Beaufort and Cowdrey shine for Three Bridges in big run chase, Ifield secure winning draw
Three Bridges had a mixed weekend with a brilliant run chase in the league to beat Cuckfield on Saturday before going out of the T20 Cup after a close defeat to Preston Nomads on Sunday.
Joe Walker’s side were set 298 to win by Cuckfield in the Premier Division and they reached the target in just 40.3 overs.
Matt Boyle (35) and Walker (24) gave Bridges a decent start but it looked a little dicey at 80-3 but they had no need to worry as Luke Beaufort (111 not out) and Michael Cowdrey (101 not out) put 218 in quick time to see them home.
Earlier Omair Yousuf hit 94 for Cuckfield as Sam Rattle took 5/73 for Bridges.
Middleton went top of the Premier Division table after defeating title rivals Roffey and that means Bridges are just four points behind second-placed Roffey and 19 points behind Middleton.
Bridges travel to West Chiltington on Saturday.
On Sunday, Bridges fell five runs short as they chased 130 against Preston Nomads in the T20 Cup. Walker’s side have won the trophy the past two seasons.
In Division 2, Ifield secured a winning draw away at Little Common Ramblers.
Varun Khullar top scored with 73 as Ramblers were bowled out for 186. Dan Smith took 4/57 and Raminda Wijesooriya 3/47.
Sadeesh Jayawardena (27), Kai Ellis (37), Smith (22), Archit Patel (30) and Shiven Vithalpura (20) all contributed but Ifield couldn’t quite get over the line but did enough for the extra five points with the winning draw.
Ifield remain third in the table, 21 points behind leaders Brighton and Hove. Ifield host second-placed Eastbourne on Saturday.