Pagham punish Chichester ... Roffey settle for tie ... Bognor batter Billingshurst

Pagham v Chichester

August Cup

Chichester won the toss and decided to bat on a great track but lost Will Futcher early on to a sharp catch by Justin Scott off Wayne Green.

Chichester found it hard to come to terms with the spin of Wayne Green 2-24, Sean Rutter 2-14 and Nikki Tabberer 1-14 and were all out for 163. Only Sean Dobbs with 46 and Tim Wergen 35 showed any residence.

In reply Pagham lost Jack Stannard early for 13 but a sensible innings from Theo Beynon-Ayres, unluckily run out for 49, and a hard hitting 64 not out from Nick Smith saw Pagham cruise home with eight overs to spare.

* Against Chi Priory Park IIs, Chippingdale made 221 batting first. Chi, after a slow start, came within six of the total.

Ed McCarthy hit a blistering 65 including ten fours and a six and and new signing Alex Lowther took two wickets and scored 58.

Bognor v Billingshurst

Bognor won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first. They got off to a flier, with Tom Woolnough at his destructive best, hitting three monster sixes inside the powerplay.

Ryan Maskell was more circumspect but Bognor rattled along to 146 before Woolnough fell for 82. A cluster of wickets followed, including Maskell for 68, as Billingshurst regained some control, but a rapid 59-run stand from Mike Harris (37*) and Taylor Jaycocks (19*) took the total to an imposing 260-5.

Billingshurst were never in the chase, slipping to 15-3, with Ben Woolnough and Josh Sargeant among the wickets.

Brief resistance from Isaac Thornley (33), and a belligerent knock from Paul Osborne (61), gave Billingshurst a glimmer of hope.

But Sam Adams bowled superbly on a dry wicket, accounting for both batsmen and three more in quick succession, finishing with superb figures of 5-28. Jamie Woolnough took the final wicket as Bognor won by 121 runs.

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Horsham v Preston Nomads

On a sweltering day, Horsham competed all game against Preston Nomads, but ended on the losing side after posting a moderate total on an extremely dry wicket at Cricketfield Road.

Winning the toss, Horsham soon found themselves on 25-2 with both openers gone. Nick Oxley began the recovery, but it took the partnership between Michael Thornely and Sussex’s Will Beer to take them past 100, Beer’s 42 containing a six and four fours.

Thornely carried on, eventually being dismissed for 56, the only half century of the game. Thereafter, only Paul Williams and Sam Bell reached double figures, Navin Patel and Daniel Ibrahim finishing with three wickets apiece.

Although the wicket was taking spin, with a short boundary on the scorebox side and a lightning fast boundary, perhaps 230 was a par score. Horsham needed to make early breakthroughs, but were short of an opening seamer, with Sam Martin-Jenkins and Louis Storey both on holiday, and Tom Clark, George Garton and Tom Haines all playing for Sussex at Canterbury.

Dependable James Brehaut obliged, but Ibrahim’s 34 carried the score to 81 until he was trapped lbw by Beer. Vice-captain Ben Williams chipped in with two economical wickets and needless run-outs further reduced Nomads, but an unbeaten 39 from Liam O’Brien was enough to get the visitors home with 26 balls left.

Horsham skipper Thornely told the County Times: “We couldn’t get a really big partnership together and kept losing wickets just when we looked like making progress. We could have done with another 30 or 40, but I wasn’t too worried about that, or that we only had one opening bowler because it was such a dry wicket and I thought a target of 190 was defendable, but they batted well.”

On Saturday, with bragging rights at stake, Horsham visit Roffey for an always-hard-fought local derby

Brighton & Hove v Roffey

After reducing Brighton & Hove to 87-6 Roffey had hopes of a win, but the hosts recovered to post a challenging score on their helpful wicket. Then at 111-4 Roffey again looked like bagging all the points, until a flurry of wickets left them facing defeat, before a partial recovery raised spirits. But the game ended with both sides somewhat relieved to come away with a point.

Brighton won the toss, experienced Sussex all rounder Luke Wells, strangely surplus to county requirements, making 30 with five fours. Later, Curtis Ford made 35, with Adam Mates and Jack Chopping getting useful twenties, but Roffey kept chipping in with wickets to maintain control.

Two partnerships somewhat unexpectedly carried Brighton to 174, despite Jamie Atkins bowling well at the end after his impressive opening spell. Earlier, George Fleming with 3-34 had ripped the heart from Brighton’s middle order.

Roffey began promisingly with 39 for the first wicket, Theo Rivers again getting off to a steady start, but at 58-3, honours were about even, although at 148-8 all looked lost.

Teenager Sam Henderson, though, had other ideas, his top-scoring undefeated 29-ball 42 – with two fours and two sixes - threatening to pull off another of his rescue acts.

However, Matt Wood (3-28) and Simon Hetherton (2-21), both accustomed to extracting wickets from their ever helpful strip, probed away remorselessly.

Finally, with the Roffey’s last pair at the wicket, with the scores level and three balls left, Hetherton had James Pearce caught behind and the result a tie.

Roffey skipper Matt Davies, said: “They got 30 or more than we’d wished – it was so hot and we had just the one drinks break and they rather got away from us.

“Then, when we batted, we got ourselves into useful positions, but kept losing wickets in clusters.”

West Chiltington & Thakeham v Worthing

August Cup

Nearly 600 runs were scored in a shade under 80 overs as West Chiltington got the better of Worthing on a boiling hot day.

The hosts welcomed back Toby Witham while debutant Oli van Noort was also drafted in and won the toss and batted.

Player-coach Matt Machan put his hand up to go in and play from ball one, but an under edge that carried to the keeper meant he was out for 0 second ball.

Ben Lucking went in with the same intent but was out for 6 and Reuben Taylor for 0 in quick fashion in the fourth over. It was 18-3 and left to youngsters Charlie Tear (u16s) and Hugo Gillespie (u18s) to play attacking cricket.

A 110 partnership in 13 overs featured exceptional hitting from Tear, finishing with 57 before being caught in the deep on 128-4 from 17 overs.

Josh Taylor (U17s) continued in the same way hitting his second ball back over the bowler’s head for six. Glorious running between the wickets took the score to 216 from 27 overs before Taylor was bowled for 45.

The heat was starting to take its toll on Worthing with the need for regular drinks. Gillespie went from 95* to 118 with some explosive hitting down the ground before caught going for his fourth consecutive six in the over.

Next in was 14-year-old Benji Jackson, who helped the score along before being out to a caught and bowled.

Charlie Davies got in on the act with some nice stroke play and he and van Noort put on 50 in five overs.

Toby Witham was quickly out and captain James Howgate and van Noort put on 37 in the last six overs to take the total to 336 for nine.

Martyn Swift, Luke Winter and Robson Piper were Worthing’s most successful bowlers with eight victims between them.

In the reply, Reuben Taylor and Machan tried to keep the run rate down to set the tone.

Worthing got off to a very good startthanks to Michael Gould and Harry Dunn but Taylor and Tear combined for the breakthrough.

It was 64-2 with Machan picking up a wicket but the dangerous Gould was still at the crease.

Davies ran 20m round the boundary to take a decent chance running away from him, the pivotal wicket of Gould.

The bowlers toiled away but good striking helped the visitors on to 180-3 from 27 overs, and the game was far from over. The spin attack of Davies and Ben Lucking led to Davies picking up the dangerous Mayhesh from his first delivery, caught in the deep by Gillespie for 47.

It soon became 195-6 with Davies getting his second wicket in two overs. He finished with 5-0-37-2.

Lucking, with his left arm spin, rattled through the bottom order, who were trying to win the game. He was desperate for a five-fer and got it to finish with 6.3-0-32-5.

Aldwick v Arundel

Arundel travelled to the Felpham Oval, won the toss and decided to bat.