Indoor Cricket Report

Having destroyed the East Grinstead champions in the North Sussex Indoor finals 2 weeks ago, a much changed Cuckfield team travelled to Portslade to compete against 5 other league champions all vying to become the Sussex Indoor Cricket champions of 2006.

Group A consisted of Littlehampton, Clymping and favourites, Preston Nomads.  Portslade is Preston Nomad’s home venue so the local knowledge they have helped them win their group and book a place in the final. Group B consisted of Lewes, Crowhurst Park and Cuckfield (Team, in batting order: Billy Harris, Tom Mole (capt), Nick Patterson, Guy Dixon, Dave Harris, Rodney “Dave” Candfield)

In the Group B’s first match Cuckfield were up against Lewes.  Cuckfield won the toss and put Lewes into bat.  Lewes made a good start until Billy Harris drew their captain out of his crease for a stumping – a key wicket in a game that can be easily won by one good innings.  To their credit the other Lewes batsmen rallied together to reach a respectable 120.  Unfortunately for Lewes, they came up against Nick Patterson in destructive mood with the bat.  Before he retired on 25, his brief innings was littered with 6’s that put the game safely in the hands of Cuckfield.  Cuckfield walked home with an over to spare.

The second game between Lewes and Crowhurst Park was won handsomely by Lewes which meant that if Cuckfield lost their final group match, Lewes would be in the final.

As in the first game, Cuckfield won the toss and elected to field.  Tom Mole was again delighted with his teams bowling performance, which restricted the Crowhurst Park team to 105 in their 12 overs.  Only one batsman managed to deal with the guile and pace of the Cuckfield attack, and had it not been for him, the target would have been closer to the 70 mark.

This left Cuckfield with the relatively straightforward task of knocking the runs off to stroll into the final.  Unfortunately the steady Cuckfield tanker looked more like a fishing boat in a squall as Billy Harris was cleaned up by a beaut of an inswinging yorker and Patterson was sensationally caught whilst driving for a 6.  However, lynch-pin Tom Mole was still there and Guy Dixon had just arrived, and how he arrived!  In uncharacteristic fashion, Dixon punched and flicked runs with ease to take Cuckfield from 16-2 off 3 overs to 40-2 off 4 overs.  Another fabulous catch then accounted for Guy and the Cuckfield fishing boat was entering another storm.

Dave Harris came to the crease and added a calm influence to proceedings, which was necessary against Victor Walcott, a rapid West Indian bowler.  Tom Mole reached his 25 as he did in the first game and retired, whilst the score was on 60 off 6 overs.  Rod Candfield and Dave Harris forged a handy partnership, which saw off their West Indian and took the score to 75 when Harris was dismissed.  Tom Mole returned to the crease requiring 30 off 4 overs.  The runs ticked over nicely until Candfield ran himself out, with the view that this was the best for the team.  With 2 overs and 11 runs remaining, Mole was confident victory was on the cards even though he was the last man standing.  But then disaster struck.  A mix up in communication with his batting partner saw a run out that would gift the game to Crowhurst Park and thereby put Lewes through to the final.  This was a frustrating conclusion to a game that was in Cuckfield’s hands all the way.

Preston Nomads mullered Lewes to win the final and now travel to Kent to determine the South East champions, a title Cuckfield held in 2003.

Thank you to John Mole for organising the venue and team for each round of this year’s champion’s finals – the club would not have got this far with you.

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