Middleton can't stop Nomads moving on up... Pagham hopes dashed

It was a forgettable weekend for Middleton and Pagham - both suffered defeats in the latest round of Sussex League games.
Matt Cooke fared well for Middleton / Picture by Kate ShemiltMatt Cooke fared well for Middleton / Picture by Kate Shemilt
Matt Cooke fared well for Middleton / Picture by Kate Shemilt

Read the reports below and get all the cricket reports, fixtures, results and tables in the Observer every Thursday.

Preston Nomads v Middleton

Sussex Premier League

Middleton spent most of their afternoon in East Sussex playing catch-up - and never quite caught up.

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Nomads won the toss and asked Middleton to batt. Middleton lost early wickets and at 15 for four and having been off for an early rain break of 45 minutes, it was clear Middleton would be splaying catch-up.

A partnership of 77 between skipper Sean Heather and Patrick Colvin looked to be steadying things but shortly after play resumed from a second break of 75 minutes, Colvin was dismissed for 41.

Heather continued to battle while at the other end spirited knocks by Matt Cooke (22) and Tommy Davies (18) helped Middleton reach a total of 169 all out. Heather was ninth out for 52.

Craig Alexander (3-16) and Dominic Shepheard (3-34) were the pick of the Nomads bowlers.

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The score looked well below par, which proved to be the case with Nomads taking just 37.1 overs to reach their target. Dan Phillips top-scored with 61.

The four wickets to fall were shared around the bowlers. Cooke, who bowled with energy but no luck, was the pick of the bowlers with 1-29.

Pagham v Preston Nomads

Division three

In what was a must win game for Pagham to keep their slim chances of promotion alive, they won the toss and elected to bat first on what looked like a lovely batting wicket.

Pagham made a good start, reaching 57-1 and then 84-3 but after the drinks break there was a huge collapse which saw Pagham lose seven wickets for 32 as they reached a well-under-par score of 116.

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Only Stuart Rutter (38) and Richard Bird with a quickfire 24 could be happy with the way they batted.

Preston got off to a poor start with the bat, finding themselves 14-3 and then 44-4 but a match-winning partnership of 63 between Sakib Ikram (26) and Adam Radford (48) took the game away from Pagham with Preston getting to their target of 117 for the loss of six wickets.

Pete Cotterill (2-31) and Sean Rutter (2-7) were the pick of the Pagham bowlers.

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