Cuckfield CC look to close gap at the top

Cuckfield 1st XI Vs East Grinstead 1st XI

Cuckfield hosted East Grinstead on Saturday with designs on reducing the gap between themselves and Three Bridges at the top of the Sussex Premier League.

Having lost the toss, Cuckfield found themselves batting on a pitch that retained some moisture following heavy showers on Thursday.

The returning Dom Sear partnered Marshall and both played watchfully before Marshall inexplicably pulled a long-hop straight to deep square leg to leave Cuckfield 1-1.

Cambridge, in at 3, struggled to find his timing before frustration got the better of him – an attempted smash over the bowlers head brought his innings to an end as he edged through to Cammish to give Thilo a 2nd wicket.

Nolan joined Sear and at last Cuckfield’s innings got going. Nolan played aggressively as he struck a well made 42, including a big six into the road, before their 75 run partnership ended as the experienced Lewis Hatchett found his edge.

Sear followed soon after, adjudged LBW off Brad Hatchett and once again Cuckfield found themselves struggling at 85-4. From then on Cuckfield’s innings comprised of most of their middle order getting starts without anyone managing to go on to make a score of note – Jago-Lewis, Ben Candfield and Ben Willsden all playing nicely as Grinstead managed to keep the Cuckfield score in check with semi-regular wickets.

The Hatchett brothers did most of the damage on a surface that offered some assistance to both seam and spin but rewarded good shots and sensible batting; a quickfire 10 not out from Barker at 11 just about seeing Cuckfield reach full batting points in the final over – 230-9. Brad Hatchett finished with 3-80 and Lewis with 3-58.

Cuckfield’s score appeared to be well within reach as the surface appeared to have improved, despite a shower falling in the interval.

Grinstead openers Cammish and Edwards both had some success as Cuckfield’s bowling was a mixture of good balls and some wayward deliveries. They put on 53 before Edwards was smartly stumped down the leg side by Gayler off Sam Candfield’s medium pace. Cammish, who had looked untroubled for much of his innings, was undone by a good ball from Will Nolan, nipping one back to strike him on the pads, LBW for 41.

Cuckfield’s attack struggled from then on to make anything happen in the middle overs as spin-duo Hayward and Goss remained unavailable through injury and holiday respectively – despite keeping things tight, Grinstead moved to 130 with little trouble before a change of bowling saw Candfield nick off Brad Hatchett for 33.

Rhys Hunt anchored Grinsteads innings nicely, making 53 and firmly swinging the game in the visitors favour. However as Mikhail and Hunt were both removed, Cuckfield began to squeeze and pushed the rate up to 7 an over with 10 to go.

Grinstead had kept wickets in hand and this proved to be the difference as they chase the Cuckfield score down easily – Gorton and Finnegan finding the boundary when needed and running exceptionally well as Cuckfield’s fielding became sloppy.

A 16 run over in the 51st left Barker with 4 to defend off the last but it proved too tough a task as Cuckfield’s severely depleted bowling attack ran out of ideas. Sam Candfield was the pick of the bowlers with 3-71. A trip to resurgent Middleton awaits next week before we move back to pink-ball cricket with all still to play for.

Cuckfield 2nd XI Vs St Peters 1st XI

Cuckfield made the trip to Preston Park on pride weekend. With the music pumping in the background, Cuckfield skipper Galbraith-Gibbons won the toss and elected to bat first. Galbraith-Gibbons (16) and Webb (56) opened up for Cuckfield and started positively, punishing bad balls from St Peters openers Madushanka (1-37) and Gul (1-37).

The Cuckfield openers looked comfortable, easing to 50 without loss. But bowling changes made a difference and Khan (1-35) took the wicket of Galbraith-Gibbons (16) to make the breakthrough. Batting began to get tougher as the pitch began to break up and variable bounce began to show.

The Cuckfield batters did well to continue scoring and frustrate the St Peters bowlers, Webb continued to look good moving along to his 50. Cuckfield were moving the scoreboard along nicely, without losing wickets. But when spin came on this changed the game.

Good spells from Shankaraswamy (1-28) and Kulkarni (1-40) slowed the Cuckfield batters down and took a couple of valuable wickets. Willsdon (46) and Oates (19) put on a good partnership in ever more difficult conditions.

But the St Peters bowlers restricted well and made it hard for the Cuckfield batters. Wickets were hard to come by but so were runs.

Towards the end of the innings the Cuckfield batters struggled with slower balls and variable bounce and this slowed the scoring rate. Cuckfield ended the innings on 214-6, knowing that on a tough pitch this was a defendable score.

After rain at tea, Cuckfield went out to defend their score. Galbraith-Gibbons (1-21) and Broyd (3-62) opened the bowling and kept things tight to put the St Peters openers under pressure.

They took two wickets early which put St Peters on the back foot in their run chase. Broyd then took another which meant Craker (40) and Madushanka (64) were at the crease together.

They began to put the Cuckfield bowlers under pressure by scoring freely, in particular Madushanka who was scoring regular boundaries. Cuckfield were staring down the barrel of defeat as St Peters began to edge closer to the target, but Slinger got the important wicket of Madushanka caught behind.

This put Cuckfield back in the game. Though Khan (51) had other ideas as he played a sensible innings, ticking the scoring along and slowly chipping away at the target.

Cuckfield knew that they needed wickets to win the game and one came to leave St Peters 7 down, but Khan was still at the crease and he was scoring easily now. Cuckfield struggled to take the final 3 wickets and eventually St Peters reached the total in the 42nd over to take the 30 points.

Cuckfield took 13 points away from the game but it was 17 points too few as far as they are concerned. They are now in a real fight to stay in Division 3 East with some important games coming up!

Cuckfield 3rd XI Vs Rottingdean 2nd XI

Cuckfield 3rd xi travelled to the coast to face title contenders, Rottingdean. The hosts chose to bat first and got off to an absolute flyer - opener Patrick Stokes targeting the very short leg-side boundary to take 31 runs off the second over with a barrage of fours and sixes.

His entertaining innings came to an end, mis-cueing one attacking shot too many to the safe hands of Seb Sheldon at backward point off the bowling of Ayan Chakravartty for 41 off just 14 balls.

George Titlow, in at 3, joined Josh Woolcott at the crease and these two batted sensibly to see off the ever reliable bowling of Chris Osborne (0-34 off his 8 overs) and Chakravartty, taking the score on to 118 before Woolcott was trapped LBW to Sheldon for a solid 33.

Jonjo Hobbs and Titlow continued the solid batting display for Rottingdean, both picking off the bad balls for boundaries and rotating the strike the rest of the time to put on a partnership of 92 before Hobbs top-edged a ball from Hugo Tanous into the hands of Sheldon again, for a very well-made 62.

This dismissal was quickly followed by another, just one run later, due to a terrible mix up between Abdul Zahab and Titlow - the latter being run out for a patient 50 with the score on 211.

Zahab then took the bowlers to task with some belligerent strokes - including three fours and six sixes in an innings of 67 not out at a strike rate of 209. With support from Phil Robson (25) and James Yates (18), Rottingdean's innings closed on a mammoth 337 from their 40 overs.

A very solid batting display from the home side, but aided by dropped catches and a lot of misfields from Cuckfield. Sheldon (just 15 years old) was the pick of the Cuckfield bowlers, with 1 for 45 from his 8 overs of off spin.

Facing a run rate of 8 an over, Cuckfield's innings got off to a bad start when Rob Willsdon was bowled for a duck. Richard Amer joined Hugo Tanous and these two hit some lovely boundaries in a partnership of 50 before Tanous was bowled by Phil Robson for 17.

Flora Devonshire (6) and Ayan Chakravartty (8) came and went soon after, before Matt Wynn joined Amer to put on a lovely partnership of 89 - only ending when Amer failed to clear mid on off the leg breaks of Stan Carter, for an excellent 66 and the score 172 for 5.

With the run rate escalating well into double figures, as well as skipper Dave Downey being unable to bat due to an ankle injury whilst bowling, it was a thankless task for the remaining batters to get anywhere near the required total - despite a fine, battling 71 from Matt Wynn - Cuckfield ending their innings on 201-9 to lose by a massive 137 runs.

A great bowling display from Rottingdean - with no weak link - Robson ending with figures of 2 for 15 off 8 overs and Josh Gilbert 3 for 28 off his 8. Special mention to young Stan Carter who bowled some great controlled leg spin to a short leg-side boundary, to finish with figures of 1 for 44 from his full spell.

Overall, a very solid all-round performance from Rottingdean - fully justifying their promotion spot - whilst a well below par fielding/bowling display from Cuckfield, which made the result much more one-sided than it should have been and now all but ends hopes of a promotion spot.

Next week, Cuckfield faces another stiff challenge - hosting the other title contending team, Ifield.

Cuckfield 4th XI Vs Henfield 3rd XI

It was a case of not counting one’s chickens before hatching as Cuckfield struggled to turn early dominance into a victory, with Henfield eventually winning by an impressive 67 runs.

Cuckfield won the toss and opted to field. Jamie Tuddenham (15-1-7) opened the bowling and struck early, removing William Clark (1) after some fine work behind the stumps. Adam Juul (29-3-9) kept things incredibly tight at the other end.

Despite the slow run rate, there was to be no flurry of wickets with Cuckfield agonisingly grounding a few highly difficult catching opportunities.

At the halfway stage, it looked like both sides were engaging in a game of chicken with Henfield’s Peter Boyce (20) and Antony Brugoli (67) content to make their nests and take few risks. After 20 overs there were fewer than 70 runs on the board and Cuckfield must have felt cock-a-hoop.

Optimism continued with Charlie Mole’s (1-21-5) lovely turning delivery that had Peter Boyce playing, missing and having to trudge back to the henhouse. However, Paul Pheasant’s (67) entrance marked a change in tone to the innings, with Pheasant and Brugoli seemingly egging each other on. Boundaries started to be found with much more regularity, Both did eventually fall, but not before they were able to add impressive scores.

Cuckfield’s reply started inauspiciously with Henfield’s opening bowlers finding bounce and swing. Iain Pringle (1) and Oliver Ikin (6) both received cracking deliveries from Seb Thorns (2-4-6) with scorable balls being as rare as hen’s teeth.

Adam Jull (39) provided the greatest resistance showing patience and restraint. When trying to kick Cuckfield’s innings on, he found the man in the field who took the tricky opportunity well. Glen Smith (34) walked out like a fox in the henhouse and started with intent and aggression.

In a relatively short knock, there were multiple sixes and hope started to be breathed back into Cuckfield’s chances. Alas, this wasn’t to be with Huey Pitcher (1-35-9) ending Smith’s threatening display and with that any chances of a fightback.

This result still leaves Cuckfield scrambling around at the wrong end of the table after what has been a disappointing run of results. They will only hope that the idiom proves true: you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs.

Cuckfield Women's 1st XI Vs Lewes Priory Women's 1st XI

A convincing win for Cuckfield women at Lewes Priory.

Both teams only fielded 9, it being the middle of the Summer holidays. Lewes Priory won the toss and elected to bat, opening with Maythan (6) and Ives (5). Cuckfield opening bowler took the first wicket, clean bowling Maythan, shortly followed by the fall of Ives to a remarkable left-handed catch at square leg by Parsons off Graham’s bowling. The wickets of Madigan (6) and Martirossian (0) taken by Moss and Webb respectively left Lewes Priory on 27/4. Miles and Burroughs dug in for a strong partnership of 69 before Miles (28) was bowled by Nolan and Burroughs fell to Graham (39). A run out by Cuckfield’s Gracie-Langrick (Sheridan-Olliver, 3) and another stunning square leg catch by Parsons off Nolan’s bowling dismissed Wheatley for 5, leaving Pyatt on 1. Lewes Priory were 119 all out.

Cuckfield opened with Gracie-Langrick and Parsons who batted beautifully with a total of 13 boundaries between them and mounting a partnership of 105 before Parsons (29) was bowled by Miles. Gracie-Langrick’s 57 off 66 balls meant Graham was only needed for a single to secure Cuckfield’s 7 wicket victory (120/1).