Title challenge still on as Cuckfield cruise to win against East Grinstead

Unfortunately, the Cuckfield innings did not get off to a convincing start, with the in-form Dom Sear pushing a delivery off Sam Jackson to short cover, leaving Cuckfield at 8-1.

This brought Richard Stafford to the crease and the pair put on a partnership of 75, with Silk bringing up his half century, shortly before Stafford was bowled by Ollie Graham for 27. Tom Weston did not last long, with Darryl Rebbetts finding the edge of his bat, leaving the visitors 93-3.

However, Cuckfield began to score with ease, with both Silk and the new batsman Brad Gayler playing some prolific shots around the ground.

Silk was eventually undone by Graham for 92, just shy of what would have been his 5th ton of the season. In spite of the wicket, the scoring rate continued at pace flow, with Gayler and Marcus Campopiano stroking the ball to all corners of the ground. East Grinstead appeared to have no answer, as Gayler reached 50, and then soared to his maiden Premier League century off only 77 balls.

Sadly the fireworks ended, as Gayler was dismissed by Ian Sturmer for 103, a great knock, and a partnership worth 130 runs, leaving Cuckfield in a commanding position at 289-5. Campopiano continued to bat aggressively and reached his first half century of the season, shortly before skying one up for the wicketkeeper for 54. Cuckfield continued to bat on until Clark was caught deep on the boundary off the bowling of Sturmer, declaring on 300 for 7, leaving EG 57 overs to chase it.

The East Grinstead openers came out playing aggressive strokes from the off. Sadly for Cuckfield they lost their opening bowler, as Hutchings had to leave the field after 5 overs due to injury. Fynn Hudson-Prentice and Alex Evans scored quickly, as Cuckfield struggled to find some consistency in their bowling and their fielding, as two chances went through the slip cordon off the bowling of Wisdom. Hudson-Prentice reached 50, with the pair having built a partnership worth 94, but a bowling change bringing Ben Candfield into the game, saw the end of him, bowled for 59.

Candfield and Nick Patterson continued to apply pressure to the East Grinstead batsmen, as Evans became Candfield’s 2nd victim, adjudged LBW. Graham looked to play some expansive shots, before he played a loose drive, edging to Silk at slip off the bowling of Patterson. Shortly after, Patterson claimed Adkin dismissed lbw for a duck leaving EG 118 for 4.

Things went from bad to worse for the home side as Cummins was unable to keep out the bowling of Candfield; the ball trickling off his bat onto his stumps. Sturmer, the new batsman, managed to pick out Dom Sear at Square leg with the very next delivery. East Grinstead struggled to build partnerships as Cuckfield continued to squeeze. Some smart fielding by Campopiano saw the end of Rebbetts (11), caught off the bowling of Patterson, and soon after, Patterson claimed his 4th wicket of the innings, Kristian Hunt caught by Silk. At 143-8 Cuckfield looked set to win the game, however, the defence of Raj Chaudhuri and Samuel Jackson led to a difficult period of the game. As the overs went by it looked as if Cuckfield may not be able to finish the tail end off. But opener Tom Weston was brought back into the attack and his pace and bounce saw him pick up two quick wickets and end the game; Jackson bounced out for 10, and Alex Pearse bowled for a duck. Candfield finishing with 4-50 and Patterson 4-58. East Grinstead collapsed, losing all 10 wickets for just 68 runs, giving Cuckfield a win by 138 runs, and more importantly a vital 30 points.

Cuckfield 2nd XI v EastGrinstead 2nd XI

East Grinstead won the toss and asked the home side to bat first at Cuckfield and it proved a good call as Ben Davies took two early wickets. At 34 for 2 Cuckfield had some rebuilding to do and Tom Mole (28) and Darren Senadhira batted well together taking the score to 62 before Mole was trapped lbw by Davies. Ben Harris joined Senadhira and the pair proceeded to put on 84 for the 4th wicket as Max Stow rattled Senadhira’s stumps for 46. Nick Walters followed very soon after to give Stow a second wicket. Harris (64) was joined by Ben John who’s cameo of 30 including 3 fours and 2 sixes helped Cuckfield to 226 for 9 from 51 overs.

Young seamer Matt Denyer again picked up two early wickets trapping EG skipper Matt Heppell lbw and disturbing Regan Derham’s stumps. Ben Davies (45) recovered the situation somewhat, but two wickets for Jack Denyer and one for Robinson left EG reeling at 65 for 5. But Cuckfield only took one more wicket as Phil Norman (76*) and Daniel Snape (64*) saw EG home in the 39th over.

Cuckfield 3rd XI v Bolney 1st XI

Cuckfield won the toss and put Bolney into bat, a decision which looked to be a good one as wickets tumbled, Dan Turner removing batsmen 2, 3 and 4 leaving Bolney 13 for 3. This, however, began a resistance between Jeremy Bushell (39) and Dean Hamilton (48) who put on 78 runs before the partnership was broken by Goff Baker as Bushell was stumped by Sam Candfield. Hamilton followed soon after as Bolney collapsed to 139 all out in the 39th over as Goff Baker took 5/30.

Cuckfield lost six wickets chasing down the target in 26 overs as Tom Morrissey and Sam Candfield both hit 34 and Will Rossiter hit 27. Suraj Weerarathne took 4/47 for Bolney.

Cuckfield 4th XI v Lingfield 3rd XI

Lingfield won the toss and put Cuckfield into bat. There were five ducks in the Cuckfield innings as Rodney Canfield top scored with 19 not out in a total of 74 as Cuckfield were bowled out in the 30th over. Rory Hanna took 5/15 for Lingfield.

Archie Hanna (20) and Josh Wood (18*) top scored for Lingfield in the chase as they scraped home 8 wickets down in the 31st over. Mike Caidan took 5/20 and Rodney Candfield took 3/30 for Cuckfield.

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