Glorious weather may have favoured the batsmen but the bowlers bit back in the Mid Sussex League on Saturday, when there were some outstanding performances.
Steve Brown toppped the list with 8-28 as Burgess Hill III sent hosts Edenbridge II crashing to 67 all out in Division 3.
But Andy Hill was not far behind as his 7-43 for Edenbridge had Division 1 hosts Smallfield fighting a rearguard action.
Best
of the rest came from Kevin Francis (6-19 for Colemans Hatch), Doug Toms (6-39 for Copthorne) and Ravi Kumar (6-36 for Streat), while there were five-wicket hauls for Ben Langman (Horsted Keynes), Nick Rigg (Lingfield), Rod Candfield (Cuckfield IV) and Talat Malik (SJM Fury).
Top stand of the day was the unbroken second wicket partnership of 235 between Balcombe II duo James Whitfield (114no) and Nick Warde (97no). That earned their side a nine-wicket win at home to Roffey IV after Nick Beecroft went first ball of the innings.
East Grinstead III took advantage of Division 1 champs and over-night leaders St Francis being on a rest week to go top by winning by seven wickets at Preston Nomads III, where there were fifties for Graham Billington and the home side's Owen Kernan.
Top individual score in the top flight was Adrian Ruzicka's 90 for Balcombe in a high scoring draw at Dormansland.
The two Division 2 sides without a win finally broke their duck on Saturday, when Hurstpierpoint won by nine wickets at high-flying Ashdown Forest, while bottom club also claimed a lofty scalp at home to Cowfold.
There were four fifties as Chailey won at Lingfield, where Peter Dembrey (79) and Danny Andrews (50) got a better return for their efforts than Wayne Varney and Nathan Bailey.
In Division 3 Ansty III extended their lead with a 125-run victory away to St Andrews Bears, where Harry Chandler (73), Ben Towler (50) and Jack Harvey (46) starred with the bat.
There were some comprehensive wins in the bottom division but not at Horsted Keynes II where the hosts squeezed home by two wickets despite chasing a meagre 79 set by SJM Fury.
