Cricket: Chirpy Chichester topple leaders Horsham

They were not helped by the loss of their captain Richard Browning through a combination of a thumb and groin injury and stand-in captain Matthew Geffen’s loss of the toss, which resulted in the home side fielding first in close to 30C heat.

Despite this, Geffen (4-87) and Daniel Joseph bowled with good consistency, constantly building pressure, and Chichester had the home side in a bit of strife at 154 for six - only Sam Attfield (37) giving the visitors a chance.

However, the good run of wickets came to an end when overseas player Will Williams (87) partnered lower-order trio Sam Bell (30), Paul Williams (36) and Stuart Whittingham (30*) to give Horsham a competitive score of 270 for eight.

The visitors would have been feeling very confident knowing that the traditional Chichester weakness was with the bat.

However, this was soon squandered by the Chichester opening pair, Chris Kirkham (77) and Mark Bamford (42), who are beginning to get themselves a reputation for bullying bowling attacks up and down the county.

League leading run-scorer Ashton Turner (62) also came in with purpose at No3 and the home side raced along to 186 for the loss of only one wicket. There was a small collapse when Michael Munday (6-81) found his rhythm however but some lower-order resilience from the Chichester batters got them over the line with an over-and-a-half spare.

Chichester took 28 points.