Cricket: Cuckfield and Horsham keep up challenge… West Wittering out for 91 but still win… Findon ground Eagles

Cuckfield v Eastbourne

Sussex premier

A high-flying Cuckfield side entertained Eastbourne on Saturday with hopes of continuing their unbeaten season. Having won the toss, the hosts decided to bat on a typically flat pitch at Cuckfield Park. Openers Joe Cambridge (13) and Wes Marshall (9) looked in good touch early on, before an impressive new-ball spell from David Twine (1-40) saw Cambridge bowled by a hooping inswinger with the score on 21.

Findon v Crawley Eagles in pictures.

Marshall followed soon after, a thick edge well held in the gully by Jordan Turner off Freddie Freeman (1-59) to leave the hosts under pressure at 27-2. Alex Thornhill and Ollie Graham quickly began settling the hosts nerves, both playing proactively and rotating the strike well. Thornhill stroked his way to an atypical run-a-ball 50, while the more sedate Graham also brought up his half-century.

Thornhill continued to score quickly, approaching a maiden Premier League hundred with relative ease, while Graham began to show his range of shots with two sixes over mid-wicket. Despite a nervous passage of play with Thornhill on 98, the Cuckfield batsman reached his 100, much to the delight of his team mates.

Graham’s visit to the crease ended with a mistimed shot to midwicket, making an impressive 68 in a welcome return to form. With cramp setting in, Thornhill played some uncharacteristically attacking shots, including a lofted drive over mid-off. The heat got the better of him however, and he fell for a beautifully compiled 117 to Cooper Luke (3-73).

At 228-4, Cuckfield were hoping for some fast runs down the order to push their score up towards 300. Oscar Jago-Lewis fell without troubling the scorers, before the dependable Ben Candfield (29) joined Dan Turner (29), in his first game back from a winter away.

The two took Cuckfield within touching distance of their aim, Turner in particular striking some clean shots, before he was adjudged caught at mid-wicket. A scarcely believable catch from Scott Lenham at short third-man saw the back of Candfield and Cuckfield’s hopes of reaching 300 hung in the balance. Enter Greg Wisdom (18 not out), struck down with flu on the morning of the game, who played brilliantly to take Cuckfield to 311 declaring an over early to leave Eastbourne 53 overs to chase down their score.

Cuckfield were probably the happier of the two sides at the break, but an incredibly fast outfield and typically good batting wicket meant they would have to work hard against a strong Eastbourne batting side. Joe White (4-28), opening the bowling for Cuckfield, struck early; with Archie Lenham (1) well caught at third man after cutting a short, wide delivery straight to Greg Wisdom.

Jacob Smith (38) batted beautifully, repeatedly driving the Cuckfield bowlers down the ground, while his partner Cooper Luke (16) also found the boundary on the number of occasions. Following an early injury to Nick Patterson (0-35), Cuckfield turned to the spin of Wes Marshall (3-109), who managed to remove both batsmen to leave the visitors 80-3.

The pitch remained true however, as Cuckfield’s bowlers toiled away against Scott Lenham (67) and Jordan Turner (69); Turner survived a number of close LBW shouts before deciding to take the initiative with some well struck slogs into the pavilion, while Lenham ticked along nicely. Both brought up 50s as the hosts began to run out of ideas; before Joe White managed to extract the Eastbourne middle order with some clever changes of pace. Turner went first, caught by substitute Neil Fairhall, before Lenham and Nathan Hover (0) were caught behind. At 5-195 with 16 overs left, the game hung firmly in the balance.

Despite some clean striking from David Twine (18) that frustrated the home side, Cuckfield continued to pick up regular wickets, even as Eastbourne advanced their score quickly, before an ill-advised switch hit saw Twine Stumped by Oscar Jago-Lewis off Marshall. Thomas Naish (13) followed soon after, taking on the arm of Cambridge in the deep, only to find himself 10 yards short of the crease.

As Freddie Freeman (4 not out) joined Ben Barter (28), it appeared the visitors had given up hope of winning and were attempting to salvage a draw. Barter stuck to his natural instincts however, twice striking Marshall onto the roof of the clubhouse, and it appeared Cuckfield were going to struggle to bowl the visitors out. Enter skipper Josh Hayward (2-58), who had toiled away wicketless all day; some extra bounce undoing Barter as he was caught behind for 28.

Jack Trubshaw (0) joined Freeman with 3 overs to go, managing to see out the rest of Hayward’s over as the Cuckfield spinner homed in on the rough patches outside his off-stump. White’s last foray was less successful than his previous spells, with Freeman playing him with relative ease, leaving Cuckfield 6 balls to secure victory.

The first ball of Hayward’s over landed straight in the footmarks, turning back to strike Trubshaw’s off stump and sparking wild celebrations as Cuckfield made it 5 wins from 5 games. A top of the table clash at East Grinstead awaits them on Saturday.

Lindfield 1st XI v Cuckfield 2nd XI

Division 3 East

Cuckfield 2nd XI made the short trip to Lindfield Common hoping to find their first away win of the season, and the hosts coming off a last over thrilling loss the week before against Ansty.

Cuckfield skipper George Galbraith-Gibbons won his 5th consecutive toss. He elected to bat first, the relief of the team was profound as the thermostat was edging up towards 30°C. The distinct tones of the matinee performance of the adjacent ‘Jay Miller’s Circus’ bellowed across the common. Dom Sear (8) and Galbraith-Gibbons (24) opened up for Cuckfield.

The two achieving a steady start, accumulating 29 before a mistimed Sear drive found the hands of Harry Moorat off the bowling of Scott Pedley (1-30). The only mainstay of the performance, Josh Downey (41), managed to keep the scoreboard ticking over as regular wickets fell at the other end. Downey was eventually removed, and Cuckfield found themselves struggling on a pitch that all knew had many more runs on offer. Cuckfield’s number 9, Sam Candfield, boosted the visitors chances with a quickfire 46, helping Cuckfield to scrap over the 200 mark on the penultimate ball of the innings.

Aware that the visitors were a few runs short, the hosts started with intent and were in a comfortable position at the end of the powerplay. Dom Sear (1-42) picked up the wicket of Andrew Stillwell (8) with some clever glovework from skipper Galbraith-Gibbons.

James Scott (11) was then removed by the ever-present Matthew Slinger (1-51), bringing Lindfield overseas Imesh Udayanga to the crease. Despite some good Cuckfield bowling, Moorat (92 not out) and Udayanga (75 not out) cruised Lindfield to the required score of 201 with 8 wickets in hand.

Haywards Heath v West Chiltington

Sussex Division 2

On a baking hot day at Clair Park Heath lost an important toss and were asked to field.

Heath opening bowlers Jethro Menzies and Rory Livingstone started well and took a wicket apiece, leaving Chilts 30-2.

Chilts rebuilt through Aussie Andrew Young and Ollie Van Noort taking the score to 135.

Heath were feeling the heat but Heath skipper Smith removed the well set Aussie and Heath began to regain some control and picked up regular wickets.

After 45 overs Chills had reached 230-8 and they declared early. Smith and Livingstone were the stand-out bowlers for heath, picking up three wickets each.

With 55 overs to chase Heath certainly fancied their chances but it proved to be an inspired declaration and Chilts opening bowlers Louis Storey and Ethan Guest reduced Heath to 20-5 and the game seemed all but over.

Heath skipper Smith hung around and along with James Caddick built a partnership and started to frustrate the Chilts bowling.

Heath moved past the 100 mark and growing in confidence the pair put the game back in the balance.

Caddick fell for 49 with the score on 120 and the game swung back in Chilts’ favour.

Heath managed to bat out the rest off the overs without too many alarms with 80 from skipper Smith the stand-out.

Heath finished on 188-8 to take 12 points, which didn’t look likely at 20-5.

It was a competitive game on a hot day enjoyed by a good crowd.

Heath head to top of the league Worthing this week.

Middleton v Horsham

Sussex premier

Horsham CC kept up their early-season challenge at the top of the Sussex Premier Division with a fine win at Middleton.

At Middleton Sports Club, Horsham inserted the hosts, who, after being in a strong position, faded.

They set a 261 target from a maximum of 53 overs and Horsham won with three overs left in the bank.

For Middleton the formidable opening partnership of Harry Hovey and evergreen captain Sean Heather were soon into their stride, but once the pair were dismissed – Heather for 76 – only the same score from Josh Wood posed a sufficient threat.

Middleton subsided from 227-2, Will Beer finishing with 5-39 and Bertie Foreman 4-97.

When Horsham responded, from 60-3 the game could have gone either way, until 40s from Foreman and skipper Nick Oxley were followed by a match-winning unbeaten 75 from Sam Martin-Jenkins, including six sixes, getting Horsham across the line at the double.

The 30-point win moved them up to second behind leaders Cuckfield.

Delighted Horsham cricket manager Ben Williams said: “That was a good team performance. We’ve got strength in depth and have been finding a way of winning league games.

"There was another great all round performance from Bertie Foreman and then Sam M-J was so impressive with his first 50 for us. He had to leave early to go on holiday, so he wanted to finish it off early – and he did!”

On Saturday Horsham are at home versus Preston Nomads.

Depleted Roffey are still struggling to get their Sussex Premier Division challenge up and running – and lost by five wickets to Mayfield in their latest outing.

Roffey opted to bat first, only for their unaccustomed Premier Division woes to continue biting them.

They batted out their 58-over allocation, but, after being well placed, a flurry of wickets left them consi derably short of a demanding target.

The game ended early after visiting Mayfield knocked off the runs for their first win of the campaign, 21 overs being unused.

Following an umpiring consultation, Nick Greenwood was given out yet, with Theo Rivers looking secure, at 117-1 a challenging total was in prospect.

Then, amid further raucous appealing, Rivers was adjudged to have been caught behind, ahead of Roffey slumping to 126-6.

Wicketkeeper Sajeer Nizam subsequently made 33, before Will Fenwick and Alex Collins reached double figures.

But, with James Allen taking 5-74, 205 looked insufficient, 36 extras – including five penalty runs for adverse on-field behaviour - being the second highest contributor.

Responding, Mayfield lost two early batsmen to Harnoop Kalsi, but from 33-2 they recovered to win by five wickets.

That was courtesy of 58 from Harry Lloyd, 44 from their Barbadian overseas man, ODI player Keon Harding, and 30s by Ben Fitchet and Tristan Killops.

Rivers told the County Times: “When we batted we were in a strong position and I felt comfortable and looking to bat long, until some close decisions didn’t go our way, completely changing the game.

"We’re showing signs of good performances and just need to get our confidence back, with three potentially easier games approaching.

"We’ve got some good young players, but coming up into the Premiership is a big jump.”

Roffey remain bottom, albeit just six points behind Eastbourne and nine adrift of Bognor, neither of whom are currently playing well.

This Saturday they visit old adversaries Three Bridges, who are fifth in the table.

There were contrasting cup fortunes for Roffey CC and Horsham CC on Sunday.

Roffey 287-6; Sutton 148 all out

Bertie Joel Trophy

Roffey won handsomely after posting a very demanding total against visiting Sutton from the Surrey League’s second tier.

An outstanding unbeaten century by overseas player Nick Greenwood set up the win.

He batted in company with stand-in skipper Theo Rivers, who took the reins after a warm-up injury ruled out Matt Davies.

The visitors wilted from 75-1 to be bowled out well short of the requirement.

After a 30-run opening stand Roffey stuttered to 75-5, from which Rivers and Greenwood put on 211, with Rivers out for 76 just before the end of Roffey’s 45 over allocation. For his superb 111 not out Greenwood faced 79 balls, hitting 16 fours and two sixes

With no hint of impending disaster, Sutton began soundly with openers Rehan Ratnasabapathy and Jamie Griffin making 41 and 25 respectively.

But only three other players reached double figures as Roffey steadily worked their way through the middle and lower order. Harnoop Kalsi took 5-26 and Ben Whelpton 3-33, with Sutton barely passing the halfway total.

Roffey await news of their round three tie.

Rivers told the County Times: “That’s Nick Greenwood’s second hundred for us – he’s a really good player and has fitted in very well. It was a good win and now we need to replicate that in the league!”

Horsham 141-8; Bognor Regis 142-8

Sussex T20 Cup

Horsham were edged out by Bognor off the last ball of a low-scoring Sussex T20 Cup thriller at Cricketfield Road.

Horsham opted to bat, but despite 40s from opener Joe Willis and stand-in captain Will Beer, the innings never really took off, the third-highest contribution being just 11.

Taylor Jaycocks took 4-28 with Horsham finishing on a seemingly inadequate 141-8. But it was to be a mighty close run thing.

In reply, after losing two early wickets, Bognor recovered to 97, ahead of the asking rate, before Horsham grabbed another scalp.

Thirties from ex-Horsham player Joe Ashmore and Jaycocks seemed to place the visitors in a winning position, but all six of the Horsham bowlers tasted success, especially Ben Williams with 3-24, and it came down to Bognor needing eight from the last over - bowled by Beer – with three wickets in hand.

A wicket off the second ball reduced the equation to six off four, then it was four from the final delivery, from which Josh Sargeant found the boundary to secure the narrow win, torpedoing Horsham’s cup dream for another year.

Williams told the County Times: “We didn’t get enough runs, but still might have won.

"Last week we won off the final ball, this week it was Bognor’s turn – they’re a good battling side and a snick through the slips got them the winning four.”

​Middleton v Horsham

Sussex Premier

Middleton lost by seven wickets to Horsham at Sea Lane on a hot day.

Horsham won the toss and invited Middleton to bat.

Middleton’s openers started cautiously looking to build a base they could push on from. Sean Heather and Harry Hovey put on 49 for the first wicket before Hovey (29) was superbly caught behind by Sam Bell.

Heather and Mason Robinson (29) kept the scoreboard ticking while taking little risks and they took the score to 119 before Robinson was dismissed.

Josh Wood joined Heather and gave himself time to get in before looking to put the pressure on to the Horsham bowlers. He struck some powerful blows whilst rotating the strike and he and Heather took Middleton to 227 before Wood fell for 76 off only 63 balls.

Heather fell shortly after for 76 off 155 balls and wickets continued to fall. Middleton were eventually bowled out for 260, losing their last seven wickets for 33 runs.

Horsham spinners Will Beer with 5-39 and Bertie Foreman with 4-97 were the pick of the Horsham bowlers.

In reply, Middleton knew they would have to bowl well to defend their total, Russell Talman taking a couple of early wickets to reduce Horsham to 60-3.

Bertie Foreman (68) and Nick Oxley (49) kept the scoreboard ticking and put on 82 for the fourth wicket before Charlie Maginnis removed both batters just before their half centuries.

The game was in the balance at this stage with Horsham needing another 119 runs but some powerful hitting from Sam Martin-Jenkins including six sixes kept the run rate manageable for Horsham and Middleton couldn’t find the breakthrough they required.

Horsham eventually won by three wickets and Martin-Jenkins finished on 75 not out from 63 balls.

Middleton took 13 points and will hope to get back to winning ways this week in a trip to Mayfield.

​

West Wittering v Pagham

Div 3 West

West Wittering won the toss and elected to bat first on a flat track with runs the main goal for the afternoon.

However Dario Cumberbatch did not read the memo and sent the first three Wittering players back into the hutch with only 30 on the board.

Sean Rutter and Peter Cotterill bowled some tight line and length deliveries that left West Wittering all out for 91 after 20 overs.

Cumberbatch (3-34), Rutter (3-27) and Cotterill (4-19) did all the damage and the only players that reached double figures were Charlie Caddy (25), Tom Gaskin (14) and Joe Pink (12).

Pagham had victory in their minds but had Harry Staight and Joe Pink to deal with and these two pounded the track with vigour and intent.

Staight took 4-15 and Pink 4-33 to cut through the Pagham upper and middle order with perfection allowing Sam Caddy to finish the tail with 2-19.

There was some excellent catching with two each from Tom Gaskin and Charlie Caddy. Pagham were 77 all out from 22 overs.

​

Clymping v Aldwick

Div 6 West

Aldwick suffered their first defeat of the season as Clymping scored 183-9. Richard Waddington (43), Joe Bain (32) and Alex Moore (31) led the way. Ollie Smith's 4-34 made him the pick of Aldwick's bowlers.

Thanks to David Wells’ 4-35 and Paul Challen’s 3-22, Aldwick fell 40 runs short of their target. Louis Paul top-scored with 43, assisted by Frankie Bigwood (27) and Ian Horner (21).

Aldwick hope to get back to winning ways when the entertain Himani this week.

​

Storrington v West Wittering 2nd

Div 8 West

Storrington won the toss and elected to bat on one of the hottest days of the year with Martin Fisher (51) and Craig Johnson (58) guiding the ball mainly behind square apart from a few glorious drives to the fence.

The runs were plentiful until West Wittering’s skipper slowed it down with Rohit Chauhan to lower the scoring rate. Storrington were in a commanding position at 143-2 then a flurry of wickets for Chauhan and the spin of Thomas Goodall cleared the middle order and allowed the pacemen to return and scuttle the tail away.

Jordan Dear was unplayable in his second spell and finished on 4-47 and Kieran Baker taking 3-51. Mark Taylor took three catches and Liam Bates one.

Storrington were all out for 182 off 33.4 overs.

Taylor and Bates opened the batting with a onslaught of excellent shots, picking off the bad balls with elegance. Taylor (41) was first to go with 87 on the board and soon after Goodall and Chauhan departed until at 129-3 Dear entered the arena.

He bludgeoned the bowling to end up 29 not out as West Wittering won by seven wickets. Andy Livermore ended up with 3-62. But Bates was on fire with the bat and secured 65 not out to keep West Wittering top.Aldwick 2 V Pagham 4

Div. 12 West (SW)

Aldwick batted first but 4-25 from Steven Newell and 3-21 by Reuben New meant they were all out for 117. Matt Tozer with 31 top-scored.

Pagham reached the target with four wickets to spare. Tom Spurle with 36 and Justin Hawes 22 were top-scorers. Liam Hicks took 4-21.

Bognor v Three Bridges

Sussex Premier

Joe Ashmore (93) fell just short of what would have been a brilliant hundred as Bognor drew against Three Bridges.

Bridges took advantage of a flat track and a hot day, amassing 310-5, with Thorn Parkes scoring a spectacular, chanceless 131.

Luke Bellars added 60 as Bognor worked hard to restrict the runs.

In reply, Ashmore and Lachie Walsh (84) gave Bognor a chance of an unlikely victory, but a late flurry of wickets meant the home team settled for a draw.

Bognor v Horsham

T20 Cup

Bognor pulled off one of the great T20 Cup victories against a Horsham side they described as ‘charming’.

Bowling first again, Bognor worked hard as a unit to restrict Horsham to 141, with Will Beer scoring 46 and Taylor Jaycocks taking four wickets.

Faced with some hostile bowling from Horsham and a partisan home crowd, Bognor’s batters all chipped in to get the chase down to four off the final ball.

Number 10 Josh Sargeant struck the unlikeliest of boundaries off Will Beer as Bognor won by two wickets.

Bognor said it should dispell accusations of choking for another seven weeks until the sides meet again…

Hastings v Chi Priory Park

Sussex Division 2

Chi Priory Park (272) lost by 15 runs at Hastings (287).

Mitchell Heyward took 5-80 in the hosts’ innings while Tim Wergan’s 129 and 79 from Oliver Dabinett-Jays led the reply but in vain.

Findon won by 68 runs at home to Crawley Eagles in Division 3 West of the Sussex League.

Findon batted first and some tight bowling from Eagles paceman Bilal Ahmed (5-45) put the visitors on top.

Findon were 57-5 at one stage – but a century partnership between Matt Glover (49) and Akarshan Arora (55) helped Findon get to a total of 237-7

In the Eagles reply only Razlan Razik with 72 provided any fight as the visitors ended on 169 all out.

Bradley Bridson took 3-8 and there were two wickets apiece for Arora and Graham Manser.

Findon are second in the table behind leaders Steyning; Crawley Eagles sit fifth.

Findon skipper Glen Bridson said: “It was a good win.

"We’ve really struggled, not just in this game but all season, at the top of the order, and our middle/lower order has saved us - and Saturday was no different,

"Matt Glover played a really responsible innings with Aki to set it up for our lower order to come in and score quick runs, which Jabe Rogers did superbly.

"Then Graham Manser and Sam Dunkley came in to finish it off.

"We still felt we were 30/40 short as the wicket was flat and the outfield quick.

"They got off to a very good start but from 130-2, to be bowled out for 170 was a superb team effort especially in the heat.

"Wickets were shared and couple of run outs changed the game.

"And there’s still plenty of improvement to come for us this season which is exciting.”

Edenbridge 2nd v Southwick

Division 8 Central

A Southwick team denuded of several players travelled to the Surrey/Kent border hoping for a return to winning ways.

Skipper Matt Vokes called correctly and decided to bat first but a couple of quick wickets saw his side on the back foot until opener Kallum Howell with 28 and Dean Ghasemi (44) fought back.

Once the partnership was broken the middle order were unable to provide further sustenance until a late partnership between Paul Westgate (30) and Mark Broxup (eight) took the Wickers to a respectable total of 165-9 from 40 overs.

An early wicket for Gary Mussen gave Southwick hope but from there the batting side were rarely troubled.

Two batters hit 30s another 20 while Connor Hodson took the honours with 73 to add to his four wickets.

Vokes said: “Kallum and Dean had a great partnership as did Paul and Mark later on.

"We ended up about 40 runs below par with the bat.

"Broxup and Wilson kept things tight with the ball and pushed the game further than I expected but it was a good team effort on a hot day”.

Southwick twos notched a first win of the season by beating Clymping at a sweltering Buckingham Park.

Farhad Barakzai’s magnificent 93 not out got the Wickers to 238-5. In response Clymping were bowled out for 110 with 13-year-old Harry Craik taking three wickets.