Sussex Cricket League: Cuckfield up and running thanks to win at Horsham

Horsham 1st XI v Cuckfield 1st XI

Sussex Premier League

Cuckfield arrived at Horsham wanting to put last week’s disappointing defeat behind them. Horsham won the toss and started nicely with the ball removing both Sear and Nolan cheaply.

Marshall (48) and Cambridge (39) rebuilt nicely, as Horsham introduced Beer and Foreman into the attack. Marshall fell looking for his fourth six bringing Gayler into the middle.

Gayler batted beautifully seamlessly passing 50, and alongside Turner (20) helped Cuckfield build a strong platform going into the final 15 overs. However both then fell in consecutive balls with Turner being adjudged LBW and Gayler finding long on. The tail then fell to a mix of good bowling and bad batting leaving Cuckfield slightly under par at 222 all out.A good start was needed with the ball, and Rogers (3-41) removed Willis first ball of the innings. Foreman and overseas Goodwin batted cautiously in the powerplay before golden arm Candfield (1-29) removed Goodwin caught at deep square.

Patterson (1-40) and Goss (1-23) entered the attack, with Goss bowling beautifully at one point with outrageous figures of 6 overs 1-7. Patterson removed Foreman and Rogers returned to remove Oxley leaving the game in the balance at 100-4.

Cuckfield continued to bowl tightly and pick up the odd wicket with Nolan (1-15) , Goss and Patterson bowling well in tandem, leaving Horsham needing 90 in the final 10 overs. The experienced Beer held the key and when he was run out backing up, Horsham’s chance of winning began to fade. Marshall finished off nicely as Cuckfield won a tight game by 5 runs, picking up a huge 30 points.

Cuckfield 2nd XI v Crowhurst Park 1st XI

Division 3 East

After a fantastic win to kick the 2024 season off, Cuckfield faced a strong Crowhurst Park side at home.

Skipper George Galbraith-Gibbons won the toss and decided to bowl first. This looked to be a smart decision with the pitch being slightly damp from the morning rain. However, when Crowhurst Park came out to bat it did not look so smart. Rayment (100) and Shaw (114) got off to a flyer, scoring freely and putting the Cuckfield bowlers under some serious pressure.

Galbraith-Gibbons was changing the bowling around, trying to find a solution and a wicket to get back into the game and it was he himself who made the breakthrough getting Shaw out caught on the boundary. As is the case very often, one brought two and Galbraith-Gibbons (2-41) got two wickets in two balls to leave Crowhurst Park 179-2.

After the drinks break, Cuckfield looked to restrict Crowhurst Park to a chasable target. Slinger (2-74) and Osborne (3-62) came back and began to take important wickets to stall the innings. Wickets were being taken regularly but Crowhurst Park continued to score. At the end of the innings Crowhurst Park finished 303-7.

Knowing the favourable conditions, Cuckfield felt confident that they could have a good crack at chasing the large total set by Crowhurst Park. This did not get off to the best start as the openers both lost their wickets quickly leaving Cuckfield 40-2 with a mountain to climb to get lose to the target of 304.

Wickets continued to fall alongside Cuckfield’s chances of winning the game. Though, Wisdom (32) and Oates (27) began to build a partnership and put the Crowhurst Park bowlers under slight pressure.

The pair got Cuckfield close to the 100 mark but then both quickly fell leaving the side 102-6. Cuckfield were now in a difficult position with the required run rate climbing and a lack of wickets in hand.

The scoreboard pressure continued to tell with the Cuckfield batters looking to score but losing wickets frequently. Bunday (4-23), Shaw (2-18) and Peters (2-22) were the pick of the Crowhurst Park bowlers. Eventually Cuckfield came up short, being bowled out for 145 in the 34th over.

A disappointing result for Cuckfield but taking 8 points away from the game could prove vital come the end of the season. Cuckfield make the long journey south east to Rye next Saturday looking to bounce back.

Cuckfield 3rd XI v Poynings 1st XI

Full of optimism despite the loss the previous week, Cuckfield 3rd XI turned out in full force on the mighty North Ground of Cuckfield.

After winning the toss, Poynings, having seen the green wicket, put Cuckfield into bat. After knocking the ball around nicely for the first couple of overs Will Burch was first to go falling foul to a delivery that kept a touch low, which lead to an under edge before taking his leg stump. Following the wicket of Burch, in came Karoki Lewis.

The partnership that followed was one for the ages with a partnership between the aforementioned Lewis and Captain Dave Downey reaching an enormous 180 partnership – Downey making 107 whilst Lewis made 74. Sadly, the partnership came to an end with Lewis being bowled out in the 33rd over. Ayan Chakravartty fell in the 38th over after a couple of large hits, including one well into the adjacent horse field.

Chakravartty’s wicket hailed the arrival of Piers Harrison, who didn’t take any time to settle in, as he battered the bowler back over his head for 6 first ball. The 39th over saw the loss of Dave Downey, who walked off to deserved applause. Within the last over Cuckfield lost two wickets in Jull and Sears, but only down to the right intent of getting as many runs at the end of the innings as possible.

Cuckfield ended the innings with a strong total of 248/6 off their 40 overs.

After a short interlude Cuckfield were back out and raring to go in the field. Opening with the combination of Ben Burwood and Adam Jull. Poynings openers started well, making 22 runs in the first 5 overs.

However, this was brought to an end by a superb piece of bowling by Burwood, who did the opening batsman all ends up taking out off stump. He finished his spell with figures of 1-33 from 4 overs. Cuckfield didn’t have to wait long for another, as with the arrival of Abdul Razzaq, came a second wicket – with his first ball of his spell.

The third wicket came for Jull, with a lovely take behind the stumps from Will Burch. Jull went on to get 2 more wickets and finished a very tidy spell with figures of 3-20 from his 8. With the end of Jull’s spell, in came Will Ward who also took a wicket with a smart catch of his own bowling. Razzaq bowled 6 overs, with a wicket and a strong economy rate of 4.2. then came a sense of déjà vu, as yet again with a bowling change, came a wicket with his first ball as Goff Baker bowled a gem to catch the batsman plum in front of his stumps.

After Baker’s second wicket, the runs dried up for the opposition, with Ayan Chakravartty tidying up from the other end. Baker and Chakravartty tied up the latter stages of the innings with figures of 2-39 from 7 overs and 3-33 from 7.5 overs respectively. Mat Sears finished off the innings with a cameo, not taking any wickets but proving crucial to limiting Poynings runs.

Overall, a very successful day out for the 3rd XI, with outstanding performances all over the team, including a well worked ton from Downey, and a deserved 3 for from Chakravartty.