Another Aussie ton as Friendly XI fire it home
Australian Phil Hicks smashed 103 as the Friendly XI won their first fame of the season.
The friendly eleven’s first outing of the year saw them travel to Crawley Down. The side got off to a cracking start with a 68 run victory in an enjoyable game. Captain Joe Nichols has developed a nack of winning the toss and batting first, or at least losing and then convincing the opposition to let us bat.. And today was no different! Openers Charlie Hetherton and Aussie new-boy Phil Hicks went in and got us off to a flyer. Hicks, in particular, was in amazing touch, smashing it all over the place and making the most of some short boundaries. He was even kind enough to offer some coaching tips to the bowling side as he hit his way to an impressive 103! Will Howie also demonstrated his batting skills as he hit a very quick 48. His half century was denied though as he was bowled whilst attempting to smash runs off a 12 year old. Unlucky Will.. Karma.
Having set a score of 218 the bowlers went about their work, with fine opening spells from Tyler Hounsome and Max Burzler. Both took wickets early on and put pressure on the batsmen. Crawley Down mounted a good comeback though and batted well. The worst over in the history of cricket from Stuart Gaunt gave the batsmen hope, and a real chance of chasing our score down. Thankfully though, Joe Nichols, Craig Lees and Charlie Hetherton were all able to put in good bowling performances’ and kept the wickets tumbling. Lees was unfortunate not to take more wickets, and had the fielders held onto their catches he would have returned with even more impressive figures. Our bowling attack proved too much in the end though and Gaunt and Hounsome were able to take the final two wickets, bringing the Crawley Down innings to an end on 150.
Phil Hicks’ heroics continued as he offered to come in and bat for Crawly at the end ‘just to even things out’.. They declined.
