Cricket: Bognor and Chichester are on a roll

Bognor grounded the Eagles to cement their position at the top, while Chichester racked up the win their recent performances have merited.

Here are the reports from both clubs...

Bognor v Crawley Eagles

Sussex League division three

With the halfway point of the season coming into view, Bognor maintained their unbeaten start to the season against the unpredictable Crawley Eagles at the Regis Oval.

On a fine day on the south coast, the visitors won the toss and put Bognor in. Once more Bognor’s little-and-large show of the impish Mikey Harris and burly Geordie Andy Quincey went about their work with relish, Harris with grace and panache and Quincey with lusty stokes and bags of vigour.

After putting on an excellent 161 for the first wicket, the fickle finger of fate befell Harris as he was caught for an excellent 98. Quincey soon departed for a fine 45 but worthy contributions from wicketkeeper Ryan Maskell (30) and skipper Zayne Bux with 39 not out, saw Bognor declared on 250 for five.

For the Eagles, Jibran Khan was the pick of the attack with three for 81.

To maintain their unbeaten start, Bognor knew they had to make swift inroads into the Eagles’ potentially-destructive line-up. Once more Bognor’s lithe paceman Graham Bush obliged and whipped out opener Azam Riyard and keeper Rehan Hasan to leave the Eagles 27 for two.

Not to be outdone, fellow paceman Charlie la Foret swept in with two wickets and with wily spinner Joe Ashmore picking up another two, Bognor had the Eagles in a pickle at 94 for six.

Jibran Khan looked to turn the situation around and played postively for 43 until Bush returned to have the Eagles man caught for 43, finishing with three for 54.

Ashmore ran out Anzum Jafer, grabbed his third wicket to finish with three for 41 and then passed the baton to La Foret, the blonde-bombshell bowling last man Mehboob to finish with three for 51.

Another fine team performance and a 51-run win from Bognor sees them extend their lead at the top – but with the job half-done, more hard work remains.

Chichester Priory Park v Goring

Division three

Following an excellent victory at Crawley, Chichester Priory Park continued their good form at home to Goring.

The visitors won the toss and elected to bowl first but Priory opener John Edwards picked up where he left off and took the attack to the Goring bowlers.

He shrugged off a couple of early wickets and accelerated to his half-century in just 35 balls. Unfortunately he was out just two balls later for 53, clean bowled by Oliver Watkins.

When Peter Lamb was dismissed for a duck, Chichester were wobbling at 108 for five. George Stephens and Luke Emmett led the recovery with a crucial 45-run partnership for the sixth wicket.

Stephens (39) fell just short of a half century when he tamely offered a return catch to the bowler Ross Baumann. Emmett followed shortly after for 25 followed quickly by Matt Geffen for a golden duck.

The innings ended a few overs later as Chichester were bowled out for 180 in just 36 overs. Ellis Woolley was the pick of the Goring bowlers with figures of three for 43.

Goring had 64 overs to reach their target of 181. Chichester needed to strike early and they did just that when Geffen removed Sam Thorns with the third ball of the innings. James Chriss dismissed Dan Pittam lbw to leave Goring 11 for two.

Chichester continued to bowl extremely well and soon Goring were 55 for four, although the visitors were left questioning a couple of lbw decisions.