Southwick and Shoreham CC too strong for Burgess Hill thirds

Batting first after Tom Bell called the toss correctly, the opening pair of Adam Walter and Dean Ghasemi got off to a flying start with a partnership of 35 but when Ghasemi missed a straight one on 13 batting suddenly appeared more difficult.

Jack Moore struggled to put bat on ball but stuck around for 50 balls, allowing Walter to score profusely. Some were predicting a big score but a couple of cheap wickets soon put paid to that, especially when in-form Walter was caught behind immediately after raising his bat to acknowledge applause for an excellent half century from 56 balls with 10 fours.

Harry Sutton looked dangerous until he was bowled for 19 but Harry Cracknell’s cracking 29 from 18 balls and Farhad Bartakzai’s 22 not out saw the home team to a competitive 165-8. Jack MacDonald’s 4-17 did most to hit hopes of a higher score.

When the fiery Sutton bowled Tristan Hepburn for a 2nd ball duck then caught and bowled Divyansh Girdhar for four, the bowling side couldn’t have asked for a much better start – but keeper Mike Dovey, coming in at three, had other ideas.

Batting studiously and putting away the bad ball he kept Burgess Hill in the contest, but an inexperienced line-up failed to offer any support for Dovey, only skipper Jon Wright and Charlie Ward scraping into double figures.

When the last man was run out by Barakzai Dovey was left stranded on 74 not out from 97 balls, in his side’s total 133 from 37 overs.

Apart from Sutton‘s fine bowling spell, Dean Ghasemi was on good form taking 3-42 in 9n overs, even managing to bowl a rare maiden.

Skipper Bell said: “This was a fantastic game of cricket and the victory was the result of a superb team performance. We did well to score 165 and we knew that it would be a tricky chase if we bowled and fielded well.”

Southwick and Shoreham’s 2nd XI enjoyed victory at Rustington thirds. Batting first, Kevin Peel’s 21, Andy Hyatt’s 26 and a top score of 27 from Jihan Fakouri saw them post 127 all out from 33 overs. Jessica Palmer taking 5-32. Superb bowling from Fakouri with 5-20 and Ali Jenkins’ 3-17 saw Rustington fall short by 35 runs.

In Division 2, Worthing lost by eight wickets at St James after being bowled out for 164, Darryl Rebbetts top-scoring with 76 not out.

In Division 3 West, Findon are second – 27 points behind leaders Pagham – after an eight-wicket loss away to Middleton twos.

Findon were bowled out for 140, Brad Bridson the top scorer with 30, but Middleton knocked off the runs with few alarms.

Steyning are fifth in the same table, Chippingdale seventh and Littlehampton bottom – the latter two both recording good wins at the weekend.

Rustington remain third in Division 4 West after a six-wicket win away to Three Bridges seconds.