Cuckfield start season with T20 Cup victory
Brighton and Hove 1st XI v Cuckfield 1st XI
T20 Cup
After some of the worst weather the county has seen leading up to the cricket season, there was a mix of excitement and relief felt by both sides as Cuckfield arrived at Brighton on Saturday.
Cuckfield skipper Josh Hayward won the toss and elected to bat. Fresh off the plane from South Africa that morning, new overseas Wesley Marshall (10), with Joe Cambridge (10), took the crease for the away side.
Cambridge had a flying start but scoring looked to be tough for some – but not Marshall who deposited his fourth ball for six over cover at the start of the second over.
Cambridge chipped to Vigneshwaran Ramamoorthy off Jack Chopping (4-16). Debutant Alex Thornhill (0) had his off-stump removed.
Marshall succumbed to the same fate while trying to deposit the ball back to his home country. Ollie Graham (9) and Oscar Jago-lewis (34) looked to rebuild but Graham fell.
Wickets continued to fall around Jago-lewis, but he provided the backbone of Cuckfield’s innings. Two more quick wickets left the Cuckfield tail to push the side towards a respectable total. This was achieved with useful innings from Aiden Drew (13) and Joe White (17) meaning Cuckfield posted 121.
Drew and White combined again with the new ball but the Brighton openers, Bryce Hounsome (21) and Matthew Whippy (6), kept their wickets in hand.
Scoreboard pressure began to mount as Marshall (2-15) replaced White and bowled a maiden over. Hounsome looked to take the attack to Nick Patterson (1-14) but Patterson had the last laugh removing the opener for 21.
Marshall had Vigneshwaran Ramamoorthy (0) caught by White. Whippy was next to fall, to Marshall.
Josh Hayward (3-19) brought himself into the attack and trapped Jack Chopping LBW with the first ball. Wickets fell at regular intervals and despite Adam Mates’ 49 not out, Ollie Graham (2-19) picked up where the previous two spinners left off to get Cuckfield over the line by a 14 runs.
Cuckfield’s 4th XI lost by 77 runs to Newhaven twos.