Solid Slinfold open up gap at the top of the table

The leaders went clear of second-placed Stirlands and opened up a gap of 35 points over Rye, who sit just out the promotion places.

The hosts put Rottingdean in and they set about making 240-8 which they declared on after 48 overs in a bid to win the game. Slinfold, however, had other ideas as 76 from opener Guy Thorne got them underway in the chase, before scoring sensation Akeem Jordan continued his fine season with 89 not out to see them home with 241-5 in 44,5.

Thorne said: “That’s three wins on the bounce now, we have some good momentum going into some more tough games coming up, and we have increased the gap to third place by a few more points.

“To chase 240 on any day of cricket is pleasing. We are winning games chasing and batting first which is a positive sign. We aren’t looking any further ahead than the next game, that’s what we will always do, and we’ll be targeting a 30-point win against Hellingly.

“It was tough asking them to bat first, but I felt it gave us the best opportunity to win the match – and so it proved.”

Henry Ledden hit 45 and George Ledden made 33 to top the scores of the opening five batsmen with both out with the score on 115-5. Slinfold put down a number of chances to limit their hosts to under 200 as a low-order 57 from Javed Jiwaji helped them to a competitive total. In reply, Thorne had two good partnerships to take them to 128-2, before Jordan took the game away from their opponents.

Thorne added: “The bowlers did a solid job and all the wickets were shared between five of the six bowlers used, but some of our catching was disappointing, and we need to work hard on that.

“In response, we got off to the perfect start. I moved myself back to the top of the order as we are missing a couple of our openers at the moment, and luckily the decision paid off.

“The key was partnerships, we had a 61 (Sean Overton and myself) and 67 (Ethan Ansell and myself) for our first two wickets so at 128-2, we had laid the perfect foundation. Akeem rode his luck when dropped on 50, but he dominated the strike and the bowling, and was well supported by Imran Shah as they added 59 to see us home in 44 overs.”

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