Cuckfield beat Mayfield to march on – Roffey lose thriller – Horsham held again

Cuckfield 1st XI vs Mayfield 1st XI

Sussex Premier

Six-wickets from Will Goss and a century from Wes Marshall led Cuckfield to a comprehensive seven-wicket victory against Mayfield on Saturday to remain top of the Premier League table.

Cuckfield skipper Josh Hayward won what felt like an important toss given the recent wet weather and decided to bowl first. With Aidan Drew missing this week due to an injury, Henry Rogers (0-22) partnered Joe White (1-50) with the new ball. In extremely windy conditions, the opening batting pair of Rob Raymond and Ben Fitchet got Mayfield off to a good start, leading their side to 26 in the 5th over before Raymond chipped a delivery off White to mid-off for 9.

This brought Tristan Killops to the crease who played in an attacking style early-on and rode his luck with the home side missing a number of chances to dismiss him. The duo took the score up to 83 before Fitchet (44) tried to clip a delivery to leg off left-arm spinner Will Goss, but got a leading edge to Ollie Graham at extra-cover.

Portslade v Bolney in pictures.

Goss in tandem with fellow left-arm spinner Josh Hayward (1-48) halted the run-rate as Mayfield began to collapse after a strong start. Killops (68), Noah James (1), Cameron Christie (13), Felix Holt (10) and Ryan O’Beirne (0) all fell to Goss and Hayward claimed the key scalp of Rob Sharma without scoring as the away side slumped to 162-8.

Mayfield captain Matt Cooke in combination with James Allen (19) showed some resistance as they took the score up 227 before Cooke was caught on the boundary off the bowling of Wes Marshall for a well-made 47. Marshall (2-23) then trapped Sam Hilton LBW two deliveries later without adding to the total as Mayfield finished on 227. Goss was the star of the show, finishing with figures of 6-68 off his 19 overs.

In reply, the reliable combination of Wes Marshall and Joe Cambridge once again got Cuckfield off to flyer as they both found the boundary with ease. The score flew to 86 in just 13 overs before Cambridge was superbly caught at square-leg by Hilton for a well-made 37 which included seven boundaries. Marshall was joined at the crease by Alex Thornhill who continued to keep the scoreboard moving as Cuckfield looked in complete control at 162-1.

Thornhill was run-out for 30, but nothing could stop Marshall at the other end as he continued to smash the bowling to all parts of the ground. He reached his second century of the season which included 16 fours and 2 sixes. Trying to finish the game quickly, he skied a delivery in the air and was caught for a magnificent 108 off just 75 deliveries. Henry Rogers (40 not out) and Ollie Graham (11 not out) got Cuckfield over the line as they chased the total in just 31.4 overs for the loss of three-wickets.

Cuckfield travel to Middleton next week hoping to preserve their 21-point lead ahead of nearest challengers East Grinstead.

Middleton 263-9 (58 overs) Roffey 232 all out (50.2 overs)

by Martin Read

At the Middleton Sports Club, Roffey inserted the hosts, clawing them back to a potentially manageable total, only for a lower order collapse to condemn Roffey to defeat. But, with down the table sides Eastbourne, Mayfield and Bognor all also losing, Roffey ‘s points moved them up to 7th, 36 points clear of the relegation zone.

Middleton were soon 8-2, courtesy of wickets for Leigh Harrison and Jamie Atkins, but they recovered well, thanks to 62 from evergreen skipper Sean Heather, 76 from Harry Hovey and thirties from Josh Wood and Dill Howell. But, from 233-5 Nomads could only muster another 30, Jonny Phelps taking 3 wickets, with Harnoop Kalsi and Atkins finishing with two apiece.

When Roffey responded, Theo Rivers was again in good form with another fifty and at 123-2 Roffey were well-placed, Usman Khan top-scoring with a rapid 65, and Phelps making 38 - only for late wickets for Ajit Sambhi (3-54) and Russell Talman (5-42) leaving Sam Henderson looking to shepherd the tail through to a draw.

Although he finished with an unbeaten 27, Roffey were bowled out, losing by 31 runs with just 10 balls of the match remaining. Roffey skipper Matt Davies told the County Times: “Middleton are a good side with some consistent senior players, so never easy to beat. We played well in patches, and should have won, but were undone in some of the crucial moments. Jonny is really finding his feet and Usman’s ball striking was excellent, until he suffered from a freak dismissal. We did, though earn 13 points, which was welcome, but now we’ve got three games against the top

sides!”

Relegation threatened Eastbourne are bottom with 116 points, one ahead of Mayfield, while Bognor have 153, with Roffey on 155. On Saturday Roffey return home to face third-placed Preston Nomads.

Blackheath (Kent) 247 all out (43.2 overs); Roffey 109 all out (22.3 overs)

by Martin Read

Coming into this Conference Cup tie at Roffey – with 9 teams left in the competition out of the initial 48 entrants - both sides were 7th in their respective Premierships. And, they had met before, with Blackheath eliminating Roffey from the National Cup at the Rectory Field last year, after Roffey had knocked out their Kent counterparts in both 2017 and 2018.

Also, while Roffey are not currently at their strongest, Blackheath had been bowled out for a paltry 84 the day before, losing heavily. This time, however, although Roffey were well-placed, the visitors recovered to set a challenging target, following which Roffey responded disappointingly, suffering a substantial defeat.

Electing to bat, Blackheath started brightly, and at 80-2 looked poised to take off, but Roffey kept whittling away, reducing the Kent side to 130-6. But that was about as good as it got for the hosts, fifties from Brendon Louw and former Roffey star Jas Bassan putting on exactly 100 batting together. Once they were both dismissed, Blackheath promptly subsided, Harnoop Kalsi taking 4-37 and Jonny Phelps 2-36. But, Roffey would surely be reliant on the small core of senior players to reach the 248 target (boosted by 41 extras, including 25 wides).

In reply, Roffey stuttered to 29-5. Matt Davies (19) and Lewis Shivnarain (31) staged a mini recovery, but terminal damage had already been done, and Bassan (3-17) rounded off an excellent allround game by trapping them both as Roffey slid to a 138 run defeat with exactly half of their 45 over allocation unused, disappointed skipper Davies telling the County Times: “Jas (Bassan) had a great game – we really miss him! We use these cup games to blood some younger players, for whom it’s a big step up, and we ended up well short today.”

Horsham 245-9 (53 overs) Three Bridges 203-7 (47 overs)

by Martin Read

Put in to bat in very blustery conditions blowing over the sightscreens at Cricketfield Road, Horsham posted a useful score, but, while they were a little frustrated that it wasn’t higher, visitors Three Bridges were obliged to abandon their chase, the game ending in a draw with Horsham needing 3 more wickets and Bridges 43 runs short.

Opener Ollie Haines top-scored for Horsham with 81 – the highest score of the match, and his best of the season to date – well supported by skipper Nick Oxley (41) and Will Beer (39). But, from 217-4 with overs in hand Horsham hoped for more, only to be restricted by 5 late wickets from Rowan Naude after Conor Golding and Oliver Blandford had earlier taken two apiece.

Replying, Bridges were struggling on 38-3, but recovered with a 77 run fourth wicket partnership between Thorn Parkes and Captain Joe Walker, with, all the time they were in, Bridges entertaining thoughts of victory, Nick Oxley telling the County Times at the mid innings drinks break: “We wanted 260 and in this wind it’s a relatively short hit to the boundary, so with two batsmen well set they’re still very much in the game.”

However, when Parkes and Walker were dismissed for 38 and 51 respectively, the momentum slowed, and although Luke Bellars and Arran Brown subsequently made thirties, with the required run rate escalating Bridges decided that they couldn’t win and settlled for a draw, despite three wickets for Bertie Foreman and two for Beer. Ollie Haines added: “It was great to create a good platform – I was going well, so I was disappointed to get out, especially as the chance was almost dropped! It’s a pity that it ended as a draw, but it’s such a good wicket at Horsham that if a side shuts up shop it can be difficult to get them out.”

After beating Mayfield, Cuckfield remain leaders, and with second-placed East Grinstead and Preston Nomads (3rd) both also winning Horsham slip to fourth ahead of their trip to bottom club Eastbourne on Saturday.

Middleton v Roffey

Sussex Premier

Middleton beat champions Roffey to bounce back from a disappointing couple of weeks.

Roffey won the toss and asked Middleton to bat. Sean Heather and youngster Toby Barton set out to get them a good start.

Barton hit his first ball in 1st XI cricket for four with a lovely punch through the covers. However, he was well caught two overs later behind the wicket and with Mason Robinson falling for 0, Middleton were in a familiar position at 8-2.

Josh Wood (37) joined Heather and they took the score to 58 before Wood miscued a pull shot off Sussex seamer Jamie Atkins.

Harry Hovey was next up coming in at five – he had been struggling for form this season but a change in batting position gave him a fresh challenge which he took.

He batted patiently while being particularly harsh on anything short. He and Heather put on 113 before Heather (62) was adjudged lbw to Harnoop Kalsi.

Then there was a mix-up between Hovey and Dill Howell and Hovey was run out for 76 from 87 balls.

Howell (31) had support form the lower order and they took the score to 247 with four balls remaining.

Russell Talman, at 11, showed his power hitting two huge sixes and a four to finish 16 not out, taking Middleton to an impressive 263-9.

In reply, Roffey started well with openers Theo Rivers and Nick Greenwood batting patiently against tight bowling from Russell Talman and Fraser Sheat.

They took the score to 28 before Talman removed Greenwood (14) and captain Matt Davies for 0. This brough the dangerous Usman Khan in.

Khan was patient to start with but soon started whacking it everywhere including four huge sixes. He was given a life with a drop chance early on but made the most of it and he and Rivers took the score to 123-3 from only 25 overs.

A lapse in concentration ended Khan’s innings, run out for 65 from only 53 balls. Any hope of Middleton getting on top was quickly dashed as Johnny Phelps built a good partnership with Rivers, taking the score to 192 before the re-introduction of veteran Talman ended the partnership.

He removed Phelps (38) and Middleton sensed there was a still a chance of rescuing something.

With 10 overs left, Roffey needed 50 with four wickets in hand but with all results still possible, Middleton removed Rivers for a patient 53 from 113 balls.

The game started to fizzle out for Roffey and when Talman took his fifth wicket Roffey, nine down, decided to try to see out the last four overs for the draw.

Middleton brought everyone around the bat and with ten balls to go, Ajit Sambhi took the last wicket and Middleton erupted. Talman was the pick of the bowlers with 5-42 and Sambhi claimed 3-54, but everyone played their part.

It could have gone either way, but Middleton will be pleased with their patience and discipline to secure 30 points. They host league leaders Cuckfield this week.

See video highlights at https://www.youtube.com/@middletoncc-sussex1145 or follow the link from the West Sussex cricket round-up at sussexworld.co.uk/sport

Also in the premier, Bognor were all out for 197 to lose by 77 runs at Preston Nomads.

Worthing remain top of Division 2 in the Sussex Cricket League and on course for promotion after another victory, this one at Chichester Priory Park.

Harry Dunn’s team are 27 points in front of nearest challengers West Chiltington and Thakeham thanks to their latest victory.

Once again it was Dunn’s bowling that laid the foundations for success – his remarkable run of five-or-more-wicket hauls continuing with an incredible spell of 7-25 to bowl out Priory for 162.

Harry Merritt-Blann weighed in with two wickets and Darryl Rebbetts with the other as only Oliver Dabinett-Jays (71) and Simon Hasted (41) made inroads for Chi.

Worthing’s reply was built around 80 not out from Dean Solway, while contributions later on from Martyn Swift (31) and Merritt-Blann (26) got the visitors home for a four-wicket win.

This Saturday it’s first v second as Worthing host West Chilts.

Portslade v Bolney

Division 4 East

It was 1st versus 2nd when Portslade welcomed Bolney for a Sussex Cricket League Division 4 East clash – and 2nd ended the day 1st.

Bolney’s two-wicket win meant they leapfrogged Portslade and now lead them by three points at the top of the table – with both looking good for promotion.

Portslade were put into bat and were grateful to Nathan Lettres for a knock of 47 that took them to 199 all out. Bolney’s best bowler was Ismail Baharami with 4-33.

Bolney reached the target eight men down with a number of batsmen contributing. Lettres completed a fine all-round game by taking 4-39.

Colemans Hatch v Southwick

Division 8 Central

In another game against fellow promotion chasers, Wickers began well having been asked to bat, Mark Broxup and Matt Rowson putting on 54 before was Rowson was bowled for a brilliant 31.

Dean Ghasemi joined Broxup for 18 but big hitters Harry Sutton and Farhad Barakzai fell cheaply.

When Broxup fell for 47, Adam Walter was joined by son Findlay. Their partnership was short-lived but the tail wagged vigorously as skipper Tom Bell with 11, Gary Mussen 8 and Isaac Olympios with 19 off 23 balls added vital runs in league with Adam Walter, who finished top scorer with 49 not out, taking the Wickers to a respectable 204-9.

For the home team, Will Speake took 3-29.

Despite a knock of 72 from opener Steve Pollard, Southwick were always in the game taking wickets regularly until a fine 58 from Steve Medhurst took the game away from them, Hatch reaching their target for the loss of five wickets in 34 overs.

Skipper Bell said: “We fought hard with the bat and in the field. They just had a batter that took the game away from us in the end. But we kept going until the end and it was a really positive performance with great team spirit.

"Well done Mark and Adam for brilliant knocks and Fin for a great bowling spell.”

Broadwater v Burgess Hill

Division 4 West

Broadwater got back to winning ways when they hosted Burgess Hill at The Green.

Broadwater elected to bowl and Fitzroy Hodges got the early breakthrough at 18-1 but James Chadburn with 62 and Ben Saunders 51 took Hill to 132-2.

Evergreen Paul O’Sullivan had Dan Austin run out and that started a Hill collapse and they lost their last eight wickets for 28 to finish on 160 all out.

Akhona Mbanga with 4-35 and Benn Challen 2-23 were the best Broadwater bowlers.Broadwater got off to a good start in reply with openers O’Sullivan and Chris Green putting on 51 before both were out.

Challen and Les Ward enjoyed a quick-scoring partnership of 85 to take the game away from Hill. Challen with 44 and Ward 36 were top scorers before both being out.

Mbanga hit the winning runs with huge six to move Broadwater into fifth spot.

Goring CC scored one of the highest totals seen in the Sussex League when they piled up 429-8 in 45 overs against Horsham’s second XI.

Alex Maynard led the way with eight sixes and 14 fours in a knock of 148, backed up by keeper Danny Pittham, who struck seven sixes and ten fours in his 117.

Skipper Rob Haggart weighed in with 48 lower down the order.

There was never much prospect of Horsham chasing such a total and in pursuit of quick runs they were bowled out for 160 in a shade under 35 overs, Ross Baumann the best bowler with 3-41.

Southwick Cricket Club’s under-14s have just completed an unbeaten season and won their league.

Most of the boys have broken through into senior cricket this year, a couple becoming regular picks for the first XI.Coach Adam Walter said “The boys have been fantastic this year – they are all committed to improve and regularly practice twice a week.

"Their hard work and enthusiasm has shone through in every game this season and the club and parents are all incredibly proud of not just what they have achieved but how they have gone about it.”

Meanwhile, Southwick twos beat Littlehampton fours in a tight finish at Buckingham Park.

Having been asked to bat they began badly, losing four wickets in the first four overs. A quick 12 from Harry Cracknell stemmed the tide while Dan Reilly grafted away for 18.

Debutant Frances Block (part of an historic mother and son pairing with Fin Metcalfe-Martin) led Wickers to respectability with 28.

Last wicket pair Archie Wareham and another debutant from the U-14s, Pacey Hull helped them to a competitive score.

Littlehampton also had a poor start and a splendid run out by Harry Cracknell looked to have swung it in Southwick’s favour.

Cracknell clinched it with a cracker to bowl Mathur and give Southwick victory. Christian Lloyd took 5-35.

SOMPTING

For some time Sompting Parish Council has sought to implement more activities for youngsters.

The possibility of youth cricket was suggested and contact made with the ECB over the All Stars (5-8) and Dynamos (8-11) programmes.

Youth coaches Alex King and Carl Tupper got involved and they and the parish council looked at facilities available.

Sompting Rec was seen as the most suitable site with access to changing and toilet facilities in the Harriet Johnson Centre.

Alex did a presentation at Sompting Primary School and this created a lot of interest. As a result All Stars and Dynamos sessions will be delivered free via the ECB Bursary programme in the next few weeks.

Slinfold v Aldwick

Division 6 West

Aldwick scored 248-8 as Louis Paul with 87 and Ian Horner put on 97 for the sixth wicket – and it proved enough. An eighth wicket partnership of 114 between Mubbasar Hussain with 82 and Nabeel Nilamdeen 44 took Slinfold within 38 runs.

Ollie Smith took 4-34. The win keeps Aldwick in second place.

Aldwick entertain Billingshurst this week.

Henfield 2nd v West Wittering 2nd

Division 8 West

With heavy rain pushed away by a gusty wind, West Wittering won the toss and elected to bowl first.

They had the top four gone in quick succession. However excellent batting from Toby Samrah (25) and Ed Helps (18) steadied the ship.

Skipper Ben Helps was superb in his stroke selection and reached 50, and with the help of Manor Subramanian (22) and Tom Coldrick (11no) got the side from 64-6 up to 184-8 at the end of the 40 overs.

Ben Helps ended on 64 and the pick of the bowlers were Jack Rowland-Harte with 2-26, Ollie Small 2-30 and Kev Allsobrook 1-25.

West Wittering's start wasn’t helped by a run-out of Ollie Small second ball and it carried on through the reply, with three run-outs in total.

The middle order set themselves but lost their wickets to tight bowling.

Tom Goodall (28), Rohit Chauhan (17) and Trent O'Conner (21) scored well but the rest faded – until a rally at the end with skippper Allsobrook trying to gain additional batting points. He was 11 not out at the end.

West Wittering were 113 all out and are third in the table.

Aldwick v Rustington

Div 12 West (SW)

Aldwick scored 196-9 thanks largely to Matt Tozer with 42, Andy Massey 36 and Dan Austin 30. Freddie Harris took 4-40.

Robert Neil-Smiith’s 112 saw Rustington home by four wickets.

Aldwick travel the short distance to Bognor this week.

Haywards Heath won at Hastings to move into the top three in Sussex League Division 2.

In this fourth v third clash, Hastings won the toss and inserted Heath on a blustery day.

Jethro Menzies and Guy Moore started slowly against a tidy opening spell from John Morgan and Adam Barton.

The pitch was a tough one for batting and Heath lost Moore with the score on 20. Overseas Rory Livingstone and Menzies were watchful and batted sensibly taking the score to 74 before Livingstone fell for 18.

Menzies fell soon after to leave Heath on 96-3 with 19 overs left.

Ben Matthew, who has been in great form, took on the task punishing anything off the mark and upped the rate alongside skipper Callum Smith.

Matthew was bowled by a good one from the Hastings overseas star Alex Osbourne for 45. Osbourne removed skipper Smith for 23 and wickets continued to fall as Heath looked to get over 200.

Young Fred Wallis hit an important 21 and Heath ended on 196-9 from their 53 overs which seemed a good score on a tough pitch.

In reply Heath had Hastings in early trouble with Menzies and Livingstone taking two each to reduce the hosts to 38-4.

A partnership was built by Harvey Faulkner and overseas Osbourne to frustrate Heath who rang the changes looking for wickets.

With the score 96-4 all results were possible, but a moment of madness saw overseas Osbourne run out for 18 and the game swung back to Heath.

Dan Gee took the important wickets of Faulkner for 42 and Morgan for a duck to leave Hastings 102-7.

With the score on 123 Livingstone returned to pick up his third and Hastings decided to shut up shop.

Livingstone took his fourth with five overs to go and with time running out and a draw looking likely Livingstone picked up his fifth to clinch a massive 30 points for Heath, who this week host Crowhurst Park.

A young Heath side reached the quarter-finals of the T20 Cup on Sunday, beating league rivals Worthing. Heath posted 127-4 and restricted Worthing to 117, with four wickets for Jonny Rutherford.

Glynde & Beddingham v Lindfield

Sussex League Div 3 East

Following their win against the league leaders, Lindfield were in a confident mood as they travelled to Glynde & Beddingham.

Having lost the toss on a blustery day, the visitors soon had the home side at 41-2 after seven overs thanks to Scott Pedley (2-55) and Jake Brooks (1-37).

Robert Mouland (51 with eight fours) and Charlie Hobden (63 with six fours and four sixes) put on 88 before Imesh Udayanda (3-38) removed both plus Ollie Bailey lbw for eight, and Pedley got his second wicket, Tom Pedley (six), to have Glynde 156-6 after 28 overs.

In a turning point in the match, Lindfield lost their concentration and allowed the tail to wag.

Matthew Cramp (46), George Burton-Durham (17), Will Burton-Durham (15) and Jani Flind (24no) added just over another 100, with Glynde reaching 266 all out from 42.2 overs.

In reply, Lindfield lost openers Max Kidman (seven) and Harry Moorat (12) to the bowling of Hobden (2-32) with the score on 24.

Thad Tucker (39) and Udayanga (38) put on 63 to take the score to 87 with the asking rate rising.

Despite the efforts of captain James Aggio-Brewe (38), Simon Shivnarain (41no) and a quickfire 21 from Pedley, the bowling of Flind (3-44) and George Burton-Durham (2-24) contained the visitors as Lindfield finished 21 short – a dent in their hopes of finishing second and gaining a play-off.

This week Lindfield entertain second-placed Rottingdean in a must-win game.

Rye 1st XI vs Cuckfield 2nd XI

Cuckfield 2nd XI made the long trip south to Rye looking to make it three wins from three. Rye skipper, Harry Smeed, won the toss and batted first on a windy day on the coast.

Will Galbraith-Gibbons (0-29) and Theo Barker (3-43) opened the bowling and bowled tightly during the first powerplay, Barker picking up a couple of early wickets thanks to Galbraith-Gibbons giving nothing away at the other end. Sam Candfield (1-29) then followed and bowled well, picking up another wicket to leave Rye 68-3. Cuckfield continued to change the bowling, looking to keep Rye guessing.

Though, James Hamilton (61) and Luke Payton (84) halted a small flurry of wickets and put pressure back on the Cuckfield bowlers in an important 66 run partnership through the middle overs. When Hamilton was out to the bowling of Dom Sear (2-62), Payton continued to score freely alongside

Tobias Farrow (45) as they built a partnership of 99 which helped boost Rye up to a big total. Cuckfield stuck at it and did continue to pick up wickets, but Rye kept scoring and ended their 45 overs on 264-7.

Cuckfield knew that they had let Rye score too many but were confident in chasing the total on a free scoring ground. Their innings did not get off to the best start when skipper George Galbraith-Gibbons was out LBW first ball of the innings to Chanuka Dilshan (2-30). Another early wicket fell when Dom Sear was trapped LBW for 10 off Tobias Farrow (1-48). Dan Turner (70) and Brad Gayler (146 not out) were at the crease at 20-2 with Cuckfield’s run chase looking shaky.

But the pair made things look simple, respecting good bowling but punishing when there was a bad ball. This kept them up with the required run rate and was extremely important in stabilising the Cuckfield innings. Their partnership was worth 137 and it was ended when Turner was bowled by a good delivery from Dilshan.

Greg Wisdom (22 not out) joined Gayler at the crease with Cuckfield still needing 108 runs to win. The experienced pair continued to make things look easy out in the middle, slowly chipping away at the required total. Gayler brought up his 100 and accelerated from then on, scoring a total of 18 fours and 5 sixes in his innings. Cuckfield got to the total with 2.4 overs to spare to further solidify their position in mid table. A fantastic innings from Brad Gayler who truly showed his class in what could have been a very difficult run chase.

Cuckfield play local rivals Ansty at home next week, knowing that a win will greatly help their goal to stay in Division 3 East.

Ifield 2nd XI vs Cuckfield 3rd XI

Cuckfield 3rd XI made the journey to an extremely gusty Crawley to face Ifield 2nd XI and after losing the toss, were inserted on a slightly damp pitch.

The opening pair of Will Rossiter and Dave Downey made a solid start against a tricky opening mix of seam and spin, and these two got to the drinks break unscathed, with a good combination of lofted shots and sweeps taking them to 80 without loss after 20 overs.

The 100 opening partnership came up soon after the resumption, before Downey - looking to push on with wickets in hand - chased a wide one and edged to slip for 48 (just missing out on a fifth consecutive half century) off Anuj Pal (3-55). This brought a welcome return of Sam Hardwicke to the crease, who nudged the ball around in support of Rossiter who unleashed on the Ifield attack, hitting some fantastically placed shots which bisected the boundary fielders perfectly, bringing up his first century in 8 seasons for the Club.

When Rossiter departed for a brilliant 110, holing out to long-off in a selfless search for setting a bigger target for the team, Will Nolan joined Hardwicke and these two kept the scoreboard ticking with some great running between the wickets.

With only a few overs left, Hardwicke (22) failed to clear mid-off in an attempt to hit more boundaries and it was left to Johnny Prior to come in and hit some great aggressive shots in a quick-fire 15, Nolan ending on 15 not out to take Cuckfield to 221 off their allotted 40 overs.

Chris Osborne (1-24) and Will Broyd bowled very well early on in Ifield's reply, to restrict them to just 28 runs in the opening 10 overs. Osborne bowled with great rhythm and control in his spell.

Matt Slinger took a quite brilliant slip catch low to his right off the bowling of Bertie Sheldon (1-32), to remove Ifield's skipper Vineet Vaish (17), before making a difference with his experienced and wily bowling too - picking up 5 for 33 off his 8 overs, the highlights being an important sharp return catch off his bootlaces to remove the dangerous Vish Patel (39) and a decent catch at slip by Dave Downey.

This great spell, along with some excellent fielding by a young and athletic side, put Cuckfield well in charge of the game.

Will Nolan (0-39) and Sam Hardwicke (0-21) bowled nicely without reward and it was then left to Broyd (1-30) and Will Rossiter to bowl the closing overs, with the home side coming up 20 runs short at 201 for 8.

A great win, which closes the gap on some of the teams in the top half of the table.

Cuckfield 4th XI vs Palmers 2nd XI

Blustery! There is no other word for the entire day. However, devoid of the pouring rain that had preceded Saturday meant that a game of cricket was still able to take place. Cuckfield 4th XI were facing the current league leaders Palmers 2nd XI and having won the toss set about fielding first with a strong but youthful side.

Sam Shepherd (0-44) and Joe Thorpe (1-39) opened the bowling and kept Palmers at bay with some tight seam bowling but were unlucky not to pick up any wickets.

Regardless Cuckfield were building good pressure and had the visitors at 90-1 when we headed into the drinks break, thanks to Adam Jull (1-27) taking the first wicket on what appeared to be a good batting track. Matthew Power (2-32) and Max Jull (2-39) took over the job of keeping the runs down and in the process the wickets started to come with Jull picking up the wicket of James Beattie (65).

Joe Thorpe came back to finish the remainder of his overs and did so in style, unlucky to only pick up one more wicket in what was a fiery end to the innings. Palmers had put on 240 for 7 in their 40 overs with Chris Brown finishing the innings with 50 not out.

Cuckfield felt confident that 240 was an achievable score. Seb Sheldon (9) and Hugo Tanous (1) starting off the innings reservedly in a mature manner but the fall of Tanous brought further wickets as Jasper Watkin (3-43) and David Scully (2-40) made inroads.

Adam Bennett (33) and Adam Hatt (29) steadied the ship briefly but both fell attempting to keep the run rate under control. A final last wicket stand of 44 between Matt Power (28 not out) and Glenn Smith (23) gave Cuckfield a glimmer of hope but the final wicket fell still 40 short of the target. A great, challenging game given the conditions, a great opposition and some lessons learnt overall.

Cuckfield 5th XI vs Haywards Heath 5th XI

With more players than almost any other weekends before it, Cuckfield Cricket Club was blessed with cricketers on Saturday 15th July. As such, and for one of the first times, it was decided that a 5XI to should be put out to take on Haywards Heath, down on the well prepared Ruckford pitch at Hurst College.

Despite being a blustery day, the forecast looked good, and a newly formed 5th XI turned up raring to go. Seeing themselves more as a select group of Elite development players (ranging from U13s to O50s) the skipper fancied the green topped wicket, and winning the toss, elected to bat.

Cuckfield’s openers of Andy Middleton and Tom Hay went off to a slowish start against what was a spirited Hayward Heath team, This was largely due to some incredibly accurate seam bowling, from Heath’s Pearson and Brasier. However, after 12 overs, once they’d passed 50, they decided to open up a bit, reaching an awesome 170 off 22 overs, before both retiring on 49 and 103 respectively.

Cuckfield veteran Jules Thorpe then came in to bat, only to be comically run out before even facing a ball. More batters emerged however, and the runs continued to accumulate, with contributions from U13 Will Burwood(30), as well as some pinch hitting by the skipper (17), and Rev Taites (15). Cuckfield posted 248 off their 40 overs.

Haywards Heath’s innings also got off relatively slowly, as U15 Ben Mitchell’s glorious leg spin and U14 Freddie Lambert’s more rapid seam bowling proved too hard to handle. Some fine catching in the field from the young Burwood, and exceptional fielding all round ensured wickets fell regularly and runs were stemmed.

One wicket that was proving hard to get was Hayward Heath’s u12 Charlie Morris, who went on to get 51, before being bowled. Big hitting then followed from Lewis Batchlor and Ben Pearson, accelerating Heath’s score closer to the required total, but sharp bowling, solid wicket keeping, and an energetic fielding display from Cuckfield, ensured that enough was done to bowl Heath out for 27 short of Cuckfield’s total.

Fine performances from the juniors, including Sam Sears behind the stumps, Freddie Lambert with the ball, and Will Burwood and Robert Biddle with the bat, ensured Cuckfield’s Elite development academy XI opened their account with a great win.