Horsham collapse, Roffey romp home, Worthing still looking for win, Haywards Heath joint top

Middleton 134 all out; Horsham 129 all out

Horsham were delighted to bowl out the hosts for a seemingly inadequate total, and, at 104-2 they were coasting to an easy win.

But Horsham collapsed, sliding to defeat by five runs with more than 20 overs unused.

After electing to bat Middleton soon lost skipper Sean Heather before Bertie Foreman dismissed the next four, including former Horsham all-rounder Ollie Haines for 36.

From 68-5 the seasiders staged a partial recovery, but with two wickets apiece for Nick Oxley and Sean O’Donnell, they subsided.

Horsham’s top four all started promisingly, Foreman reaching 43 and Oxley 29, but, while Alfie Haines reached double figures (only to be caught on the boundary by his brother), the remaining six batsmen could merely muster five runs between them.

Sam Green’s four wickets and a run out condemned Horsham to a shock defeat.

East Grinstead 137 all out; Roffey 138-0

Sussex Premier League

At Roffey, EG elected to bat, but were not allowed to get going, eventually creeping to 137 all out, which Roffey knocked off without loss, with more than 19 overs to spare.

EG opener Leo Cammish made 68, but he was obliged to hang around in the forlorn hope someone would stay with him long enough to put up a challenge.

When he was ninth out, one of Jonny Phelps’ four victims, the innings soon ended, with only two of his teammates reaching double figures. Sixteen-year-old opening bowler Toby Munt again impressed, with 3-28.

In-form batsmen skipper Matt Davies and Theo Rivers made sure of victory with unbeaten scores of 63 and 50 respectively.

With five teenagers in their side, this was a memorably overwhelming win for Roffey.

Elsewhere, Cuckfield easily overcame Hastings, Three Bridges beat Bognor by two wickets, while table-topping – now with three wins from three - Preston Nomads posted 261-9 and then bowled out Worthing for a paltry 86.

Saturday’s league fixtures: Horsham v Three Bridges, Preston Nomads v Roffey. Roffey host Eastbourne in the Sussex T20 Cup on Sunday.

Worthing CC are still looking for their first win since returning to the Sussex Premier League.

Their latest test was a tough one at home to Preston Nomads and it ended in a 175-run defeat.

Nomads totalled 261-9, then bowled out Worthing for 86.

Harry Dunn, who was standing in for Darryl Rebbetts as captain, said: “We knew it was going to be an incredibly difficult task going into a game against Preston Nomads, who had a handful of Sussex professionals.

“After losing the toss and being asked to field first, I thought we bowled and fielded extremely well.

Harry Merritt-Blann and Giorgio Rigali restricted their opening batsmen brilliantly in the first ten overs and I thought we looked on top when having them 90-4 around the halfway mark.

"A couple of missed chances and decisions that didn’t go our way meant they managed to get away from us, unfortunately. Fair play to their 5th wicket partnership who both judged the conditions well, keeping the good balls out and punishing anything loose.

"Giorgio was exceptional throughout his ten overs and backed up really well by everyone else. I was very happy with the fight we showed against an extremely talented batting line-up.

“But we were under par again with the bat, which was disappointing. Nobody really managed to hang around long enough to cause any problems for the Nomads bowlers.

"Overall there were positives to take with the ball and in the field. Another learning curve for us – we’re still adapting to life in the premier league."

Cuckfield beat Hastings for season’s second win.

Haywards Heath remain joint top of Division 2 despite suffering their first Sussex Cricket League defeat of the season.

In fact Callum Smith’s side are one of four teams all tied on 73 points having won two and lost one of their opening games.

West Chiltington, St James and Ifield are level on points with them and there are another two sides – Mayfield and Buxted Park – within four points of the leading teams.

It was one of those top four – West Chilts – who inflicted a four-wicket defeat on Heath last Saturday.

Freddie Wallis and Anish Padalkar gave Heath an ideal start with a stand of 90 but no-one could produce top form and the visitors were all out for 212, with Hugo Gillespie taking 4-33 for Chilts.

In the reply Ben Van Noort top-scored with 46 but others chipped in and the home side got home with six wickets down.

There were two wickets apiece for Chris Abbey and Smith and one for Wallis.

Smith, whose side host Mayfield this week, said: “We were disappointed to lose. After being 150-2, to finish on 212 all out is where we lost the game.

"We battled hard in their reply and were in the game with Chilts reduced to 150/6 but they are a good side with good depth which showed. We’ve had good individual performances but it’s still early season and we haven’t quite clicked yet.

"We’re happy to be on 73 points from three but there are big weeks ahead where we’ll look to consolidate. We have ambitions to challenge at the top – that’s what we are working to achieve.”

Littlehampton v Roffey 2nd

Division 3 West

Littlehampton lost the toss and were asked to bowl first against Roffey twos.

Opening bowlers Nathan Cooper (4-31) and Akshay Goyal (2-28) got early breakthroughs.

Ben Duffell (1-18) and Connar Robson (2-20) continued Littlehampton’s good start, and the away side were 68-6.

A 7th wicket partnership between Josh Gander (65) and Leigh Harrison (39) helped Roffey finish on 180 all out.In reply, Littlehampton got off to a good start with Chris Heberlein (45) and Connar Robson (26) getting them to 71-1.

A little collapse to 94-4 brought captain Mike Askew (47*) to the crease. Dan White (19) and Askew put on 46 for the fifth wicket. A couple of wickets fell but Askew and Nathan Perry steered the home side to victory with seven balls to spare to win by three wickets.Askew said: “Another great performance from all 11. We were missing a few regulars as well so to beat a well fancied side who had won two from two is very good.

"Everyone is enjoying their cricket at the moment and it’s fantastic to see.”

Also in Division 3 West, Goring lost a low-scoring game by six wickets at home to Pagham.

Goring were shot out for 96 and could only take four wickets before the visitors reached the target.

Copthorne v Southwick & Shoreham

Division 8 Central

Having won the toss and opted to bat, the Wickers were disappointed to lose a couple of early wickets.

But an excellent partnership of 91 between Farhad Barakzai (46) and Harry Dorgan (48) put the batting side in a promising position.

Middle order maestros Adam Walter and Harry Sutton scored 15 and 23 respectively before a startling collapse of the last five wickets for just two runs saw S&S sink to162 all out.

The Wickers paid a heavy price for their batting letdown.

Despite taking wickets regularly, knocks of 43 by Nitin Ohja, 29 from Bradley Haupt and 27 not out from Rickin Shah just saw Copthorne scrape home in a tense finish with 1.2 overs to spare and the loss of seven wickets.

Gary Mussen, Harry Cracknell and Dorgan took two wickets apiece while Sutton bowled a tight but wicketless spell of 0-32.

Captain Tom Bell said: “It was a disappointing match to lose, especially given our position after 25 overs. We were aiming for at least 200.

"But there were plenty of positives to take from a game that we know we could have won.”

In contrast to the first XI’s travails, the second XI enjoyed a fine victory over Goring’s 4th XI thanks to a sublime all round performance by Craig Dawson who top scored with 73 and took four wickets.

Dawson was ably abetted by the limpet-like Tom Clitheroe who scored 26 from 106 balls.

Petworth Park CC v Pulborough

Division 12 WNW

In Pulborough’s first league game of the season, Petworth batted first and scored 113 all out.

Skipper Lee Callagan took 5-15, while James Rhoder took 2-27 and a brilliant catch. They were backed up by Tyler Jupp (1-22), Peter Taylor (1-15) and Andy Nichols (1-9). Henry Padgham, who’s just 13, took a great catch in the deep.

Pulborough started slowly in response, but Anthony Lamb scored 12, while James Rhoder and Lee Callagan both scored 43 not out, to see the team home.