Nomads move to Middleton win... Priory hold on... Bognor's run continues

Middleton v Preston Nomads

Sussex premier

Middleton found the visitors too strong on a hot afternoon at home to Preston Nomads.

Preston Nomads won the toss and decided to bat first with the wicket looking full of runs.

Their innings was very much one of two halves, and at 62-5 Middleton found themselves in the driving seat.

Bowler Russell Talman with an opening spell of 3-31 was the main wicket-taker. The fall of the fifth wicket brought together Kashif Ibrahim and Tim Moses, who proceeded to put on 154.

Moses was finally out in the 57th over for 89 and Ibrahim finished 71 not out as Nomads closed their innings on 231-6.

The majority of the Middleton top order batters made good starts to their innings but each then fell to poor shots, with only Mahesh Rawat going on to convert his start to a score of 71.

Middleton lost their last six wickets for just 57 and were finally 181 all out with Rawat undefeated on 71.

Haywards Heath v Chichester

Sussex League Division 2

Chichester held out for a draw to claim nine points from their trip to third-placed Haywards Heath.

Another hot, sunny and sweltering day greeted the players together with a flat-looking wicket. Home captain Callum Smith won the toss and elected to bat.

The visitors began well with the ball, removing Heath’s overseas player Alistair Templeton with just two runs on the board.

Two further wickets followed as the hosts wobbled on 56-3. In the midst of the falling wickets, opener Jonny Phelps looked in ominous form as he often tends to against Chichester.

Phelps (106) and Ollie Bailey put on 112 for the fourth wicket with the opener notching a century. Bailey (88) added a quickfire 86 for the fifth wicket with Ben Matthew (42no).

When Bailey departed, Haywards Heath declared on 254-5, giving Chichester a reasonable 50 overs to chase down the target.

The chase began badly as opener Sam Caldera fell with just 10 scored. The second-wicket pair of Simon Hasted and Matt Bennison put on 154 for the second wicket as Chichester began to sense an almost-impossible victory.

The heat began to take its toll on the batsmen. A tired-looking Bennison (72) misjudged a delivery from Smith and the ball clattered on to his stumps.

This triggered a flurry of wickets as Chichester desperately tried to stay on top of the run rate. Hasted (101) notched up the second century of the game before he was the eighth man out.

The ninth wicket fell in the penultimate over and suddenly the hosts sensed victory. But last man Alex Pegg batted out the final over as Chichester held out for a draw, ending on 223-9.

Chichester took nine points but other results saw them drop to seventh, 26 points above the drop zone. This week sees the return to win-lose cricket for the final four games.