Cuckfield beaten by champions Roffey in league opener but seconds and thirds pick up wins

Nick Patterson took 3-26 in Cuckfield's defeat to Premier Division champions Roffey CC on Saturday. Picture by Steve Robards

Cuckfield CC’s start to the Premier Division season took place away from home against Roffey CC on a day affected by rain, and Roffey looking to avenge their T20 Cup defeat a week earlier.

A delayed start meant both teams were restricted to 29 overs before Roffey won the toss chose to bat first.

A compact start by Cuckfield’s opening bowlers limited runs early on, but some positive striking from Usman Khan (60) gave the hosts a good base once the new ball started to wear.

Despite being hit for some huge hits into the surrounding gardens, Cuckfield stayed composed and started to pick up wickets consistently through the innings with Nick Patterson (3-26) and Josh Hayward (1-21) being the standout pair.

Roffey finished on 202-9 with Khan ably supported by skipper Matt Davies (26).

Cuckfield went into bat with a run rate of just under seven required.

A poor shot from Joe Cambridge (11) gave the hosts the breakthrough whilst Joe Ludlow (33) took a stand in the middle as wickets started to fall around him.

Cuckfield’s batsmen weren’t able to build a strong enough partnership in the middle overs due to poor running and ambitious shot choices.

This inevitably drew the game to a close after 22.4 overs in the second innings with Cuckfield being bowled out for 79. Luke Barnard (3-17) and Harnoop Kalsi (3-19), the pick of the bowlers.

The Mid-Sussex derby awaits Cuckfield next week as they host local rivals Haywards Heath CC.

CUCKFIELD CC 2ND XI

Cuckfield CC 2nd XI began the new season, in a new division, at home against Ram CC who had been promoted into Division 4 West alongside them in 2019.

The morning rain forced the start time back by one hour and therefore reduced the match to 41 overs per side.

Captain George Galbraith-Gibbons won the toss and elected to field in overcast conditions. This looked to be a good toss to win as Chris Osborne and Theo Barker were dangerous with the new ball.

This translated to wickets as Ram were reduced to 34-4 despite a good start by Bunty Suthar (20).

After the wicket of Suthar, more wickets fell regularly which stopped the flow of runs for Ram and at 67-9 they were struggling. Though, an important 17 from Darpan Amin made sure that Ram’s total of 81 all out was a little more respectable.

Osborne was the pick of the bowlers (5-27) with Barker (2-29) and Greg Seed (2-6) supporting alongside Chris Taylor’s run out.

Cuckfield went into the run chase looking to knock the runs off steadily without losing too many wickets.

The first over proved that this would be no ordinary run chase. With 13 wides, two fours and a wicket all occurring in the first over Cuckfield were 21-1 with George Galbraith-Gibbons (eight) the outgoing batsman.

When Ben Caidan (duck) fell to leave Cuckfield 21-2, the game was interestingly poised. However, an important 26-run partnership between Will Rossiter (14) and Dom Sear (eight) steadied the ship and looked to put Cuckfield on the home straight to victory.