Chichester get rough end of Roffey clash

A slightly damp, green pitch greeted both sides and this encouraged Roffey to elect to bowl first on winning the toss.

Chichester captain Mark Bamford would have made the same decision and Chichester found it hard to score in the opening exchanges.

Fortunately, the home side did not lose many wickets and were able to build a number of partnerships that enabled them to reach 140 for four.

Peter Lamb (54) and Richard Logan (64) were the main run scorers for the home side, but with 12 overs remaining Chichester needed impetus to produce a match-winning score.

Bamford tried to do this and scored 25 from 25 balls, but all the Chichester batsmen struggled to score off Luke Barnard, who took two for 37 off 21 overs.

Chichester ended after 58 overs on 203 for eight, which seemed about 30 short and so it proved to be as Roffey won with four overs and five wickets remaining.

Batting conditions improved as the day progressed after the wicket dried out. Roffey exploited the conditions profitably, but it was only really Mike Norris who made a telling contribution.

By the time he was run out on 92 the damage had been done and Roffey needed only 50 more with five wickets remaining.

Logan tried valiantly and took three wickets, but no-one else was able to give him support.

Chichester travel to league-leaders Hastings this week in the hope they can gain a victory to put them back in mid-table.