Burgess Hill suffer crushing defeat to league leaders

At 12-3 Pagham were struggling but overseas superstar Nilushan Nonis cracked an almost faultless 126 not out and Michael Hales provided able support to score 80 not out himself as Pagham reached 236-3 from 47 overs. Hill will regret two opportunities to break the 224 run partnership, a simple run-out chance when the partnership was in its infancy and latterly Hales was dropped at point before he reached his half century.

The response from Hill’s batsman was just as lacklustre, again only Boffey came out of the innings with any credit as Pagham’s bowlers revelled against fragile looking Hill line-up lacking in confidence. Peter Cotterill picked up three lbws to leave Hill 45-4 from which they recovered slightly through Aaron Barnes and Boffey but 82-4 was as good as it got for Hill as they collapsed to 96 all out with Boffey’s 53 saving Hill from even further embarrassment. Wayne Green’s 3-14 and Nonis’s 3-2 completing an excellent day for Pagham.