Glorious sunshine for Cuckfield's visit to Roffey

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Cuckfield 1st XI v Roffey 1st XI

Glorious sunshine accompanied Cuckfield’s visit to Roffey with captain Wes Marshall winning the toss and electing to bat first on a pitch that looked as if it would break up later in the day.

Tight bowling from Toby Munt (1-15) and Lewis Shivnarain (1-20) restricted the run rate in the opening overs as well as accounting for Marshall (8) and Henry Rogers (7) leaving Cuckfield at 16-2. Dom Sear (22) and veteran Chris Mole (52) rebuilt slowly as the pitch deteriorated with spinners Harnoop Kalsi (2-59) and Jonny Phelps (1-37) extracted exaggerated turn and bounce.

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With the score on 64, Sear was struck on the pad by Kalsi to leave Cuckfield in trouble. Brad Gayler (7) supported Mole, taking the score to 81 before hitting a reverse sweep to Munt at backward point off Phelps.

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Dan Turner (29) was watchful and provided able assistance to Mole who doggedly made his way to his half century before both fell in quick succession, Turner to Kalsi and Mole to William Fenwick (2-27). Will Goss (0) immediately followed Mole and with overs running out, Sam Hardwicke (13 not out) and Sam Candfield (19 not out) saw Cuckfield post 161 for 7 from their 58 overs.

Knowing that the pitch was misbehaving and consistency was needed, Cuckfield opened with Sam Candfield (1-9) and spinner Will Goss (1-63). Canfield struck in the first over, having Theo Rivers caught at extra cover but Matt Davies (44) and Shams Suddahazai (46) steadied the ship.

Playing sensibly and waiting for the loose deliveries, the Roffey pair added 86 before Davies was caught at slip off Goss. Jonny Phelps (0) quickly followed, chipping to cover off Wes Marshall (1-44) but a quick-fire 40 from Usman Khan took the game away from Cuckfield. Two quick wickets for Henry Rogers (2-13) brought Cuckfield another bonus point but victory was sealed in the 42nd over.

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Cuckfield will rue the missed opportunity to keep pace with Preston Nomads and Three Bridges, now finding themselves 48 points behind the leaders with 4 games left. A visit to Middleton on Saturday awaits the current champions and 30 points is a necessity if they wish to retain their title.

Cuckfield 2nd XI v Portslade 1st XI

Cuckfield 2nd Xl hosted portslade cricket club at the field of dreams. Galbraith-Gibbons lost the toss and Cuckfield were fielding first.

Cuckfield got off to a flying start with Osborne (2-25) getting Mills-Cook (0) caught behind. Soon Osborne took his and the teams 2nd wicket of Ridge (4) also caught behind. Soon, the ship was steadied as Downs (59) and Vardy (14) started to make a good partnership.

However, Downs was next to fall getting caught off the bowling of Wisdom (1-64). Gent (29) came to join Vardy, however Vardy was then hit on the arm and was then retired hurt. This meant Piper (100) had to come in as his replacement.

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Gent and Piper started to score a few together and were looking dangerous until the wicket of Gent was taken, again he was caught off the bowling of Galbraith-Gibbons (1-74). In came Case (74) to join Piper. These two really pushed on for portslade both batting sensibly whilst hitting big sixes and smashing fours.

They went on to get a 138 run partnership before the wicket of Piper who was caught at long on, off the bowling of Josh Downey (1-21).

Lettes (1) came in for the last 2 overs and helped steven case get the team up to their finishing total of 295 off of there 45 overs.

After tea, it was Cuckfield's turn to bat. It was Galbraith-Gibbons (58) and Wisdom (17) to open the batting. After a good opening attack Wisdom fell after being caught behind of the bowling of Lettes (1-30). Johnny Prior (77) joined Galbraith-Gibbons.

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They were pushing it around picking up 1-2s until the wicket of Galbraith-Gibbons fell caught behind off the bowling of Piper (1-44). Chris Taylor (71) joined Prior and they were moving fielders and hitting gaps with the occasional boundary putting pressure back on to Portslade.

They then got Prior caught off the bowling of Steven Case (2-79). Josh Downey (22) came in and showed an aggressive style in the Cuckfield batting line up smashing sixes and fours before eventually getting caught of the bowling of Case. Oli Willsdon (11) came in and got a good little partnership going with Taylor before getting ran out by Ben Vardy.

Will Broyd (21) came in to finish it off, again showing intent and aggression hitting sixes and fours over the short side boundary. Broyd hit the winning runs for Cuckfield CC to get over the line and win by 5 wickets.

Cuckfield took 30 points away from that game. Which is a very big and needed result to stay in Division 3 East. Good win for cuckfield today!

Cuckfield 3rd XI v Ifield 2nd XI

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Cuckfield 3rd XI hosted top of the league Ifield and the visitors elected to bat first on what looked like a good pitch with a fast outfield.

Openers Josh Medley and Sachin Naik got Ifield off to a great start, looking very comfortable and punishing the bad balls all around the ground - Cuckfield unable to make a breakthrough before the 20 overs drinks break.

The Ifield opening pair continued where they left off after the break, maintaining a run rate of 8 an over in a huge partnership of 195 - with Medley bringing up his century soon after drinks - before it was finally ended when Naik mis-timed one to Tim Power at extra cover from the off breaks of Hugo Tanous for a fine 72.

Medley was joined by Paul Clifford, who ably supported with a mix of strike rotation and boundaries during his 49, before Medley was finally dismissed for a fantastic 155 - top-edging a pull off Jo Thorpe down to short fine leg, where Dave Downey took the catch.

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The remaining batters then came and went, in the search for quick additional runs in the closing overs - Thorpe ending with 4 for 77 and Tim Power 2 for 58 off their 8 overs - ending an impressive team display of batting with a mammoth 344 from their 40 overs.

With Cuckfield facing the unenviable task of scoring at 8.6 per over to reach the target (for a second week in a row), it quickly became even more so when openers Hugo Tanous (5) and Dave Downey (6) were both bowled by big and sharp inswingers from Sudess Ali, with Will Burch also bowled - this time behind his legs by Paul Clifford's off breaks, for 5.

Ali's sharp and controlled inswing continued to wreak havoc amongst the Cuckfield order, taking a further 3 wickets (and all 5 bowled).

It was only when Ali's amazing spell of 5 for 27 came to an end, that there was any sign of resistance from the home side - Sam Shepherd making a welcome return to form with an unbeaten 65, supported with 21 from Adam Bennett, the only other batter to reach double figures.

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By now, however, with the score at 100 for 8, it was purely about gaining as many losing bonus points as possible, which Tim Power helped Shepherd to achieve - taking the total up to 132 before Power finally departed for 9 to end the match with a heavy 212 run defeat.

Overall, a very one-sided affair, with Ifield dominantly proving their justified current status as title winners. The result leaves Cuckfield in mid-table - 62 points clear of the relegation zone - with just four games remaining in the season.

Next week sees a short journey to 4th placed local rivals, Bolney.

Cuckfield 4th XI v Keymer and Hassocks 2nd XI

A pleasant summer day at Keymer and Hassocks CC where Cuckfield 4th XI took on their 2nd team in Division 11.

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Cuckfield won the toss and decided to bowl on a slow, low pitch. Keymer and Hassocks started well with their openers hitting a few boundaries, getting to 50 for 1 quite quickly, but Cuckfield did take wickets regularly, which stifled the scoring.

Paul Meader showed why his brand of bowling works with 3 wickets for not many. Charlie Mole and Adam Jull bowled a solid 9 overs, each pegging back Keymer and Hassocks to 149 all out. Cuckfield opened with Julian Ward and Oliver Ikin, who set the pace with some great shots with Ikin going on to achieve his maiden 50 in adult league cricket.

A few quick wickets fell, bringing Adam Jull to the crease who scored 67 not out along with Ikin who bought the much need win home for Cuckfield.

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