Cuckfield continue to search for first league win of the season

Ben Candfield fell one run of short of a 50 in Cuckfield CC's defeat at Brighton & Hove CC on Saturday. Picture by Steve Robards

On a dark and gloomy day at the Nevill, Brighton & Hove won the toss and elected to field, an important toss to win considering the forecast.

Joe Cambridge and Joe Ludlow opened the batting for Cuckfield and were immediately under pressure on a pitch that was not made for batting.

Brighton’s overseas Luke Barrier (1-24) and Simon Hetherton (3-18) set the tone and offered limited opportunities to score runs.

Cuckfield were reduced to 28-5 by Barrier, Hetherton, Josh Beeslee (1-9) and Stephen Rigg (1-17).

Ollie Graham (53*) and Ben Candfield (49) dug in and then accelerated to put Cuckfield in with a chance.

Their 84-run partnership taking Cuckfield to a defendable total of 120-6 from the reduced 35 overs. This was readjusted to 116-6 according to Duckworth-Lewis.

Brighton & Hove’s innings started off with Cuckfield applying the pressure with spin from both ends in the form of Josh Hayward (1-14) and Nipun Karunanayake (1-15).

Karunanayake struck in the second over giving Cuckfield the start they needed.

Brighton skipper Bryce Hounsome (19) and Adam Mates (29) stuck in well and took the score to 66-3.

Despite wickets for Nick Patterson (1-25) and Sam Candfield (1-32), Brighton chipped away at the target through Bartier (17), Oliver Collins (22*) and Hetherton (16*) reaching 116-5 with 3.5 overs to spare.

A disappointing day for Cuckfield, who will look to put this right at home to Three Bridges CC next Saturday.

CUCKFIELD CC 2ND XI

Another Saturday, another rain affected game for Cuckfield CC 2nd XI in Division 4 West.

A delayed toss saw Cuckfield win it and elect to field for the third week in a row.

Cuckfield started strongly with the ball, holding Steyning to 39-3 with Theo Barker picking up two wickets after bowling well.

However, Harvey King (38) and Christopher Barnett (98) fought back well for Steyning by putting on 86 for the fourth wicket.

When the wicket of King fell at 125-4 Cuckfield were looking to put Steyning back under pressure, though Barnett continued to bat well alongside Gary Hunt (15*).

In the 41st over the rain came, forcing the players off and then reducing the game to 43 overs per side.

When play resumed, Cuckfield bowled well once again at the death with Barker and Will Galbraith-Gibbons doing well to keep Steyning to 192-6.

Pick of the bowlers for Cuckfield were Barker (2-19) and Galbraith-Gibbons (2-46).

During the tea break the rain came again but this time for longer. This meant that Cuckfield now needed 140 from 26 overs.

Rossiter (28) and George Galbraith-Gibbons (seven) started the innings off well by scoring quickly, although two quick wickets reduced Cuckfield to 39-2.

Rossiter alongside Turner (26*) continued to bat well, keeping up with the run rate.

Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals with Rossiter, Chris Taylor (six) and then Tommy Watson (seven) heading back to the pavilion, leaving Cuckfield at 88-5.

The clouds began to close in with Cuckfield still in a good position to win the game, and when Will Galbraith-Gibbons fell at 90-6 the rain began to pour down.

With the outfield flooding the game fell victim to the weather, an unfortunate finish as it looked to be a good finish with Cuckfield needing 50 off nine overs.

Cuckfield 2nd XI travel to Stirlands CC this Saturday.

CUCKFIELD CC 3RD XI

On yet another miserable and cold day, Cuckfield CC 3rd XI skipper Goff Baker finally won a toss and inserted Smallfield Manor CC for their game in Division 7 Central.

This might have appeared a mistake after 20 overs as Smallfield openers Mike Elsey and Dominic Glossop put on 72, having batted very sensibly in tricky conditions against tight opening spells from Rodney Candfield (1-13) and Sam Shepherd (1-19).

But Jack Best (2-18) and Baker (1-13) then made scoring difficult and the pressure told; Glossop (22) fell to Best who then ran out Elsey for a good 51.

Thereafter, no other batsman made double figures as Smallfield managed only 45 runs in their second 20 overs and finished on 117-9 with Paul Meader picking up 3-13.

Cuckfield’s openers, Alex Hardwicke and Jeremy Crampton, made a fast start against some initially wayward bowling.

When Hardwicke was dismissed in the seventh over for a classy 20, including the shot of the day – a fine punch through mid-on, Cuckfield were more than a third of the way towards the required total.

The change bowling, especially Jack Dawson and Alex Glossop (1-19), was far tighter and scoring slowed dramatically.

Despite this and the occasional wicket, Cuckfield reached their target in the 31st over, moments before a torrential hailstorm, with Crampton unbeaten on 57 and won by six wickets.

Cuckfield 3rd XI visit Portslade CC 2nd XI this Saturday.