Skipper hoping for positive reaction

Sidley were well beaten in the opening match of the double header at Gullivers at the weekend, but the young captain believes he has the players to redress the balance when they meet again on Saturday June 28.

"It's another big game because we are only seven points behind them and the way things are going this year it's not beyond the realms of possibility that we can go out and win but we have got to play 100 per cent better than we did last Saturday.

"We are capable of winning, we did it before when we lost to Bexhill and came back the following weekend to beat the leaders. We've got the players to do it."

A poor performance with the bat meant Sidley were always up against it in their own backyard. The home side were skittled out for 124 with only Imran Javed (34) and Adam Berger (18) offering any sort of resistance.

The damage was done by two left arm spinners, one of which was Henry Ledden who returned impressive figures of 5-43.

Sidley went some way to making amends by giving a stirring performance in the field. Javed rounded off a good personal display by claiming 4-52 but South African Mark Johnson (32) and Tim Burton (31) ensured there was no fairy tale finish as St James' won with five wickets to spare.

The result saw St James leapfrog Sidley in the Division Two standings, but it is still too close to call with only 42 points separating second and last place.