Three Bridges suffer dent in title challenge, Ifield draw with promotion rivals
Three Bridges suffered a huge dent in the Sussex Cricket League Premier Division title race after being hammered by West Chiltington.
Batting first, Bridges lost wickets regularly and were eventually bowled out for 169 in 40.5 overs.
Only Conor Golding (46), Michael Cowdrey (36) and Connah Thompson (33) got going with the bat. Spinner Hugo Gillespie took 5-19 for West Chiltington.
In reply, Louie Storey hit his second consecutive century, finishing unbeaten on 101, supported by an unbeaten 55 from Nathan Poole as Chilts won by nine wickets.
Golding took the only wicket.
Middleton, who were top before the weekend, had a shock defeat to Hastings but Roffey went top with a 115-run victory over struggling Bognor.
Bridges are third on 276 points, 26 points behind Middleton and 30 points behind Roffey. With five games left, Joe Walker’s side a certainly not out of it.
In Division 2, Ifield had a losing draw with title-chasers Eastbourne.
The East Sussex side batted first and complied 280/6 declared with Australian Jack Shelley hitting 133 from just 94 balls. Dan Smith took 4/65 for Ifield.
Ifield were in trouble straight away finding themselves 89/6 with Jacob Smith (3/86) and Matthew Pope (2/40) taking out the top order.
But skipper Archit Patel (63 not out) and Obaida Qazi (62 not out) batted well to see Ifield home to a draw.
That result keeps them in third, 15 points behind Eastbourne and 40 points behind leaders Brighton, who Ifield face on Saturday.