Cricket: Cuckfield and Horsham keep up challenge… West Wittering out for 91 but still win… Findon ground Eagles

Cuckfield v Eastbourne

Sussex premier

A high-flying Cuckfield side entertained Eastbourne on Saturday with hopes of continuing their unbeaten season. Having won the toss, the hosts decided to bat on a typically flat pitch at Cuckfield Park. Openers Joe Cambridge (13) and Wes Marshall (9) looked in good touch early on, before an impressive new-ball spell from David Twine (1-40) saw Cambridge bowled by a hooping inswinger with the score on 21.

Findon v Crawley Eagles in pictures.

Marshall followed soon after, a thick edge well held in the gully by Jordan Turner off Freddie Freeman (1-59) to leave the hosts under pressure at 27-2. Alex Thornhill and Ollie Graham quickly began settling the hosts nerves, both playing proactively and rotating the strike well. Thornhill stroked his way to an atypical run-a-ball 50, while the more sedate Graham also brought up his half-century.

Thornhill continued to score quickly, approaching a maiden Premier League hundred with relative ease, while Graham began to show his range of shots with two sixes over mid-wicket. Despite a nervous passage of play with Thornhill on 98, the Cuckfield batsman reached his 100, much to the delight of his team mates.

Graham’s visit to the crease ended with a mistimed shot to midwicket, making an impressive 68 in a welcome return to form. With cramp setting in, Thornhill played some uncharacteristically attacking shots, including a lofted drive over mid-off. The heat got the better of him however, and he fell for a beautifully compiled 117 to Cooper Luke (3-73).

At 228-4, Cuckfield were hoping for some fast runs down the order to push their score up towards 300. Oscar Jago-Lewis fell without troubling the scorers, before the dependable Ben Candfield (29) joined Dan Turner (29), in his first game back from a winter away.

The two took Cuckfield within touching distance of their aim, Turner in particular striking some clean shots, before he was adjudged caught at mid-wicket. A scarcely believable catch from Scott Lenham at short third-man saw the back of Candfield and Cuckfield’s hopes of reaching 300 hung in the balance. Enter Greg Wisdom (18 not out), struck down with flu on the morning of the game, who played brilliantly to take Cuckfield to 311 declaring an over early to leave Eastbourne 53 overs to chase down their score.

Cuckfield were probably the happier of the two sides at the break, but an incredibly fast outfield and typically good batting wicket meant they would have to work hard against a strong Eastbourne batting side. Joe White (4-28), opening the bowling for Cuckfield, struck early; with Archie Lenham (1) well caught at third man after cutting a short, wide delivery straight to Greg Wisdom.

Jacob Smith (38) batted beautifully, repeatedly driving the Cuckfield bowlers down the ground, while his partner Cooper Luke (16) also found the boundary on the number of occasions. Following an early injury to Nick Patterson (0-35), Cuckfield turned to the spin of Wes Marshall (3-109), who managed to remove both batsmen to leave the visitors 80-3.

The pitch remained true however, as Cuckfield’s bowlers toiled away against Scott Lenham (67) and Jordan Turner (69); Turner survived a number of close LBW shouts before deciding to take the initiative with some well struck slogs into the pavilion, while Lenham ticked along nicely. Both brought up 50s as the hosts began to run out of ideas; before Joe White managed to extract the Eastbourne middle order with some clever changes of pace. Turner went first, caught by substitute Neil Fairhall, before Lenham and Nathan Hover (0) were caught behind. At 5-195 with 16 overs left, the game hung firmly in the balance.

Despite some clean striking from David Twine (18) that frustrated the home side, Cuckfield continued to pick up regular wickets, even as Eastbourne advanced their score quickly, before an ill-advised switch hit saw Twine Stumped by Oscar Jago-Lewis off Marshall. Thomas Naish (13) followed soon after, taking on the arm of Cambridge in the deep, only to find himself 10 yards short of the crease.

As Freddie Freeman (4 not out) joined Ben Barter (28), it appeared the visitors had given up hope of winning and were attempting to salvage a draw. Barter stuck to his natural instincts however, twice striking Marshall onto the roof of the clubhouse, and it appeared Cuckfield were going to struggle to bowl the visitors out. Enter skipper Josh Hayward (2-58), who had toiled away wicketless all day; some extra bounce undoing Barter as he was caught behind for 28.

Jack Trubshaw (0) joined Freeman with 3 overs to go, managing to see out the rest of Hayward’s over as the Cuckfield spinner homed in on the rough patches outside his off-stump. White’s last foray was less successful than his previous spells, with Freeman playing him with relative ease, leaving Cuckfield 6 balls to secure victory.

The first ball of Hayward’s over landed straight in the footmarks, turning back to strike Trubshaw’s off stump and sparking wild celebrations as Cuckfield made it 5 wins from 5 games. A top of the table clash at East Grinstead awaits them on Saturday.

Lindfield 1st XI v Cuckfield 2nd XI

Division 3 East

Cuckfield 2nd XI made the short trip to Lindfield Common hoping to find their first away win of the season, and the hosts coming off a last over thrilling loss the week before against Ansty.

Cuckfield skipper George Galbraith-Gibbons won his 5th consecutive toss. He elected to bat first, the relief of the team was profound as the thermostat was edging up towards 30°C. The distinct tones of the matinee performance of the adjacent ‘Jay Miller’s Circus’ bellowed across the common. Dom Sear (8) and Galbraith-Gibbons (24) opened up for Cuckfield.

The two achieving a steady start, accumulating 29 before a mistimed Sear drive found the hands of Harry Moorat off the bowling of Scott Pedley (1-30). The only mainstay of the performance, Josh Downey (41), managed to keep the scoreboard ticking over as regular wickets fell at the other end. Downey was eventually removed, and Cuckfield found themselves struggling on a pitch that all knew had many more runs on offer. Cuckfield’s number 9, Sam Candfield, boosted the visitors chances with a quickfire 46, helping Cuckfield to scrap over the 200 mark on the penultimate ball of the innings.

Aware that the visitors were a few runs short, the hosts started with intent and were in a comfortable position at the end of the powerplay. Dom Sear (1-42) picked up the wicket of Andrew Stillwell (8) with some clever glovework from skipper Galbraith-Gibbons.

James Scott (11) was then removed by the ever-present Matthew Slinger (1-51), bringing Lindfield overseas Imesh Udayanga to the crease. Despite some good Cuckfield bowling, Moorat (92 not out) and Udayanga (75 not out) cruised Lindfield to the required score of 201 with 8 wickets in hand.

Haywards Heath v West Chiltington

Sussex Division 2