’ve seen the game out.

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“We’re lucky that we potentially bat down to 11, but boys got in and didn’t carry on. If you get in, you make sure you carry us over the line and not get out. One of them should’ve batted through and made sure we won the game.”

Although disappointed with the batting, Haffenden was at least pleased with Bexhill’s display with the ball and in the field.

“There were a lot of performances; we don’t want to take that away,” he added. “There were some good performances with the ball and it was the best we’ve fielded for a long time.

“Unfortunately extras was again too much. It’s something we keep speaking about and maybe we just need to be a bit more cut-throat with a few changes if it doesn’t go right.

“I thought 250 would’ve been par. We set up well again and just frustratingly didn’t get over the line.”

Ethan Guest and Shawn Johnson top-scored for Bexhill with 56 and 52 respectively, while Chris Deeprose was their most successful bowler with 3-43 - his second successive three-wicket haul - Eddie Lemmon took 2-34 - taking his tally to eight in three games - and Liam Bryant 2-48.