Defeat in the league but success in cup in busy weekend for Cuckfield

The home side won the toss and elected to bat first. Danger-man James Hockley and Malcom Johnson opened up and set off with intent, Hockley launching Harry Nielsen back over his head for four off his first ball.

Nielsen's revenge was sweet, however, as he bowled Hockley for 20. A brace of wickets for Tom Weston left Eastbourne 51 for 3 with Alistair Orr and Oli Carter at the crease. Both batsmen looked to up the pace and the pair put on 40 before Orr was trapped lbw by Billy Meboroh-Collinson for 27.

A flurry of wickets followed to the spin of Josh Hayward, Meboroh-Collinson and Ben Candfield leaving the home side 141 for 7, but Carter still at the crease on 45. Joined by David Twine the new partnership played the old balls destructively, adding 75 before Carter was caught in the deep off Hayward for 92. Twine continued, however making 51 not out as Eastbourne set a target of 269 fro 9 from their 50 overs. Weston took 3/49, Hayward 2/46 and Meboroh-Collinson 2/40 for Cuckfield.

The Cuckfield reply was quickly in trouble at 8 for 2 courtesy of a wicket for Jordan Turner and a run out. A short lived recovery was brought to an end as Twine caught and bowled Candfield with his first delivery.

SEE ALSO Batsman smashes 19 sixes in record-breaking innings of 313 in Sussex Cricket League match | 'It was just my day' - batsman who broke Sussex Cricket League record talks about his incredible innings | Sussex Cricket League - Premier and Division 2 top run scorers and wicket takers | Ansty through to National Women's Club T20 Knockout Cup regional finals | Haywards Heath skipper celebrates 'big win' against Hastings | Lindfield's IPL star leads them to victory over Burgess HillMarcus Campopiano and Weston dug in to rescue the innings, adding 67 before Weston was caught off the bowling of Jacob Smith for 22. Another quick wicket and Cuckfield found themselves 129 for 5.

But with Campopiano still at the crease and exciting prospect Ben Caidan joining him all results were still on. The game turned as Campopiano was bowled for a near run a ball 94 by the returning Henry Crocombe. Still needing eight an over, Cuckfield succumbed to 237 al lout in the 48th over, but not before Caidan had hit a well made 48. Crocombe took 3/34, Smith 2/7 and Joe Pocklington 2/39 for Eastbourne.

Cuckfield 2nd Xi v Barcombe 1st XI: Cuckfield beat Barcombe by eight wickets at home on Saturday. Having won the toss, the visitors decided to bat first, but the top three failed to reach double figures courtesy of wickets for Jamie Hutchings, Greg Wisdom and a run out. Josh Wheatley provided the main resistance as wickets fell at the other end to George Mercer, Will Rossiter and James Robinson.

Wheatley fell for 44 in the end, stumped by George Galbraith-Gibbons off Robinson. His runs and a cameo of 22 from Ryan Garnham helped Barcombe to 122 all out in the 37th over. Robinson took 3/29 and Rossiter 2/18 for Cuckfield.

Cuckfield only lost two wickets in the 25 over chase as Joe Cambridge hit 52, Chris Taylor 37* and Greg Wisdom 27* to win the match. Joe Wheatley and David Apps were the wicket takers for Barcombe.

Cuckfield 3rd XI v Dome Mission 1st XI: Dome Mission won the toss and elected to bat first at hosts Cuckfield. An early wicket for Rod Candfield was the only action for the bowlers for some time as Joe Gatford and Joshith G built a partnership.

Matt Slinger got the breakthrough trapping G lbw for 34. He was replace d by Rohit Miglani who continued in his stead building another partnership with Gatford, until Gatford was stumped off the bowling of Slinger for 100 and Mingali was run out for 54. The rest of the order collapsed as Slinger and Goff Baker ran through them to bowl the visitors out for 257 in the 40th over. Slinger took 5/52 and Baker 2/39.

Opening up for Cuckfield, Jeremy Crampton hit 33 before being caught behind off Srikanth Lakkakula, but wickets fell regularly and the home side were never up with the rate required. A well made 87* from Sam Shepherd helped Cuckfield to 181 for 7 after their 40 overs, as Jake Brooks took 2/48 for Dome Mission.

Cuckfield 4th XI v Ansty 3rd XI: Cuckfield made the long away trip to Ansty where the home side won the toss and elected to bowl first. The opening partnership of Iain Pringle (51) and Mike Caidan (41) set the pace and this was continued by Richard Loveridge (40) and Sammy Hart (28) as Cuckfield made 248 for 5 from their 40 overs. Isabelle Peacock took 2/53 for Ansty.

The Ansty top order performed a similar job to Cuckfield's as George Martin (62), Adam Butler (25), Jack Warne (70) and Steven Kent (30) helped Ansty to within reach. A late flurry of wickets for Sammy Hart (4/59) was not enough to stop the home side crossing the victory line with 3 balls to spare, 8 wickets down.

Cuckfield 1st XI v St James 1st XI: Cuckfield won the toss and elected to bat first playing St James's who had already beaten Portslade in the 1st round earlier on Sunday. Harry Nielsen Kicked off the Cuckfield innings with a quick-fire 28 from 19 balls, before he was caught in the deep by Charles Davies off Sam Rattle.

Brad Gayler (20) and Ben Caidan (14) and Josh Hayward (10) added useful runs to the Cuckfield total as wickets fell throughout the innings. It was Will Rogers, however, putting in the late charge hitting 29 off 11 balls, including 20 off the last over, to help Cuckfield to a respectable total of 133 for 9 from their 20 overs.

Harry Rollings and James Hunt opened up for St James and cruised to 62 before Hunt fell for 20, trying to hit Hayward out of the ground. Hayward picked up a second and then Rollings was bowled by Nielsen for 39 to leave the home side 73/3, but still in a commanding position with 7 overs remaining.

A wicket for Ben Candfield and two more for Nielsen left St James’s needing 40 off the last 5 overs with 4 wickets remaining. A partnership of 22 between Jordan Shaw and Nick Peters ended as Peters was run out by Joe Cambridge for 11. Needing just 18 from the last two overs Rogers put it on the spot and only went for 4 runs and dismissed Shaw for 11. With two wickets remaining, St James’s need 14 to win from the last over, but they couldn’t get over the line as Nielsen dismissed the last two, leaving the home side 129 all out at the end of the 20th over.

Cuckfield 2nd XI v East Grinstead 2nd XI: Cuckfield won the toss at the Saint Hill ground and elected to bowl first. Grinstead got off to a flying start as Ryan Shortland and Alex Evans hit the bowling to all parts, until Sam Candfield dismissed Evans for 19. Candfield followed up with another wicket and then Wisdom ended Shortland’s inning for 44. The only score of note thereafter was Archie Turner with 31 as the home side were pinned right back and the brilliant off spin bowling of Matt Slinger kept it that way as he took 5/10 to restrict Grinstead to 147 for 9 from their 20 overs.

Will Galbraith-Gibbons got the Cuckfield reply started in the right way, but two early wickets for Ben Davies and Max Stow kept the run-rate in check. Will GG eventually fell to the bowling of Turner for a well made 37. Middle order Cameos from Greg Wisdom (10) and George Mercer (17) helped things along, but it was not enough and it fell to the lower order to take on the bowling. Some lusty hitting from George Galbraith-Gibbons (16) and James Robinson (22) was entertaining, but not enough to get Cuckfield over the line as they finished their 20 overs with 123 for 8, 24 runs short.