Thompson to the rescue
MARC Thompson led the way as Sulhamstead & Ufton maintained their 100-per-cent start to the Division 3A campaign.
Sulhamstead looked to be in trouble against bottom side Cove 2nd after losing four early wickets, but opener Steve Belcher (37) was joined by Jamie Seward (35) to steady the ship.
Then Thompson took charge, hitting two sixes and eight fours on his way to 63 off 55 balls as Sulhamstead totalled 220-8 from their 40 overs.
Cove were always behind the required rate in reply as Thompson (2-28) and Matthew Gill (225) kept it tight.
And the visitors finished well short on 172-5 as Sulhamstead made it three wins in a row to stay joint top of the table with Sonning.
Purley-on-Thames are also flying high at the top of Division 4A following their 37-run victory over Bagshot 2nd.
George Wheeler was in outstanding form, top-scoring with 66 in a total of 245-6.
He received excellent support from Tom Bale (41), Muhammad Raja (35) and James Measham (26) as Purley set an imposing target.
Bagshot made a fight of it, but ended up on 208-7 to leave Purley in pole position.
There was no joy, though, for Newbury, who lost to Maidenhead & Bray 2nd by 67 runs.
Maidenhead scored 198-7 from their 40 overs and Newbury were never in the hunt as they struggled to 131 all out in 33.3 overs.
Theale & Tilehurst also slipped to defeat, this time at the hands of Wokingham 3rd.
Theale looked to have posted a challenging total of 190-8, thanks to an excellent knock of 63 from Rob Why that included two sixes and eight fours.
He received good support from Jacob Stone (31).
But Wokingham’s Jake Turner took the game away from them, blasting 17 fours in his unbeaten 112 as Wokingham eased to victory in 30.4 overs.
Falkland 2nd lost by 29 runs at the hands of Wargrave 2nd.
Wargrave scored an impressive 247-6 before Falkland were restricted to 218-9.
Bradfield moved up to third place in Division 5B after beating local rivals Thatcham 2nd by 11 runs.
Ahmed Khan led the way for Bradfield with 53, and he was well backed up by Tim Smith (37), Paul Armstrong (29), Ben Hardy (25) and Mark Baker (23) as they rattled up 199-8.
Paul Hemming was the pick of the Thatcham bowlers with 340.
Jack North led the Thatcham reply with 44 and although they were boosted by 34 extras, they finished on 188 all out in 37.4 overs, skipper Jack Byrne taking 4-33 and Ben Armstrong 3-36.
Chris Priestley hit 86, but it wasn’t enough to save Purley 2nd from a seven-wicket defeat at the hands of Royal Ascot 2nd.
Priestley’s excellent innings helped Purley to 182 all out, but Ascot eased home with 3.3 overs to spare.