Evans on cloud nine with title close for Adkin’s side
EAST Grinstead can almost smell an historic first Sussex Premier League title after yet another scintillating bowling display against Ansty put them on the brink of glory.
Zimbabwean Brad Evans was the star of the show as he took a remarkable 9-24 to help skittle out the opposition for just 53 meaning a victory over Horsham at home this weekend would clinch the Sussex crown.
Captain of the side Will Adkin paid tribute to Evans’ impact last weekend and revealed the side are fully focused on the task at hand this weekend as they look to finish the job – even if they will be without Evans, who has returned to Zimbabwe to sort out visa issues.
Adkin said: “For any bowler to get nine wickets is an incredible achievement and it was the final
wicket that he didn’t get – he was probably keen to get all ten but sadly it wasn’t the way, even so, it’s still a huge achievement and I’m delighted it helped us get the win.
“He’s been good, he’s had a bit of a side injury which hasn’t helped him – sometimes he hasn’t affected the game because we’ve won it before he was needed but he’s a very good bowler and batter and has been a fine acquisition to the team.
“We’ve never won the league before and we’ve done well to be in the position we are in now but we hope if we can win then we will not leave it until the last game.
“If we beat Horsham that will do it so we want to finish that off. It would be new territory for us, the team that are second (Roffey) have won it for the past few years so we’ve done well to fend them off.”
Adkin has been at the club since junior level and made his debut for the first team at just 14. And he’s been impressed by East Grinstead’s bowling this season, with the club restricting all but one side to below 200 runs.
“We’ve had one or two exprofessionals that have been able to play for us the majority of the season and it’s been a real team effort,” he said.
“Everyone has stepped up and performed when they needed to, we’ve only lost once all season. Our bowling attack has restricted most teams phenomenally. I think it has been a bit of both good batting and quality bowling. Only one team has scored more than 200 against us so to have that is a great credit to us.”