Hugo's haul hits Lindfield - Haywards Heath and Cuckfield find wins

Lindfield CC v West Chiltington & Thakeham - Sussex League Division 2

Hugo Gillespie took seven wickets as West Chilts won at Lindfield.

Losing the toss, Lindfield were inserted on a very flat pitch and under blue skies, in what looked like perfect conditions for high scoring cricket. The visitors opened the bowling with spin, which proved a masterstroke and gave them a good start.

Bowling to their field well, it meant Lindfield struggled with their run-rate and found themselves 44-2 off 20 overs with spinner Hugo Gillespie picking up the first two of his seven.

Under the pump, Lindfield needed to pick up the pace and Harry Moorat (52) and James Aggio-Brewe (60) dragged the hosts back into the game with some fine strokeplay. However, when they were removed, Lindfield's middle order were exposed to Gillespie who picked up four wickets in quick succession.

With the innings in disarray, the home side crawled to 172 all out. Gillespie finished with 7-53, a magnificent spell considering the conditions.

Lindfield looked at least 80 short and so it proved as overseas pro Morne Louw got off to a positive start against the seamers.

Supported by Louis Storey (42) West Chiltington breezed to 102-2 and never looked in trouble. Lindfield turned to the spinners but their impact did not compare to the opposition’s slow bowlers and they couldn't halt the inevitable slide to defeat. Louw finished unbeaten on 86 as the visitors cruised to a seven-wicket victory in just 33 overs.

Lindfield captain James Aggio-Brewe said: "If we produce flat batting tracks like today, we can't afford to plod along at two an over for as long as we did. The game has changed in the last few years when generally it is impossible to defend 170 nine times out of ten.

"We have to be smarter, manipulate the ball better and be far more positive. We now have two huge games against Cuckfield and Haywards Heath who will prove difficult… we must front up."

St James v Haywards Heath – Division 2

After two straight defeats Heath bounced back in the first of the traditional 100-over declaration games.

The home team asked Heath to bat and they had sweepers on both sides of the wicket to contain Jonny Phelps and Jethro Menzies.

Phelps and Menzies were watchful and with the score on 53 Phelps was bowled by Toby Pullan for 30.

Ben Matthew and Menzies built a good partnership which was broken on 145 when Menzies was bowled by Colville for 71.

Skipper Callum Smith and Matthew batted well but Australian Tommy Draca started to take the game to Heath. He had Smith (33) caught by Ollie Bradley then removed Chris Blunt caught by the same man leaving Heath 191-4.

Tshaffi Shams and Matthew took the score to 212 before Matthew was caught by Bradley for 56 off Draca.

Amila was pinned in front by Draca and Charlie Dowdell was Draca’s 5th wicket and Bradley’s 4th catch.

Shams was caught by Davies off Henry Cope for 13 and next ball Michael Platt was bowled. From 191-2 Heath had slipped to 213-9. Skipper Smith pulled his team off after 47.2 overs denying Cope his hat-trick and St James maximum bowling points.

St James started their chase with Toby Pullan and Michael Murray.

With the score on 23 Heath got the breakthrough when Murray was adjudged lbw by Jemuel Cabey.

Pullan and Bradley batted without trouble until Menzies bowled Bradley for 15,

Tom Prideaux DeLacey and Pullan rebuilt but on 98 the former was given out lbw off Smith for 19.

Pullan and Luke Forster took the score to 128. Heath veteran Charlie Dowdell dismissed skipper Pullan for a well-made 73 caught behind by Michael Platt.

Amila and Michael Plat combined to run Forster – 134-5. Draca was stumped by Platt and Joe O’Neill went the same way.

Cabey cleaned up Cope and Phelps removed Mahmood and St James were 183-9. With Charlie Davies not enjoying the pace of Cabey he was desperate to get off strike and attempted a run to Phelps at short leg who ran him out to secure the win.

Heath go second in the table and host Chichester this week.

Cuckfield reports - supplied by Cuckfield CC

Chichester 1st XI vs Cuckfield 1st XI

Cuckfield travelled to Goodwood on Saturday to play Chichester in the first of the win/lose/draw round of fixtures. Having lost the toss, Cuckfield took the field first, with seamer Joe White (1-30) and left-arm spinner Josh Hayward sharing the new ball.

The Chichester openers started watchfully in the face of a tight start from Cuckfield, before Mike Smith was trapped LBW by Hayward for 10. Spicer followed soon after, ill-advisedly attempting to sweep Hayward, again LBW for 9. White, not wanting to miss out on the action, then removed skipper Dobbs for 2 having found some movement off the pitch.

Overseas Drake-Brockman begun rebuilding, with Brockman in particular looking proactive against anything wide of his off stump. They took the score to 64, before a smart piece of bowling saw an advancing Brockman beaten by the flight, well caught by Ollie Graham at first slip off the bowling of Hayward. He was quickly followed by Dabinett-Jays who edged the impressive Patterson (1-29) to Connor Bettsworth for 13.

Corey Perrett and Martin Ford attempted to rebuild with the score at 72-5, and found some success with a combination of resolute defence and some more dismissive strokeplay when the opportunity presented itself. However, the introduction of skipper Ben Candfield proved the catalyst for Cuckfield, as Ford was well caught by Patterson sweeping for 10, and Perrett followed shortly after for a well-made 41 (from 54 balls, including 2 sixes), bowled round his legs sweeping by Candfield.

The Chichester lower order succumbed to Josh Hayward, with 3 quick wickets leaving Chichester 139 all out. Hayward was the pick of the Cuckfield bowlers, taking 6-40 from 18.3 overs.

On what had been a slow, but flat deck, Cuckfield openers Nipun Karunanayake and Greg Wisdom walked out to bet with the visitors the happier of the two teams. The Chi bowlers kept things tight early on, with Perrett bowling Wisdom for 1 and Ford (1-14) removing Sear for 9, leaving Cuckfield 20-2. Graham and Nipun begun taking control, finding the boundary regularly, before Graham hacked one to mid-on off Drakeman for 27, leaving Cuckfield 67-3 and with the home side looking to assert some control back over the innings.

Both Chris Mole and Charlie Douglas-Hughes were bowled by Crookham, who had found movement both ways through the air, for 2 and 9 respectively and quickly the momentum shifted back to the home side. Candfield joined Nipun at the crease, slowly edging the score towards the target with some sensible batting.

All was not lost for Chichester, as Candfield was adjudged LBW for 17, and Nipun followed soon after, indecisively chipping Brockman to cover for 47 with 120 on the board. Requiring 20 to win, Bettsworth capitalised on some loose bowling to take the equation down to 4 to win before he too succumbed to the relentless Perrett, leaving White and Hayward to finish the game off with Cuckfield 8 down.

Perrett (3-32) and Crookham (2-20) were the pick of the Chichester bowlers, with Cuckfield’s win cementing their place at the top of the Division 2 table.

Cuckfield 2nd XI vs Felbridge and Sunnyside 1st XI

Felbridge win the toss and elect to bat on a good batting wicket where they look to set a high score. Felbridge start nicely until Matt Slinger (2-39) had Robin James (6) superbly caught by Sam Candfield. Slinger didn’t have to wait too long for his second wicket when Sam Rintoul (21) tried a booming sweep and missed it.

Felbridge went for drinks at around 100-3 feeling confident despite also losing Luke Taylor (0) to Will Broyd (1-41). Greg Seed (1-33) and Josh Downey (2-31) both bowled very nice spells creating a lot of pressure. Aaron Willsher (42) and Mark Botha (19) had begun to rebuild but a direct hit run out from Broyd brought a halt to the partnership.

After this, wickets came fast with Seed and Downey being rewarded for the pressure they had built. George Galbraith-Gibbons (1-23) and Jason Oates (2-14) saw off the tail, including a one-handed diving catch from Richie Amer to bowl Felbridge out for 187.

Galbraith-Gibbons (71) and Dave Downey (23) opened the batting and started nicely with the former playing the more aggressive role. After an opening partnership of 103, both openers fell in quick succession to Chirag Chauhan (1-34) and Rhodri Lewis (2-25) respectively.

Two huge sixes from Ben John (17) before falling to Lewis and Oates picking out deep mid-wicket, left Cuckfield 134-4 with 12 overs left. Intelligent batting and clean striking saw Dan Turner (34 not out) and Richie Amer (19 not out) take Cuckfield to victory with 5.4 overs to spare to take 30 points for a well-deserved victory.

Cuckfield 3rd XI vs Palmers 1st XI

Cuckfield Captain Sam Shepherd won the toss and elected to field on a glorious day at Cuckfield. After some very tight initial overs from Shepherd (1-39) and Tim Power (0-33), the Palmers openers Jeremy Blick (95) and Nick Buckley (33) settled in and took the game to Cuckfield.

Their opening partnership was broken by the return to cricket of Neil Fairhall (3-24) who had Buckley caught behind by James Buckeridge. A few balls later Alfie Brand (0) was caught by Goff Baker also off Fairhall. The game was evenly poised and when Fairhall also removed Steve Donelan for 14 it appeared to be swinging towards Cuckfield. However Blick and Jude Summerfield (69) started to accelerate and with some hefty blows the innings ended with Palmers reaching 232.

Cuckfield needed a solid start which was provided by James Buckeridge (25) and Jack Waghorn (38). Whilst everyone managed to get in with Shepherd (20), Ellis Buckeridge (40) and Theo Barker (30) all being set, wickets fell at crucial points when trying to increase the run rate. The run rate therefore continued to climb which meant Cuckfield ended up 41 runs short at 191 for 9 in their 40 overs. A disappointing day for Cuckfield that sees them slide down the Division 7 West table.

Brighton Malayalee Association 1st XI vs Cuckfield 4th XI

Cuckfield IV played Brighton Malayalee Association (BMA) at Patcham Place in Brighton. BMA won the toss and elected to bat on a soft but true pitch.

As BMA have already won every game in the last 2 seasons this was always going to be a difficult game for Cuckfield especially with Rohit Pruthi looking to build on his century last week with some hard hitting from the very start. His 216 not out off 139 balls, supported by 61 from Bhanu Singh, helped BMA to a massive total of 330 for 1 off 40 overs.

Cuckfield replied with a solid but slow opening from Mathew Kuriakose (17) and Iain Pringle (25). Contributions from Piers Harrison (11) and Adam Bennett (24) enabled Cuckfield to reach 114 for 9 from their 40 overs but the huge total posted by BMA was never under threat. For BMA, Shyam Surendran Nair (3-17) and Dileep Kumar (2-15) did the damage.

A disappointing day for Cuckfield but against a side undefeated for two years, heads can be held high.

Hassocks v Lewes U11s

A difficult morning for the Hassocks under-11s against a strong Lewes Priory side.

They struggled to get the score going in the early part of the innings, losing wickets regularly. The bowling was for the most part quicker than they have faced and they lost 11 wickets. Only Dylan Reece kept his wicket intact and played his best innings to date. The final pair managed to more than double the score to take it to 234. Alex Carver seemed to relish the challenge of their quickest two bowlers and he was well supported by Jake Watkins.

So 234 was always going to be a struggle to defend but Hassocls showed huge amounts of fight to pick up eight wickets and field well, particularly after an early injury to keeper Jack Street. Otto Whitby took 3-15, and Jake and Henry Cobb both took two.