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Neighbours Bognor and Pagham are the ones to catch
Bognor and Pagham continue to go great guns in division three west of the Sussex League.
Arundel v Bognor
Bognor travelled to Arundel and got back to winning ways after two successive draws.
Arundel won the toss and decided to bat first on a wicket that looked to break up quickly.
Bognor captain Glenn West gave spinner Rob Willway the new ball, hoping the spin-and-pace attack of Willway and Charith Jayaweera would be a handful.
His decision was vindicated as Jayaweera (3-29) ripped out the Arundel top three with just 37 on the board, and Willway returned one for 29 from 11 excellent overs.
With the pitch deteriorating, Bognor knew a score of 150-plus would be competitive and looked to skittle Arundel for as few as possible.
Graham Bush (below) delivered, taking four for 26, using clever changes of pace effectively.
Elliott Clarke (2-3) picked up two quick wickets, including that of top scorer Ally James for 21, as Arundel were all out for 102.
With a tricky period before tea to contend with, Bognor were in trouble as Harrison Temple (3-23) removed Clarke, West and Oli Handson as the batsmen struggled to overcome unpredictable pace and bounce, and at the interval were 30 for three.
After tea, Bognor lost Luke Seward (6) and Max Ashmore (14) to the bowling of Rakesh Parmar (2-42) and were in deep trouble at 33 for five.
With the pitch broken up, Arundel had their tails up but Phil Ball and Jim Fallick weathered the storm, taking the score to 66 before Fallick edged Neil Chitty for ten.
Bognor had broken the back of the chase, but still had work to do as Willway came in.
Ball looked like the only batsman on either side to come to terms with the wicket, and was devastating on any loose deliveries as Bognor closed in on the win.
Willway gave excellent support to Ball, who brought up his 50 with the scores level then hit the winning runs.
Bognor won this close encounter for the loss of six wickets, but due to the state of the wicket, it was difficult for either team to produce quality cricket.
Bognor face Pagham this week, and with the teams second and third in the league, it is sure to be an exciting match.
Pagham v Ifield
Ifield won the toss and decided to make first use of a very dry wicket in scorching conditions.
The decision seemed to have paid off when they were 90 for two after 20 overs but a needless run out of Plaster for 22 seemed to spark Pagham into life.
The introduction of spinner Sean Rutter after the drinks break led to the ball turning, with puffs of dust coming up with every delivery.
The Ifield middle order were soon in disarray, losing four wickets to Rutter in ten overs for 21 runs.
Craig Primmer came back on to wipe up the Ifield tail and they finished on a below-par 137.
Over the past two to three weeks, the Pagham batsman seem to have worked out how to chase down moderate scores, and although they lost two wickets for 33, Dave Galea's superb 67 not out and Chris Hayden's 30 not out saw them home for an eight-wicket win.
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Weather for Chichester
Tuesday 14 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 6 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 4 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: North west
